Well this is a turn-up for the books: SA Tourism has taken to virtual reality, specifically the Oculus Rift VR headset, to promote South Africa as a tourist destination abroad.
According to a report by Marketing Magazine, South African Tourism will soon install virtual reality pods in selected bars in the UK’s Manchester and London areas. There users will be able to embark on a 5-minute trip into South Africa and experience (briefly) Table Mountain, cage-diving with sharks off the SA coast as well as other sights and sounds of the country.
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The presentation, which will be in HD and will feature binaural audio to boot, will be augmented with some local South Africa flavour. Said flavour coming by way of SA wines, food and, by the sounds of it, local music.
The UK marketing and communications manager for SA Tourism, Juan Herrada, says, “We want to surprise the UK travelling public and Oculus Rift is the ideal partner for us to reach a young, tech-savvy market. This is the first time Oculus Rift and binaural sound have been combined to create a unique, immersive holiday experience for the UK public.” The fact that South Africa is involved with this first is something we can be pleased about.
Source: Marketing Magazine
