360 Virtual Tours
Virtual tours can provide unparalleled access to a location, business or event from anywhere in the world. This is invaluable for locations that may have limited capacity, restricted access areas or can be difficult to reach. The immersive feeling that virtual tours provide by letting you experience a location through clickable interaction points and active navigation, instead of being a passive viewer, gives a more true-to-life encounter.
Visitor Destinations
Virtual tours work best where a standard image or video doesn’t quite capture the ambience or scale of a location. For this reason, 360 virtual tours are popular for tourist locations such as restaurants, museums, historical attractions and parks. The freedom to look in every direction whenever they choose gives potential visitors a feeling of confidence that what they see is what they get. This confidence increases the likelihood that they will book a visit. Google reports that by adding a virtual tour to a GMB page, businesses see an average of 85% increase in their online booking. Some of the world’s largest hotel groups have experienced as much as a 135% increase in online revenue after including 360 virtual tours on their websites.
Healthcare
Virtual tours are also growing in popularity for locations that otherwise are not easily accessed by the public. 360 tours of healthcare facilities, in particular, are increasing for this reason. Virtual tours of hospital surgeries, medical clinics, physical therapy centres, pharmaceutical laboratories and clean rooms and cancer treatment centres can provide people with access to areas that are usually prohibited. Healthcare companies may wish to showcase their state-of-the-art facilities to stakeholders and clients or just show the public some of the work that goes on behind closed doors in an immersive and engaging way.
Cancer Research UK filmed a seven-hour procedure on Janet Jenkins, a patient with oesophageal cancer, and condensed the footage into a four-minute 360 video. The video gives the public the chance to see the vitally important work done behind the doors of a surgical room. By increasing public awareness and understanding of their work, cancer researchers hope to raise additional funds for finding better treatment to aid future patents. If the public could see the rewards of research – especially through an immersive video of a life saved – more would be motivated to give their support.
Real Estate
Virtual video tours inspired 40% of potential homebuyers to make a decision, according to research. 360 VR videos have a bigger impact on buyers than static images or traditional video. Many real estate agents have already taken to this approach, offering a 3D Home experience for potential buyers or renters to “walk through” the house on view. You get a better feel for what is considered one of life’s most important purchases.
More and more businesses are looking to 360 videos, and with great reasoning. They can tell their stories in a unique, immersive way and leave participants with an enduring sense of awe. Viewers are no longer being shown a video—they’re interacting with something closer to reality.