Virtual fam trips you can take from your living room
Virtual fam trips are a great way to brush up on your destination knowledge during the Covid-19 lockdown. We look at some of the options
A virtual fam can be described as a way of learning about a destination through dynamic imagery, comprehensive video and interactive tech that gives the user an immersive online experience.
Now that agents are having to take a step back from selling due to the Covid-19 crisis, it would be wise to use this time to train up via virtual fams – after all, they’re currently offering the next best thing to travelling to the country yourself for education. Here we take a look at some of the operators, destinations and attractions offering agents the chance to travel to new places from the comfort of their own homes.
SOUTH AFRICA
Luxury bespoke tour operator andBeyond has teamed up with broadcaster WildEarth to give agents the chance to experience a South African safari via a series of live streams from Ngala and Djuma Private Game Reserves throughout April. The three-hour Wildwatch Live streams are taking place up to twice a day and are hosted by field guides taking live questions from viewers.
Joss Kent, chief executive at andBeyond, says: “The current worldwide situation has reduced the capacity for people to travel to distant places but it hasn’t quashed their wanderlust and appetite for new experiences, so we’ve launched these live safaris in a quest to relieve the tedium of isolation and bring the beauty of the natural world right to your living room.”
The Wildwatch Live streams are broadcasted on andBeyond’s YouTube, Facebook and Instagram Live channels at 4am and 1.30pm each day, with previous safaris available to watch online.
CHILE
Using augmented reality, the Chile 360 app allows agents to “visit” Chile’s most popular destinations. Highlights such as Patagonia’s Torres del Paine and Aguas Calientes salt flats can be viewed from every angle – users can swivel their phone to get a 360-degree view of the location as the app tunes into the device’s motion sensors. If agents have a smartphone-compatible virtual reality headset to hand, it’s possible to take their training to the next level.
The Chile 360 app is free for any agent with an iOS or Android smartphone and it provides useful snippets of information with each location.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Czech Tourism has partnered with Spinning Globe – a digital B2B platform provider specialising in virtual fam trips for travel agents – to release a VFam. This six-day “trip” takes just 30 minutes to complete online and mixes text and images with video and pop quizzes to educate agents on Prague as well as the destination’s lesser-visited regions outside the capital.
“We have chosen the best places to visit, with the itinerary starting in Prague before heading out to include visits to Ostrava and Brno, and [offering] travel tips for visiting the country’s castles and chateaux – agents can discover the best of what the country has to offer without leaving their homes,” says Katarina Hobbs, director for the UK and Ireland at Czech Tourism.
FLORIDA
From navigating through Pandora – the World of Avatar at Walt Disney World Resort to exploring Diagon Alley at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and peeking into top hotels and shopping districts, Visit Orlando’s Orlando Virtual Tour leaves no corner unturned. The Google Street View-style navigation paired with videos and pop-up information boxes covers 88 locations, featuring 272 video segments, more than 10 virtual ride experiences and the opportunity to “see” some areas of the destination by day and night.
“This first-hand experience will help agents be better equipped to answer questions about Orlando and be knowledgeable about the holiday experiences the destination provides,” says Mike Waterman, chief sales officer for Visit Orlando.
Elsewhere in Florida, Greater Fort Lauderdale has installed a series of live beach cameras so you can check in on the coastal scenes from home, with Discover the Palm Beaches also posting a virtual cycle ride along The Palm Beach Lake Trail.
ASK THE EXPERT
Rory Duff, head of operations at Spinning Globe, gives expert insight into virtual fams
How popular are virtual fams?
Virtual fams are still a relatively unknown entity, but in the past six months our site visits have increased, and in the past month they’ve increased again. Destinations still need to talk to agents, and they’re using this time when agents have less to do. It’s a way for agents to stay up to date and brush up on their destination knowledge so when normality returns they’re in a great position to get back into selling.
What do virtual fams offer that in-destination fams can’t?
Virtual fams will never replace the real thing, but fam trips run maybe once a year and cover just one part of a country, whereas on a virtual fam agents can do itineraries in all different parts of the destination and cover a lot more ground. They provide an all-compassing understanding. They also offer opportunities to a larger number of agents. Tour operators aren’t keen on taking away less-experienced agents and often invite bestsellers as a reward, but someone that’s already maxing out sales won’t hugely increase their number sold post fam. An agent that is selling fewer (or no) holidays to that destination could easily double their sales by taking a fam or virtual fam.
What do you predict for the future of virtual fams?
We looked at virtual reality but getting headsets to everyone is not viable, so augmented reality is the next best thing. Everyone has a smartphone, so agents will be able to use this as a portal to explore destinations and hotels. We’re also looking at webinar-style virtual fams where agents will be able to take group tours, for example walk through a hotel with its owner.
EGYPT
The Egyptian State Tourist Office is sending out weekly virtual "visits" to the country's archaeological attractions and historic sites via email. This week's virtual fam is to the Tomb of Queen Meresankh III, allowing viewers to delve underneath the Giza Necropolis and discover hierogliphics, hidden chambers and ancient wall paintings.
PORTUGAL
The Algarve Tourism Bureau has launched its first virtual fam, divided into days and covering topics including hotels and resorts, restaurants, activities and places to visit. The five-day itinerary comes in a written format and features transfer times between locations.
Hugo Nascimento, executive director of the Algarve Tourism Bureau, says: “This enables agents to explore and improve their destination knowledge for a wider range of places and products that they can promote to their customers, driving increased sales and commission earnings."
"It’s also a great opportunity for agents to learn about lesser-known places, like the Eastern Algarve, outside of the regular places such as the impressive Algarve beaches," he added.
ADDED ATTRACTION
It’s not just tour operators and tourist boards that are jumping on the virtual fam bandwagon, attractions are too. With Google Arts and Culture agents and their clients are able to step inside some of the world’s biggest bucket-list museums and art galleries using Google Street View. These include the Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the White House in Washington DC, Mexico City’s Casa Azul (also known as the Frida Kahlo Museum), the Australian National Surfing Museum in Victoria, Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum and Paris’s Musee d’Orsay.
AGENT INSIGHT
Travel Counsellor Cathie O’Dea has been using her time during the coronavirus crisis to try out virtual fams
Why did you decide to start taking virtual fams?
I discovered these during the past few months, although I remember the idea being born long before that at a Pata event and I thought it sounded like a really good idea. They cover many places that I would never get the chance to visit myself, for example the Maldives and many parts of Thailand, and I tend to learn better from visuals than by writing notes.
Have you found them an effective way of learning?
Many training programmes have too many facts and you can’t possibly absorb or remember them all, so “seeing” and experiencing the destination virtually helps to bring it alive in a more memorable way – I’ve found them particularly useful.
Will these virtual fams help you sell in future?
The best way of being able to sell a destination is to go there and experience it, but this isn’t always possible. Virtual fam trips will do the next best thing and not just take you there but let you experience all the activities and the full range of accommodation, so you can then discuss these with clients with a picture in your head.
What advice would you give to other agents considering taking virtual fams during the travel ban?
This is the time to get as much training done as possible to keep the dream alive for the day when we can start selling again. It is the time to prepare and get excited about selling dream holidays to our customers. There are no roadshows and none of us are travelling anywhere, there are just a few webinars here and there, so it is vital that we keep our fingers on the pulse and our minds active and excited about those far-flung destinations.
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