With rising consumer interest in virtual experiences, Accenture highlights opportunities for travel and hospitality
ACCENTURE recently released its latest research on the impact of the growing use of immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality in the travel and hospitality sector. The survey showed real interest among Asian consumers in virtual experiences. WiT speaks to Mike Tansey, Managing Director, Growth Markets Travel Industry Lead, Accenture, about the research and the key opportunities he sees for virtual reality in business travel and conferences.
Mike Tansey: These new frontiers of technology will redefine the entire context of every business, shaping how they will operate, reinvent customer engagement, and create value for decades to come.
Q: While consumer interest is strong, have you seen any significant adoption by the travel industry to provide VR or AR reality travel experience such as a sightseeing tour or hotel stay? Cite an example?
We’re already seeing rapid adoption for VR and AR travel experiences in Asia, with our latest consumer pulse survey indicating that almost half (48%) of Asian respondents having participated in such experiences. And this trend is poised to accelerate – with 62% of Asian respondents in the same survey indicating that they’d be interested in purchasing a travel experience in the future.
Businesses must pivot to adapt to these new circumstances. This includes increasing investment in their technology capabilities, building on their digital foundation, and adapting to consumer preferences to provide more AR/VR experiences.
Delivering on this interest, the industry has already seen early adopters across the airlines, hospitality and travel services sectors. Marriott Hotels launched XR tech-based services such as the VRoom Service and VR Postcards that allows guests to experience exotic locations in the comfort and convenience of their hotel rooms. Air New Zealand also ran a test on a flight where they used Microsoft’s HoloLens to enhance passengers’ in-flight experience. Using the HoloLens headset, the cabin crew could access key customer information – such as a passenger’s choice of meal, drinks, onward travel plans, and even their emotions. And these are all capabilities that were developed pre-pandemic.
Today, this adoption has only increased – just earlier last month in Singapore, Millennium Hotels and Resorts launched M Social Decentraland, a hotel located in the Metaverse. DAMAC Properties, a real estate developer from Dubai, also revealed plans to develop its own Metaverse platform on The Sandbox, complete with NFTs and virtual land.
As consumer interest continues to rise, we expect that the world will see a new generation of services and experiences in the virtual world.
Q: Have you taken part in any yourself during the pandemic, when people had no choice but to try virtual travel? What was the experience like and how could it be better?
I attended the first hybrid conference in Singapore in October 2021 and this involved the opening keynote being delivered by a live hologram. This was very impactful and I can see how it could be used extensively for guest speakers to save the travel time, cost and environmental impact. The session that followed consisted of the moderator and one guest physically at the event and 4 people connected remotely by video conference. This was truly awful and excruciating and is not the future for hybrid events.
Q: VR in business travel and conferences – what are the interesting use cases you have seen?
Business travel is set to decrease post-pandemic, with a recent survey from Bloomberg revealing that 84% of plan to spend less on travel. In this current climate, where companies are increasingly selective, building trust and reputation will be key to driving growth. The ability to “try before you buy” can play a key role in events and conferences, giving the ability to see a location before booking, especially as hybrid meetings become more commonplace.
In the same vein, there will be companies that might not want to travel for work conferences at all – leading to the rise of hybrid events. The metaverse will then act as a tool to help break down the divide between those attending in-person and those attending virtually. For instance, with the use of AR/VR technology, in-person participants may be able to see holograms of virtual participants, while those joining virtually can watch in-person participants live through the metaverse. For panels, rather than simply having a video feed projected, AR/VR may allow participants to discuss topics in holographic form.
Q: There’s been an extreme shift to physical once restrictions were lifted, with people flocking to events again in US and Europe. And as Asia opens up, we will likely see the same trend among people who missed physical events the last two years. What do you expect the equilibrium to be when sentiment returns to some form of normal, once the pent-up demand is satisfied? What % physical, what % virtual will events be?
The world has changed significantly since the pandemic. As we’ve seen from the past two years, the barriers between what is physical and digital have all but blurred, with consumers being increasingly comfortable with virtual experiences.
In fact, according to Accenture’s research, 64% of consumers worldwide had already purchased a virtual good or taken part in a virtual experience of service in the past year – a number that increases to 74% when we zoom into those living in Asia.
Due to consumers’ increasing familiarity with engaging with the virtual world, it’s unlikely that events in the future, even as restrictions ease, will be purely physical, or purely virtual; the events of tomorrow will consist of a mix of both.
As we navigate the post-pandemic future, hybrid events, with technologies such as AR, VR, and the metaverse, are poised to be the future of the industry. While physical events resume, the onus is now also on event organisers to provide virtual features that enhance the onsite and online experience of attendees.
Q: Opening doors to new customer segments – how will the rise of these new consumers impact on the evolution of the travel experience?
As adoption continues to rise, and companies continue to enrich their capabilities, we will see an increase in the range of experiences. VR and AR functions are able to provide experiences that aren’t limited by physical reality, and through creating a digital twin, travel and hospitality providers can transport consumers to alternate spaces, or even time periods. This opens up a wealth of new travel experiences. For example, people travelling to locales in autumn will not be limited to viewing the landscapes of that time, but also other seasons. Historical locations can also be viewed at their prime, hundreds of years ago.
Q: Metaverse – Millennium & Copthorne has launched this project. Do you see more real estate/hotel owners jumping into this world, and how do you think this space will evolve?
The metaverse represents the next wave of digital change, and acts as a continuum of rapidly emerging capabilities, use cases, technologies and experiences. As it continues to evolve, we expect that forward-looking companies across a myriad of different industries, not just real estate and hotel owners, will be preparing to operate in the virtual world.
Enterprises selling goods in a metaverse environment are delivering fundamentally different products, and what’s more, they are piloting new modes of commerce and creating best practices for the future of the internet. All the companies building – and building in – these new worlds are bringing ideas and precedents to them, shaping how people will soon live, where businesses will find opportunity, and what it will mean to be a responsible business in these environments.
These new frontiers of technology will redefine the entire context of every business, shaping how they will operate, reinvent customer engagement, and create value for decades to come. The leading companies of tomorrow will have to use this new technology to their advantage, and focus on the delivery of exceptional experiences.
Q: Will the Asian tycoons that dominate real estate in the physical world also dominate the metaverse?
It really depends on the platforms used, the level of adoption, and of course, the customer experiences provided by these players.
Consumer expectations have become truly liquid across different product and service categories. They no longer compare their brand experiences between two different companies in the same space. Rather, they make comparisons between their brand experience of, for example, an online game in the metaverse with a top hotel chain or even a design and tech-driven play such as Airbnb.
Great experiences are no longer a nice-to-have, but a necessity for business survival. As expectations have risen, simply “good” virtual experiences will become a given for customers, meaning they’re easy to copy and aren’t differentiated enough to automatically gain companies market share.
In tandem, physical constraints are absent when it comes to the metaverse, and “building” a hotel or property in that universe costs much less than in the physical reality. In this way, it can thus act as an equaliser, and afford smaller, independent players the opportunity to carve their niche.
Q: What opportunities are there for independent hotel groups to make their mark in the universe? Should they?
Travel brands have always struggled to capture the value of innovation and technology. Since the pandemic, they have recognised that it’s time to rethink how to approach travellers and reimagine their experiences. In other words, it’s not about picking up where we left off. It’s about building up to where we want to be
Travelers want to be informed yet inspired by travel brands. There is tremendous opportunity for creativity to transform those moments of huge information overload that are often not even relevant to travellers. Creativity has never been so important in helping to justify the value of a product or service in Travel. These independent groups have to invest in this incredible opportunity to reinvent themselves. They should drive true differentiation with innovative and scalable communications and experiences that meet travellers’ rising motivations and ignite business growth. The key? Unleashing inspiration and creativity to engage travellers in exciting new ways.
Q: Five years from now, describe the new world of travel and hospitality.
Physical travel and hospitality will remain a very important part of people’s lives and this experience will not and cannot be replaced by virtual experiences. However, the virtual experiences will play a critical role in the broader travel experience by enabling travellers to have a better understanding of the physical experience and strongly influence their travel choices. In addition, these virtual experiences will be available to people who cannot travel, particularly for financial or physical reasons, and they can enjoy a dramatically enhanced experience.
