Do you often find yourself struggling to convince your clients of the beauty and unique culture in New Caledonia?
Do you see the doubt in their faces when you attempt to explain that a destination that’s only three hours from Sydney is part French/part South Pacific, has incredible food, nice people and stunning sites?
Well, New Caledonia Tourism may have just launched the solution to your problems.
If you attending the bureau’s annual roadshow this week then you’d have trialled the professional virtual reality headsets and seen how incredibly immersive it is.
Users can explore 15 different experiences from visiting the Loyalty Islands, sky diving, kayaking, bike riding and meet locals. It’s a great way to not only see a destination, but connect with it in a way that’s almost like being there.
Unfortunately, New Caledonia Tourism only has three of those professional headsets, but it’s found a way for Agents to give their clients the same 360-degree experience…
Portable virtual reality.
In the coming weeks, Agents will be able to order portable virtual reality headsets that are very much like the normal VR headsets, but they’re portable.
Meaning consultants can keep them in their store or in their home offices and offer them to clients when they want give them a taste of the destination outside of brochures. They can then sit in your office and check out New Caledonia, a little like these guys:
How exactly does it work?
First, Agents need to order the headsets from New Caledonia Tourism.
Then they need to download the New Caledonia VR app from the Apple Store.
Once the headsets arrive in the mail, consultants can then plug their headphones into their phone and insert their mobile into the cardboard device. Hit play and then you’ll be transported to New Caledonia.
New Caledonia’s tourism leaders believe the new technology is part of plans to increase Australian visitor numbers to the destination from the expected 24,000 this year to around 60,000 in the next decade.
According to New Caledonia Tourism’s Director, Jean-Michel Foutrein, the island nation is going through a historical period where the tourism industry is taking priority over others in the destination.
Globally, New Caledonia is aiming for 200,000 arrivals. This figure excludes cruise ship visitors, which is around 400,000 per year.