What Is a Virtual Tour? How to Experience Exotic Locations

Imagine touring a restaurant you’d like to go to for dinner from the comfort of your own home.

Or maybe even a resort you’re interested in staying at during your next vacation. Wouldn’t it be great to check the decor, ambiance, and other features without leaving your couch? Now you can – simply by taking a virtual tour.

Businesses can also supervise their plants or branch operations by setting 360 video monitoring with virtual tour software. Travellers can also explore a tourist spot through visually appealing shots of a remote location and plan their dates accordingly.

Virtual tours can be either 2D or 3D. A 2D tour video can be viewed on a digital  gadget. Recently, a wave of immersive tech transformations like mixed reality are enabling 3D teleportation in a virtual scenario where they can eye-witness their destinations and experience the beauty through real sensory stimuli. 

Industries using virtual tours

Some industries are more likely to offer a 3D or virtual tour. Here are the industries where a virtual tour is a popular or common feature.

Real estate

Virtual tours have taken the real estate industry by storm. Creating a virtual tour of a house, apartment, or other property makes it easy for future homeowners or potential tenants to see the space in-depth before visiting in person.

Checking out details before visiting helps buyers narrow down which properties they want to see, giving potential owners and real estate agents a better chance of finding the perfect home. Buyers want as much information as possible about homes they’re viewing online, so having a high-quality virtual tour can make them stand out from other properties on the market.

Engineering

The engineering sector encompasses a variety of businesses. Whether it’s home builders, construction, or architecture, projects within these industries tend to be fast-paced with minimal room for error. 

It’s challenging for engineers to keep track of all of the changes on site, but virtual tours can document site and building changes in detail with real-time scans to complete projects faster and more efficiently.

Retail

Store owners can make the most of 3D virtual tours to show visitors and customers the store's layout and what types of products they may find once they visit. People shopping at a mall or a large department store can use these tours to find the specific section or shop they’re looking for.

For large shopping centers, a virtual tour makes it easy for customers to find the store they need once they visit the location, which can be especially helpful if there’s a big parking lot.

Hospitality

Vacation rentals, hotel booking, and hospitality niches have many uses for virtual tours. For example, when people try to visualize their vacation destination, virtual tours assist the final decision to book a trip. 

Additionally, providing online viewers with an immersive view of the property, amenities, and location can increase booking revenue. 

Bed and breakfasts, hotels, cruise ships, and resorts can all show future travelers what their location offers, making it easier to prepare for an upcoming trip. For example, knowing if a hotel room has washer and dryer units available for use can make packing for a trip easier.

Restaurants

Restaurant owners can show potential customers what to expect before making their next reservation. Potential customers appreciate a virtual tour because it lets them see the atmosphere, layout, and general vibe, so they know what kind of dining experience they’re going to have.

Plus, restaurant owners can also include a Google Street View in Google Maps within their virtual tour. This makes it easier for new customers to plan how to get to the restaurant and look into places to park ahead of time.

Automotive

Imagine seeing a 3D tour of a car before you buy it. This type of tour is emerging in the automotive industry. Some car dealerships are not only uploading virtual tours of the exterior and interior of all their vehicles but also of what the dealership has to offer, like service centers and waiting areas.

Having a virtual tour of various vehicles can be the difference between a new driver visiting one car lot versus another one down the street.

Healthcare

When a family considers placing an elderly relative in a retirement home, a virtual tour can show them what the rooms and other parts of the facility look like before visiting it.

In this case, the family wants the absolute best for their loved one, so a tour can be used to see if it has a pool, a gym, a hair salon, and more.

The same can be said for doctor’s or dentist’s offices, like checking a virtual tour of a pediatrician's office ahead of time. Does it have a kid-friendly waiting room? Are the patient rooms clean? These are the types of questions a virtual tour can answer.

Education

Think about how many high schoolers plan to go to college this year. While some may plan to visit schools near their hometown, others dream big of attending school in different parts of the country. 

Colleges and universities should consider having an immersive experience centered around touring their campus so that students who don’t live in the area can still give their school a tour to see if it’s a good fit. 

This also applies to private high schools, prep schools, elementary schools, or advanced learning facilities.

Types of virtual tours

The right type of virtual tour for your business will likely depend on your industry, time, and budget. Most of these tours are broken down into three types. 

• 360° virtual tour: A 360° tour allows the viewer to see a location from all angles and is usually filmed with a camera. Typically, these tours are made through a sequence of camera shots that are merged together or filmed on a 360-degree camera in one continuous shot.

• 3D virtual tour: This tour is presented through 3D models, meaning the whole environment is modeled in 3D. This type allows a user to open an application or press start on a website, and the 3D location automatically begins to load.
• Virtual reality tour: Businesses that want their tours to be as realistic as possible often choose 3D virtual reality (VR) tours, as they’re the closest you can get to visiting a place in person. Users need a virtual reality headset and the proper VR software for this tour to be as immersive as possible.

Benefits of a virtual tour

No matter your business's size or industry, having a virtual tour on a company website provides many benefits. 

• Interact more meaningfully with customers: A virtual tour lets visitors explore your business from anywhere. Whether on their computer, tablet, or smartphone, they can access the entire location and focus on the offerings and what interests them at their own pace.
• Increase engagement: When customers like what they see in a virtual tour or see something that piques their interest, they are more likely to visit in person. 
• Save time, effort, and money: Instead of businesses missing customers after store hours, they can experience virtual foot traffic by remaining open in a virtual tour. This means that companies don’t have to stay open long hours and cater to customers who may just want to walk around and browse without making a purchase.
• Captivate customers: While having plain text and still images are fine, offering a tour keeps viewers engaged on your website for longer periods.
• Strengthen online presence: A virtual tour done right can boost your online brand while attracting customers to your website over the competition. 

Challenges of a virtual tour

Despite the many benefits of having a virtual tour for your business, there are some challenges to keep in mind, too. 

• Price tag: For many companies and small businesses, the price of creating a visually appealing and high-quality virtual tour is too high. In addition to software, special equipment and sometimes a professional photographer are needed.
• Time consuming if done correctly: Creating a virtual tour that customers will benefit from seeing is hard, time-consuming work. It can take hours to get all the necessary footage to develop the tour for a large space.
• Renovations or other changes: Not all virtual tours are “one and done". For instance, if you own a hotel that has recently redesigned its lobby or the pool area, you’ll likely have to redo parts of the tour to reflect these changes properly.

How to use a virtual tour

Once your company has taken the time to create a visually appealing and immersive virtual tour, it’s time to put it to good use. Here are some ways you can use a virtual tour to make it work for your business.

• Embed it on your website: When customers come to your website, whether for real estate purposes or to book their next vacation, feature the virtual tour where they can easily find it. 
• Share with clients: If your business is getting inquiries about your establishment that can be answered in the virtual tour, offer to send clients the tour to answer some of their questions.
• Post on social media: If the virtual tour is new and you want it to gain some attention, post it to your company’s social networks. Consider which platform your customers use the most and make sure they can easily find it with relevant hashtags and key information. 

Examples of virtual tours

If you need an example of a virtual tour done right, check out the examples below.

White House

If you’re a history enthusiast who doesn’t live in Washington D.C., take advantage of the virtual tour of the White House. It provides viewers with an inside look at the public rooms on the Ground and State Floors and even offers a guide for students and teachers using the tour in their classroom.

Source: White House History

Allentown Kia

Businesses of all shapes and sizes can benefit from a virtual tour, just take it from automotive dealership Allentown Kia in Allentown, PA. Customers interested in visiting the dealership can access a virtual tour of the showroom, service center, and drive-thru service lane.

Source: Allentown Kia

Villa del Palmar Cancun

Hotels and resorts know people have a lot of options when it comes to booking their next vacation. Villa del Palmar in Cancun stands out from other resorts in the area by offering an immersive virtual tour. Potential visitors can explore the lobby, luxury facilities, restaurants, and rooms.

Source: Villa del Palmar Cancun

The Louvre

Most famous virtual tours around the world also include the legendary Louvre Museum in Paris, France. Visitors can take a 360° tour from the comfort of their homes. The website offers 3D virtual tours of numerous rooms so viewers can feel the art from the 16th Century, the Renaissance, and even the modern day. 

Source: Louvre Museum

Northwestern University

Students interested in attending Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, can check out the virtual tours before visiting. The website offers tours of dining halls, residential areas, the library, the lakefront, and so much more.

Source: YouTube

Top virtual tour software

Virtual tour software helps organizations avoid costs associated with hiring video recording professionals to create certain types of videos to be integrated into websites or online portals. 

To be included in this category, software must:

• Provide users with customizable templates for virtual tours
• Include video creation and editing functionality 
• Modify virtual tour files into common video formats
• Download images and manage their display order
• Provide options to zoom, rotate, or move in any direction
• Support the personalization of videos for branding purposes

* This data was pulled from G2 Summer 2023 Grid Report. Some reviews may have been edited for clarity. 

1. Concept 3D

Concept 3D is a virtual tour and interactive map platform featuring accurate and vivid 3D renderings of various spaces. This tool does this by using wayfinding, accessibility resources, space finding, data feeds, third party integrations, and virtual engagement tools to bring locations to life.

What users like best:

“The usability of the map makes navigation so much more seamless and adaptable for the user. The ability to add 'tours' is also a great feature that will make it very seamless for the users to navigate throughout campus while using Concept 3D. The function to 'show labels' also allows users to have a more in-depth view of the map without being overwhelmed with building names while getting their bearings during navigation.

Tours that can be utilized with the map will also benefit us moving forward as this will allow us to map out walking tours for our audience when they come to campus. These have also allowed us to problem solve for situations when our ambassador tours are booked out for the day.“

- Concept 3D Review, Kelsey H.

What users dislike:

“Some tasks are tedious, and I wish there were better drawing tools for specific functions within the CMS, but overall the learning curve on the product was pretty easy.

It is helpful to have a few people learning the CMS together so that you can troubleshoot as a team. I recommend a team of at least two people be involved in the training since it’s a large task to gather all the information needed to input in the CMS and build-out of your map, especially if your campus is large.”

- Concept 3D Review, Donna P.

2. TeliportMe: Virtual Tour Software

TeliportMe is a virtual tour platform that aims to grow revenue for its users. This tool gives users the features to build smarter virtual tours for any organization. Features include custom hotspot icons, unique branding, world class support, and more.

What users like best:

“TeliportMe was pretty easy to get started with. Log in to the portal and create a tour. You can upload a panoramic pic or use their app to upload directly. From there you can create hotspots and create floor plans to connect different pano files together in a user-friendly way.”

- TeliportMe: Virtual Tour Software Review, Steve B.

What users dislike:

“I'm not a huge fan of the mobile app. It seems like the focus is on community and shared videos when I'd rather have an app that acts only as a tool to help me create virtual tours.”

- Teleport Me: Virtual Tour Software Review, Allana D.

3. Real Tour Vision

Real Tour Vision is a virtual tour system made for professional photographers looking to offer only the best end product to real estate agents or local business owners. Users can upload HD videos, still photos, 360° panoramas, 360°videos, and so much more to create full walkthrough virtual tours.

What users like best:

“My defining requirements in real estate marketing are multiple; however, the most important to me is that the product does what it claims to do and equally, how the company responds to my needs. Real Tour Vision understands the needs and wants of real estate marketers. They do not push products that do not work and do not claim to be essential to the successful marketing of real estate.”

- Real Tour Vision Review, Rick R.

What users dislike:

“The FAQs and training videos could use some updating.”

- Real Tour Vision Review, Kristin J.

4. Kuula 

Kuula is a budget-friendly 360° virtual touring platform that teleports you to the streets of different cities and acquaints you with the beauty and serenity of that place so that you can plan your next trip with ease.

What users like best:

"The flexibility of the software makes each virtual tour easily created and modified to meet each goal. We have numerous tours on our Kuula dashboard and each one has different layouts, hot spots, and cards to make them exactly as we hoped for."

-Kuula review, David G.

What users dislike:

Would love some of the pro features included in a free version. My suggestion would be to allow advertisement in a free version."

-Kuula review, Timm J.

5. Klapty

Klapty is an online social media software for 3D virtual touring. Users can place themselves remotely in locations, examine it, and take a further call. This software can be used by real estate agents, photographers, construction engineers, design planners and architects to explore untouched locations and captivate their clients. 

What users like best:

"Klapty is a wonderful application for making and sharing virtual tours. I love that you don't have to learn much to use it. Client support is fantastic, and they resolve any issues you may have really quickly."

-Klapty review, Marcus J.

What users dislike:

"The concept is new and largely untapped. The tool can establish itself with more features before much competition enters this arena."

- Klapty review, Vallabh H.

Virtually explore the unknown!

With so many benefits for the consumer and the business owner, creating a virtual tour should be a no-brainer. You're bound to create something worthwhile when armed with the right software and a creative vision. 

Learn how your consumers can experience your products in different environments via virtual tours and augmented reality marketing.