Introduction to Augmented Reality in Local Travel Marketing
Augmented reality is the long run of local travel marketing, based on Caylin Sanders, President and CEO of EscapeMaker. As flight cancellations plagued international summer travel, many locals took to the road and rails to explore, despite gas prices and fee surges. EscapeMaker, a veteran local travel marketer since 2000, rolled out its AR development and content production services to its longtime agritourism, craft beverage, and special event clients this summer to assist them attract more local visitors.
How Augmented Reality Works in Local Travel
EscapeMaker’s AR clients will offer various engaging augmented reality experiences to incentivize travel and onsite visits. These experiences include historical walking or craft beverage tours, food menus, scavenger hunts, or exclusive musical and theatre performances. With custom AR apps launching later this yr, visitors will engage with a destination like never before by aiming their mobile phones at select sites to see unique content. Static tour apps are old news, and travelers want more fun, memorable, and interactive experiences.
The Benefits of Augmented Reality for Local Businesses
Although visitors bureaus and destination marketing organizations (DMOS) tightened their budgets once the pandemic hit, their marketing and promoting spending is finally returning to pre-2020 levels. However, budgets previously diversified have been allocated mainly to Facebook or Google pay-per-view promoting, cannibalizing many marketers’ client lists. But as Facebook’s subscriber base declines, advertisers now realize those likes don’t all the time translate into in-person visits. Augmented reality offers a brand new and progressive way for local businesses to draw visitors and drive tourism.
EscapeMaker’s Experience with Augmented Reality
EscapeMaker relocated north from Brooklyn, New York, to the Hudson Valley in the course of the pandemic. Upending their usual playbook, they invested in technology fairly than traditional social media and old-school brand constructing to offset pandemic losses and weather the uncertainty of the local travel and special event market. Over the years, EscapeMaker found creative marketing solutions by adding event production, tour guide distribution, bus tours, and packaging in response to their destination client’s specific needs. It became apparent, though, that to sustain their small business and non-profit client base and still uphold their core mission to supply up local travel options to their subscribers, they needed to carve an progressive path forward.
The Future of Local Travel Marketing
EscapeMaker hopes to see destinations embrace Web 3.0 by pursuing latest technologies and promotional avenues to drive tourism and getting paid for the content they’re already creating. Augmented reality is the long run of local travel marketing, and EscapeMaker desires to be the primary out of the gate to supply their users latest experiences and offer their small business and non-profit tourism clients this reasonably priced and cutting-edge service. Their burgeoning AR client list includes Do Good Spirits Distillery in Sullivan County, NY, Urban Fork in Ulster County, NY, the Hudson Valley Farm + Flea festival in Orange County, NY, Somerset County Tourism / Sip & See Somerset Craft Beverage Trail in NJ, and the Seaport Art Walk in Manhattan.
Conclusion
In conclusion, augmented reality is revolutionizing the local travel marketing industry. With its ability to offer interactive and immersive experiences, AR is attracting more local visitors to agritourism, craft beverage trails, and special events. EscapeMaker is on the forefront of this trend, offering AR development and content production services to its clients. As the industry continues to evolve, it would be exciting to see how augmented reality shapes the long run of local travel marketing. With its progressive approach and commitment to supporting small businesses and non-profits, EscapeMaker is poised to stay a frontrunner within the industry.
