The example discussed here is the use of VR in a guerrilla marketing stunt made by Leavingstone, a Georgian advertising agency. Their experience goal was to promote the beer brand Old Irish in Georgia. Even tough it is an experience aimed to promote a product, I believe the tourism industry and experience designers can learn a lot from the execution. First, let’s have a look at the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R5J8Je2j_4

Giving people a call to adventure to explore a destination by using VR and then “teleporting” them in the actual environment can create a strong emotional bond with the destination. Such a tactic can be excellently used for creating a lifetime bond with a destination,  for generating inspiration to visit and increasing awareness.

As an extra game thinking design dimension to the experience challenges can be added. For example once people are transported from virtual to the real they can be given an environment that has several sets of challenges. If the manage to overcome all of them, they can win a paid holiday to the destination. Here is an example of how a challenge might look like:

More Virtual Reality in Tourism examples:

Examples of how to promote a destination by using a call to adventure: