Virtual reality travel app brings holiday sights to your living room

Sygic have launched the first virtual reality travel app on the Oculus Store, allowing users to experience destinations around the world from the comfort of their home.

Anyone with a Samsung Gear VR headset, which turns any compatible Samsung Galaxy smartphone into a completely portable and wireless virtual reality machine, will be able to utilise the free app, which uses 360° video technology.

The new app is expected to help travellers avoid bad holiday experiences, as they can get a more realistic view of the destination and a better feel for it.

“Travel agencies offer a lot of amazing pictures of destinations, but we would like to bring them inspiration and reality as well [with] real videos from the real destinations,” said Sygic founder and CEO, Michal Stencl.

Sygic, who made the first ever GPS navigation app for the iPhone back in 2009, has set out to try and transform the entire travel experience by giving customers help, from checking out potential destinations to planning their holiday and then booking.

Users of the app will only see footage captured by a professional ‘Sygic Traveller’, with plans in place to build a library of thousands of different places over the next year.

Mr Stencl expects there to be a huge expansion of virtual reality in the travel industry, and he believes that it will only be a matter of time before we will be able to see concerts, events, museums, restaurants and hotels through VR.

Those without a headset can also use their desktop to get a taste of the experience, enticing travellers with breath-taking images of London’s Trafalgar Square, New York’s Time Square or the Louvre in Paris.

Those within the travel industry believe the introduction of virtual reality will fuel a lot of trips for those not certain they need an international holiday.

If you’re thinking of travelling abroad this year, be sure to organise your single trip travel insurance in advance

Date Created: 27/09/2016