Virtual Tourism?

Now here's an interesting form of tourism promotion. Beth Kanter blogs that she just bought a fez in Morocco. Not in Real Morocco, but in Second Life Morocco. (Don't skip the link to Beth's Blog if you want to see her in the new fez!) She quotes the New Media Consortium:

Virtual Morocco contains monuments and experiences from Casablanca, Rabat, and Marrakesh, and includes space for projecting real-world events into the virtual environment. The goals of this multidisciplinary team project are to provide an immersive experience that educates visitors about Moroccan culture while enticing them to think about Morocco as a travel destination.

I tell tourism marketers that tools like blogs and podcasts are a way for them to share the experience of visiting a destination. Through those tools, they can stop talking about geography and share the emotional payoff of a real-life visit. This seems like a natural way to do that same thing for a younger market, and it's probably relatively inexpensive. Anyone have any other ideas for destinations to be re-created in a virtual world?

Comments

[Beth Kanter]

This is an educational project - and the kids did a real life visit and now are extending their learning about Morocco.

There is a Las Vegas sim ..

[David Brazeal]

Thanks, Beth. I should've made the educational aspect more clear in the post. I thought it was interesting that the Moroccan Mininstry of Tourism is involved. I'll have to check out the Las Vegas sim, too.