Mobile-social-pano: 2013’s rising star in visual communication

If a photo is worth a thousand words, then a ‘pano’ is worth a thousand photos. That is the view of Dan Smigrod TourWrist’s chief marketing officer and it seems 18 travel companies agree, writes Pamela Whitby.

When EyeforTravel.com interviewed Charles Armstrong, the founder and chief executive of TourWrist, a virtual tour platform, late last year he let slip that something big was on the horizon. At the time the company had recently won four awards at PhoCusWright’s Travel Innovation Summit as well as seed-round investment totaling $1.25 million.

Then this week the company announced that it has licensed its technology, which empowers consumers to film, view and share 360-degree panoramic videos, to 18 companies.

San Francisco’s Viator.com, an online resource for researching and booking tours and activities worldwide, is one. “For Viator, it’s all about inspiring the traveller and helping them find and book the local experiences that will be perfect for their trip,” says Barrie Seidenberg, CEO and president of Viator,“TourWrist’s ‘pano’ technology will be a great addition to our travel planning tools which are available across our online and mobile platforms.”

AlwaysOnVacation, a vacation rental marketplace with 60,000 properties, says the partnership will enable property owners to shoot and share 360-degree panoramic images via their smartphones, tablets and computers.  TourWrist’s virtual tour viewer and capture technology will be integrated into the AlwaysOnVacation app and website. “Renters will now have more information to make more educated and confident decisions about their ideal rental properties with more complete, detailed spherical panoramas at their fingertips,” says Jeff Idso, CEO of AlwaysOnVacation.  

A new communication medium

So are virtual tours, which are relatively new to the online travel industry, about to become mainstream? Dan Smigrod, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer of TourWrist certainly thinks so.“TourWrist is preparing to reach tens of millions of travellers in 2013,” he says with a strategy that includes licensing the technology – the virtual tour viewer and capture technology – to integrate into travel companies apps and websites.

Smigrod even goes as far as saying that 2013 will be “the year of mobile-social-pano”.  Of course TourWrist is not the only firm involved in these initiatives; other big names like Apple, Google and Microsoft are too. But of the four companies, only TourWrist licenses its technology for integration in travel companies' apps and website, explains Smigrod. “Travellers want to share their memories – as they are experiencing them – and the TourWrist technology enables their friends and colleagues to 'teleport in' to experience the same moment in time.”

With the world going increasingly mobile in the researching, planning and booking stages of travel, the ability to deliver a magical shooting, viewing and sharing experience via mobile, seems a winner.

TourWrist is quickly becoming the YouTube of virtual tour images, says Smigrod. While some firms may be focused on geo-search databases, TourWrist believes that a bigger opportunity exists. “When translated into immersive, interactive virtual tours, panoramic photography is a new visual communication medium,” he says.

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