Thomson trials futuristic holiday experiences

Thomson Holidays is hoping to boost sales during the peak January period by offering holidaymakers a ‘virtual holiday experience’. The company’s Lunn Poly shops – currently being rebranded to Thomson – will offer holidaymakers a 3-D guided tour of attractions and surround vision, sound and smells which can be experienced via a special headset. Initially, the 3-D tours will only be available for Egypt, which the operator is heavily promoting for 2005. But it is hoping to add more destinations in future. “We are hoping to work with tourist boards on this one, because the bulk of the cost is in the filming,” said a spokeswoman for Thomson. “Rather than watching a video, this will provide quite a personal experience and hopefully encourage people to book a holiday to Egypt. “These days people go into a record shop and listen to records before they buy. This will be a similar experience.” The new technology has been created by Thomson in association with Remote Media, which created Lunn Poly’s “whispering windows”, which announced details of deals to customers in the street. The spokeswoman added: “We want to add excitement to the high street shopping experience. Buying a holiday should be fun and our aim is to inject new energy into our holiday shops.”