Digital Tourism: The Rise of Staycation and Virtual Travel Trends

This report explores the increasing relevance of staycations and virtual travel, particularly in the UK and China, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry. It discusses how restrictions led to the adoption of staycations and virtual tours as alternatives, enabling tourism businesses to sustain themselves. The report details the definitions of staycation and virtual travel, highlighting the role of digital technologies and social media in promoting these trends. It analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on staycations in the UK, noting a significant increase in popularity and the influence of social media in promoting staycation activities. Furthermore, it examines the role of virtual tours in keeping tourism alive in China, with examples of virtual museum tours attracting large online audiences. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of social media in enhancing awareness and engagement in both staycations and virtual tours, influencing travel decisions and fostering interaction among individuals. The research methodology involved using secondary data from various online sources, articles, and statistical data to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Digital Tourism

Table of content
• Introduction
• Main Body
• Conclusion
• References

Introduction
The relevance of scope of staycation and virtual travel has
significantly increased during the period of pandemic due to
discontinuation of activities of individuals in travelling across
various geographical territories. The implications of covid-19
was severe on the tourism industry which resulted in emergence
of the new concepts of staycation and virtual tour. In this
presentation, the emerging concept of staycation and virtual tour
is discussed. It has resulted in growing significance of tourism
activity which was completely lost during the course of
pandemic. This presentation discuss the relevance and growing
trend of planning staycations and active engagement of
individuals in virtual tours. It reflects on the importance and
reasons which are resulting in growing relevance of staycations
and virtual tour. Moreover, in the last it also covers aspects of
which influenced choice of conducting research.

Continue
Overview of the topic
The consequences imposed due to sudden outbreak of
covid-19 has resulted in the increased significance of staycation
and virtual travel in UK as well as China. The growing
restrictions and regulations has increased the demand of
staycations and virtual travel. As a result, tourism businesses
managed to survive and maintain their sustenance in declining
conditions of pandemic. The concept of staycation promotes a
range of travel activities among individuals and provides them
with content to share on the social media which overall impacts
the growth and development of the tourism industry. The
concept of virtual travel is facilitated by digital technologies
and allows individuals to engage in a personalised exploring
and thrilling experience. The gruesome situations imposed due
to pandemic has resulted in major downfall of tourism sector
and it resulted in loss of tourism significance. The concept of
staycation provides a safe travel opportunity for the purpose of
spending quality time with family or indulge in travel
experience to nearby areas.

Staycation:
Staycation refers to the vacation that is basically spend at
home or nearby home as well as in one's home country. It is
associated with fun and leisure activities that are to be completed
within a day. Usually, this concept allows individuals' to spend
overnight accommodation at their own home. A staycation is
basically a stay at nearby places which does not involve packing and
is more affordable as it is typically one day stay without need of
overnight accommodation. This allows individuals to indulge in
thrilling experience giving vibe of travelling through involving in
leisure activities. It allows individuals to promote significance of
tourism without being actually engaging in physical tourism
activities. Moreover, it is a cost-effective approach which promotes
tourism and saves time as well as expenses along with eliminating
worry of packing hustle.

Virtual Travel:
The term virtual travel refers to the concept
of providing audience with tourism experiences with
the use of digital techniques and advancements. The
3D effects and high quality visuals allow individuals to
embrace a real time experience with the use of modern
technologies. The concept of virtual tour uses a range
of digital technologies to showcase the individuals
with a sequence of pictures or videos in high quality
ensuring enthralling travelling experience. It make
effective use of a range of a multimedia effects
including sound elements, high quality audio with
relevant texts and narrated quotes.

Impact of COVID – 19 on staycation in the UK.
It is a very well known fact that tourism industry is one of the major
sector which has suffered immensely from the impacts of pandemic.
The restrictions and regulations caused due to covid-19 has resulted in
shutdown or downfall of tourism sector through complete stoppage of
audience engagement in tourism sector. However, the declining of
scope of tourism and travelling has made individuals to discover other
ways of spending leisure time and experience elements of tourism.
Staycation has became a popular concept during pandemic which has
shown growth of approximately 500% in the year 2020. the growing
expectations of consumers to indulge in travelling experiences has
made the concept famous. The increasing regulations on free roaming
has made individuals to plan staycation for outing and coping stress.
The residents of UK has claimed that they have planned holistays or
staycation during the pandemic to spend quality time with family or
individual time for reading or journalising purpose.

Growing scope of staycation due to social media
influence
The scope of staycation has also raised due to the trend of
sharing pictures and videos on Instagram and on snapchat
with the trending use of hashtags. Staycations was widely
promoted among residents of UK on their social media
platforms due to which other people were inspired to
indulge in travelling activities through planning
staycations. It has been argued that individuals nowadays
use Instagram widely for the purpose of researching travel
options and plan their choices accordingly. The impact of
social media is wide-spread in promotion of staycations as
audience are likely to follow the trends of Instagram
specially if influencers or famous celebrities are involved
in it. The increasing trend of staycation is due to the
extreme involvement of influencers and bloggers in the fun
and leisure activities of staycation.

The role of virtual tours in keeping tourism alive in China
The situations created by abrupt outbreak of covid-19 has emerged the
concept of virtual travel as well specifically in China. It enabled a mass
level of audience to experience the beauty of France's iconic louvre
museum through gadgets and electronic devices. It has enabled
individuals to explore travel destinations without being actually have to
travel and break social distancing rules. The virtual tour was able to
manage approximately more than 400,000 people on online platforms to
experience the beauty of artistic endeavours and popular masterpieces.
These virtual tours are performed by professional guides having great
expertise and knowledge of historic events related to the destination.
The emergence and worldwide popularity of virtual tour has resulted in
increasing importance and significance of tourism in China. The concept
of virtual tour has promoted enthusiasm and satisfied audience demands
of exploring beautiful places and experiencing essence of tourism.
Moreover, these virtual tours enabled individuals to maintain interaction
with hosts and guides and ask them relevant and related questions to
obtain information.

The role of social media in enhancing importance of staycations and
virtual tour
The growing involvement and enhancement of virtual travel including
livestreaming trends have increased the engagement of audience in
tourism activities. The use of Social media platforms like Snapchat and
Instagram have made people more aware regarding the hosting and
organising of live events promoting virtual travel. It has resulted in
growing audience engagement and raise their expectations of travelling
and exploring new places. In recent years, the trend of promoting live
shows and virtual tours has increased through celebrities starring in such
virtual tours. The virtual travel of famous museums and sites are also
often promoted by celebrities as the host of these events sponsor
celebrities to attain maximum customer engagement in the shows. The
concept of staycation is rapidly growing as more influencers or bloggers
are sharing their experiences of staycation on relevant platforms of social
media. The constant promotion of activities of staycation and exciting
experiences of individuals are resulting in significant importance of
staycations.

The approaches of research used
The approach used in enabling research was
supported with secondary data which mainly includes different
sources like internet, government statistics and various other
readily available sources. Moreover, it also includes other
methods of obtaining information such as published articles and
journals as well as conducting surveys or analysing reports. The
secondary research is convenient for this purpose as it helps in
providing reliable data and information based on authenticity of
source that is being used. It helps in accessing a lot of
information with the assistance of various sources and
abundance of information available on numerous websites and
on other platforms of secondary sources. In addition to this, the
approaches used in this research was based on both quantitative
and qualitative aspects. This research was facilitated
considering statistical data from various sources which has
indicated the impact of covid-19 on enhancing significance of
staycation and virtual tour.
Question 1: What research did you undertake to create your news report? What sources did you
find useful and why.

Discussing the sources used along with their purpose
There are numerous sources which has been used in acquiring
information and knowledge related to the topic. The sources
that are being used in this news report are mainly include the
secondary data from various articles and online websites. The
purpose of using secondary data is to collect information in
detail and more elaborated manner which enable access of
information to facilitate research. The use of statistical data
enables the accessibility of information which helped in
analysing the concept of increasing emergence of staycation and
virtual travel in UK and China. Considering human aspects and
convictions of individuals on indulgence in staycations and
virtual tour has enabled the acquisition of knowledge in broad
sense. . The sources used in this research are reliable as it is
collected considering the aspects of current trends of YouTube
and significance of livestreaming on the channels of Instagram.
This information was collected through analysing recent
growing trends of staycation and virtual tour. This research was
also facilitated through personal observation and through
evaluating increasing scope of individuals towards staycations
activities.