Las Vegas is increasingly turning to virtual reality to lure prospective tourists and conventioneers to the city.
Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly, who chairs the board of directors of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, told attendees of a recent business gathered that the city has one of the largest menus of virtual reality experiences available on a smartphone.
The technology, called Vegas VR, was launched last year and is available as a free downloadable app on iTunes and Google Play Store for users with a special viewer on their devices.
The authority demonstrated the technology at Preview, an annual networking and forecasting event sponsored by the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce. Held earlier this month, the show drew an estimated 1,900 people.
Jeremy Handel, a spokesman for the LVCVA, termed the app a success because of the access the city’s gaming resorts offer the LVCVA to record various locations and experiences to turn them into 360-degree, three-dimensional views.
The programs shown at Preview included a virtual ride down Las Vegas Boulevard and a front-row seat to a Cirque du Soleil performance. People wearing the VR viewer could look left or right to see the various resorts on the Strip and up and down to see the tops of the buildings on the route.
“Thanks to virtual reality, we can market our town and bring Las Vegas to life to consumers like never before,” said Weekly. “We now capture 360-(degree) video that offers the ability to completely immerse the viewer in the Las Vegas experience by allowing them to test-drive hotels and restaurants and experience the destination. We’re able to provide both education and something to look forward to when visiting Las Vegas.”
Handel said there are plans to add virtual tours of the resorts’ convention facilities to provide additional interest in the LVCVA’s growing trade show presence.
