Russians taking virtual tours - we are way ahead of their game
April 24th, 2006 | by Klaus Holzapfel |One country that gets often overlooked in today’s globalization debate is Russia. There are ton of well educated, hard working individuals in this country. You don’t see too many Russian tourists?
Question:What are Russians doing for vacation then?
Answer: They are spending their summers in their dachas reading at least five Dostoyevskys. Yes, but that’s only part of the story.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung in Germany reports an interesting trend of virtual traveling in Moscow. Some Russians fake their entire vacations including holiday images, postcards, tanning, information about cultural events, clubs and restaurants. A two week virtual trip to Argentina can be booked for less than $500.
Why on earth would anybody do that?
It gives the “travelers” the opportunity to get back to work and impress their co-workers with stories about trips they could never afford. They appear more “traveled”. Others might use a virtual trip for a little secret getaway.
The fact that a whole (albeit small) industry is developing around this phenomenon got my mind going.
- When is Orbitz starting to offer those trips? (Beware if the far appears to be too low to be real)
- What ever happened wit the glove and glasses form that virtual reality Master Card ad? Is it available on eBay?
- How could marketers use this new trend? Maybe give virtual trips away as sweepstake prizes? Better not…
- Product placement could be incorporated into virtual trips (”They have that new drink that everybody likes…”)
Enough of the devil speaking.
USA vs. Russia - a quick comparison
Americans like to compare themselves to Russians because of the old cold war rivalries (man to the moon, Hockey & Basketball games etc…). Russians are good sport.
My message to the guys from Russia: We are far ahead in this avoid-traveling race.
Just look at the facts:
- We don’t fake our trips around the world to our friends and colleagues, we even fake them to ourselves. We have this little watering whole in the desert that let’s you travel almost the entire world on one street.
- We also have a government that supports our efforts not to travel:
They worked really hard to damage our reputation around the world. Who wants to go places if nobody likes you?
That’s what I call proactive thinking. Not some fake trips to Brazil, Argentina, Italy, France, Spain or Egypt. Who cares about all that old stuff out there anyway?
Note to Russians:
We have this place named Hawaii that is really really cheap. All you Russians should come. Lots of geat culture out there and most of it comes in Bikinis.
