If you’re part of a destination marketing team (DMO) or tourism board, you know the challenge: 

Capturing the attention of potential visitors, whether they’re solo travelers, families, or businesses planning conferences or trade shows. How do you stand out in a sea of destinations all vying for the spotlight? How do you make people feel so excited about your city or region that they’re ready to pack their bags or book that big event?

Your answer could be virtual tours. 

Virtual tours offer a fresh, interactive way to showcase your destination, allowing visitors and event planners to explore your destination highlights in an immersive format. By providing an engaging virtual experience, these tours can turn casual interest into real action, helping people feel more confident in choosing your location for their next trip or event.

Let’s take a look at how virtual tours can become your secret weapon for increasing tourism and attracting big events.

The Problem: Getting Event Planners to Choose Your Destination

We all know how it goes. There are endless places for businesses to consider. The challenge for tourism boards is twofold:

1. Standing out: How do you rise above the noise when everyone else is also showing off their best beaches, iconic skylines, and event spaces?
2. Closing the deal: Once you’ve piqued their interest, how do you give potential visitors and event planners the confidence they need to book?

The Solution: Virtual 360 Tours to the Rescue

SeekBeak’s virtual 360 tours give you the tools to show off your destination in a way that’s engaging, immersive, and (best of all) easy for people to interact with. Whether your goal is to attract individual travelers, families, or event organizers, virtual tours provide a unique solution to turn curiosity into commitment.

Here’s how virtual tours can make your destination shine:

Let Event Planners “Experience” the Venue Before Committing

When event planners scout potential locations, they need to visualize the entire experience. From conference spaces to nearby hotels and entertainment options, virtual tours provide the next best thing to being there in person. With a platform like SeekBeak’s, planners can explore your city’s meeting venues, tour convention centers, and even get a sense of the local dining scene, all without leaving their office. It’s a valuable tool that allows them to see exactly how their event could unfold in your destination.

Example: Virtual Town Hall

Check out this impressive virtual townhall, created entirely by students using SeekBeak! This is an example that shows that the platform, even those new to immersive tech can design professional-grade experiences like this one.

Explore the virtual townhall here.

Interactive Features that Keep Visitors Engaged

A big part of what makes SeekBeak’s virtual tours so charming is the interactive features. They’re not just static views—they’re filled with clickable hotspots, videos, and pop-ups that give users the information they need, right when they need it. 

• Want to know how close that hotel is to the convention center? Click. 
• Want to check out the menu at a nearby restaurant? Click. 

The interactive nature of these tours helps visitors and planners engage more deeply with your city, making them feel more connected and ready to book.

Learn about all of SeekBeak’s features

Data-Driven Insights to Fine-Tune Your Strategy

SeekBeak’s platform doesn’t just help you create stunning virtual tours, it also gives you analytics and insights into how people are interacting with them. You’ll know what areas of the tour get the most attention, what information visitors are clicking on, and how you can fine-tune your tour to better meet your audience’s needs. This data can help you optimize your marketing efforts and increase bookings, whether it’s from vacationers or corporate event planners.

Here’s how Reporting and Analytics help you make data-driven decisions about how you’re using SeekBeak and how folks are interacting with your virtual tours.

Your Next Steps

For DMOs looking to stay competitive and attract more visitors and events, here are a few actionable steps to consider:

1. Audit Your Current Assets: Take stock of your region’s venues, attractions, and accommodations that could benefit from being showcased through virtual 360 tours. Start with spaces that are most popular or have untapped potential.
2. Collaborate with Local Stakeholders: Work with local businesses, hotels, and event spaces to create an interconnected virtual experience. By including multiple partners, you can provide a more complete picture of what your destination offers, enhancing the appeal for tourists and event organizers.
3. Leverage Data for Optimization: Use the insights from virtual tour analytics to see what areas are drawing the most interest. Are visitors exploring hotels, event venues, or outdoor attractions more? Use this data to refine your marketing strategy and better meet the needs of your audience.
4. Invest in Virtual Tours: Whether for leisure tourism or business events, offering virtual tours gives planners and travelers an immersive way to engage with your destination. Prioritize areas where visitors and event planners need the most reassurance—like large venues, transportation options, or hidden gems that might be overlooked in traditional marketing. And don’t worry, you don’t need to be a tech wizard to put together a virtual tour, SeekBeak is simple and powerful.

By taking these steps, DMOs can stay ahead in the competitive landscape of destination marketing, providing engaging, practical tools that make it easier for travelers and event planners to choose your city or region.