Holidaymakers will now be able to try before they buy on a virtual reality tour at their travel agent. <\/p>\n
Instead of flicking through brochures, Thomas Cook customers can put on a headset and experience their luxury hotel or cruise ship. <\/p>\n
The goggles will also allow travellers to take a reality walk on foreign beaches or go sight-seeing without leaving the store. <\/p>\n
Customers can choose from 40 videos which will bring to life different parts of their trip, from the plane journey to the resort itself. <\/p>\n
Thomas Cook has tried out the headsets at eight branches and plans to introduce them at 17 more by 2019. <\/p>\n
Figures from the Association of British Travel Agents show three-quarters of four holidays are now booked online. But Thomas Cook believes new technology may attract us back to stores. <\/p>\n
A spokesman said: Customers like it. The Royal Caribbeans cruise ship video led to 45 per cent increase in bookings. <\/p>\n
Rival firm Tui, which owns Thomson and First Choice, is also trialling reality headsets with videos and interactive touch screens and plans to ditch its own brochures by 2020. <\/p>\n
But Thomas Cook says it has no plans to scrap brochures yet. <\/p>\n
Fancy abseiling down Table Mountain or taking a helicopter ride across the New York skyline? <\/p>\n
I experienced both when I tried the virtual reality tours at Thomas Cooks branch at Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, East London. <\/p>\n
The videos, which last from two and a half to five minutes, are surprisingly realistic. <\/p>\n
Thomas Cook manager Zak Bihmoutine showed me how to use a headset. <\/p>\n
One moment I was listening to a jazz band in Central Park, the next I was admiring the view from Empire State Building. <\/p>\n
Even better was my virtual reality trip to South Africa where I inched my way down Table Mountain then hang-glided across the beach at Cape Town. <\/p>\n
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Virtual reality tours through headsets at travel agents could spell the end of holiday brochures - Mirror.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Holidaymakers will now be able to try before they buy on a virtual reality tour at their travel agent. Continue reading