Bird Hive Lake District VR

Background

MMU’s Augmented and Virtual Reality Hub spent the last weekend in July at Kendal Calling to showcase and research the BirdHIVE Virtual Reality (VR) Experience. Bird HIVE is an innovative (VR) experience showcased at Kendal Calling and Lakes Alive festivals (end of August) in celebration of the Lake District National Park bid to become a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Challenge

MMU’s main involvement lies in the research side of this project and testing how virtual reality applications are perceived to influence tourists intention to visit destinations.

Creative approach

We are using a Virtual Reality application to enhance tourists’ experiences. During the three day festival, Dr. Timothy Jung, Dr. Dario tom Dieck, Dr. Mandy tom Dieck and Natasha Moorhouse from MMU and partners from Lake District National Park and Lakes Alive showcased the application, developed by Draw and Code, to young and old alike

Outcome

The study found that VR creates a fully immersive experience and influence the intention to visit destinations in the future. In addition, technologies can enhance the motivation to spread positive word-of-mouth. Overall, our research confirmed that more than 90% of the 741 surveyed participants are more likely to visit the Lake District after experiencing it in VR. 

Check out the Bird Hive Lake District VR video on YouTube