Perillo Travel Launching Updated App for VR Experiences

Perillo Travel is continuing its foray into the virtual reality (VR) creation business.

The New Jersey-based tour company had already launched its VR travel agent marketing campaign at the end of July 2018 that included sending virtual reality headsets to thousands of travel agents to enable them to view the first of the company’s new 360-degree virtual reality videos.

Now, Perillo is moving to the second phase of the rollout that will see it host VR videos on its Perillo VR app, and the brand will partner with travel companies to produce the marketing videos.

John C. Graham, a travel industry veteran of nearly three decades, is leading the initiative for Perillo. Speaking to Travel Market Report, Graham says he, and the team behind the company, view this month’s launch as a natural evolution to what Perillo has been doing since its creation.

“We’re taking the national TV advertising that Mario Perillo launched in the 1980s to the next level, to what we believe is the next form of mainstream media,” Graham said. “It’s going to help advisors close the sales process. What better way to show a client a destination?”

And, with the increase in affordability, Perillo believes it’s time to bring the technology industry-wide.

“It’s new media, which we consider to be mainstream and the most immersive experience that a travel professional can have,” Graham added. “The future is all about visualization, and I think what we’re doing here is really going to change the way travel is viewed, now only now but in the future.”

The creation will come through Perillo’s partnership with a London-based production company called infinitemr.com to help create the videos that will be hosted on the Perillo VR app, available in the app stores on both Androids and iPhones with the latest version available now.

The app is already loaded with VR experiences from Perillo Tours in Italy; Jamaica Tourism; London Bike Tours; Tahiti; National Museum of the American Indian; One World Trade Center; and more.

All the videos are viewable through a simple, cardboard Perillo VR headset. Every advisor or meeting planner that downloads the app is going to get a free Perillo VR headset that will allow them to fully immerse themselves in the product.

For the first six months of the project, Perillo is going to host videos on their app for free (Graham told Travel Market Report that Perillo is looking to charge for hosting videos through the app starting in 2020).

“When we launch our distribution platform with our library of videos, we’re going to have about 20 videos there, half what we produced ourselves and half with content people who want to reach travel agents,” he said.

Companies who produce through Perillo’s production arm and then host on the app will also get 100 complimentary headsets to send out to their top-producing travel agents.