W4- Yunong Article review

Source: Competition Forum 2008, Vol. 6 Issue 2.

“A Second Life for Tourism and Economic Development?: A Look at Early Experiments in Using Virtual Worlds to Promote Real World Sites.”

Authors: Wyld, David C.

Initially, I didn’t find some topic that I am very interested in about Second Life. Last week I find an article about the tourism and Second Life. I wonder if companies or government can use Second Life to build some landmarks to attract people to visit the real world landmarks in order to develop the economy of one place or one country. Thus this week I find another article about this topic.

Aim:

The aim of this article is to explore the effectiveness of using the Virtual Worlds like Second Life to promote real world landmarks and develop real economy.

Methods:

They picked some virtual reproductions of cities and landmarks in Second Life to analyse the benefits of building them.

The article gave two virtual cities which are Galveston and Tuscany to prove that digital visitors can explore the culture and landmarks about the real sites. Visitors also can purchase real-world items and build or rent their own virtual houses from the region.

Then, the article used some examples of virtual embassies, such as The Maldives, Sweden, Estonia, and Kazakhstan in Second Life to illustrate the functions of these virtual reproductions. (The virtual embassies can help the government to let visitors get tourist information about their country, some links to the official government offices and so on. It also can reconnect the expatriate to their home land by touring in the Second Life.)

Main findings:

The examples proved that a virtual world presence can expand the online presence of a real world site. The virtual environment could attract new visitors to the real world region. Virtual tours provide a chance for people who don’t have time, economic ability or who are disability to travel in their virtual lives. Many pre-programmed “experiences” will make people feel more interested in the real world sites. In the end of the article, it mentioned the ROI (return on investment). Building the virtual sites is a cost-effective way to attract mass audience.