via Luxury Travel Magazine, 19 January 2021: Unlike other virtual tours, this one connects tourists to tour guides on the ground through a video link. At least this way there are locals on the ground receiving some benefit from this arrangement. You can see a video of this process at work here.
Exploration Travel Myanmar has announced a new tour to visit the Unesco World heritage temples of Bagan virtually with private, live tours to individual clients. In the first week of operation the company already sold several tours to clients from Tour operators in Germany and the Netherlands and is planning to expand to other tour operators worldwide and other locations in Myanmar.
According to Exploration’s Managing Director, Edwin Briels, the main reason to launch these virtual tours is to “create jobs and income for Bagan based tourist guides who have been deprived for income for many months now”. Overseas Tour operators can book a private tour in Bagan that lasts about 45 minutes, using Zoom software. The guide has a camera with stabilizer, an electric bike and a mobile phone connection and takes the clients through a certain route explaining about the history of Bagan, life style in the village and showing some of the highlight temples like the Ananda and the Dhammayangyi temple. During the whole tour clients can ask the guide to move the camera in any direction, ask questions and have a live virtual tour with a private guide who is the eyes and ears on the ground.
Source: Exploration Travel Myanmar launches first virtual tours of Unesco World heritage Bagan temples
