XR for Tourism and Entertainment

Olga Resnik
Oct 29
3 min read

In previous posts, I’ve explored how XR can enhance a variety of applications across different industries. One area I haven’t touched yet is Tourism and Entertainment.

So today, let’s look at a widely relatable use case: Museum or Church Tour.

What value can XR bring to Tourism and Entertainment market?

We’ve all been there: visiting a museum, art gallery, or historic church while traveling, curious to learn the stories behind what we see. In these scenarios, XR can elevate the experience, offering rich information in context without relying on static signs or guided audio alone.

This use case emphasizes minimalism and smart feature selection, since every added function directly impacts hardware size, ease of use, comfort, social acceptability, and overall user experience.

So, how can XR for tourism and entertainment enrich the common user experience?

Let’s dive in the XR Feature Analysis.

Use Case#6: Museum / Church Tour

🟩 Key Features

Smart Vision (Feature#7): AI-based object recognition (or even simple QR-based triggers) can personalize and automate content delivery. This creates the experience of personal tour guide presence, who’s there to provide explanations and stories about what the user’s looking at.
3DoF (Feature#9): 3DoF tracking allows orientation-aware content delivery inside the site and steadiness during head movements.
System Output (Feature#12): The baseline for system-user communication is audio, which is also a standard tour guide experience we’re accustomed to. Thus, we consider this a base feature requirement.

🟨 Trade-Offs

Some decisions involve trade-offs and the design choices that set up the basic functionality point. Here are the main ones:

Display (Feature#1): The main architectural trade-off that has a fundamental impact on system design and all the resulting outcomes is the choice regarding the question: How is the information delivered to the user? Visual display vs Audio, this decision is not straight-forward, and there are pros and cons to each. This choice defines the hardware requirements and the user experience.
6DoF (Feature#10): Upgrade to 6DoF full spatial tracking for complete orientation inside buildings as an optional enhancement of user experience.
User Input (Feature#11): User input tracking can personalize the experience offering on-demand explanations or follow-up stories.

🟪 Optional Enhancements

Some features allow for future capabilities expansion, improving usability and performance over time:

AR Overlay (Feature#5): AR overlays can contextualize exhibits or architecture by placing digital content right on top of what visitors see. This is a cool addition to storytelling but can be saved for optional upgrades.
Multi-User Interaction (Feature#13): Multi-user interaction can enrich group tours, adding shared experiences or guided narration. The group tour coordination can elevate the experience and create a next level of storytelling, gamification, where each participant can get a unique experience orchestrated especially for him.

Market fit

Though it seems like a natural fit, this application is still underused in the market. The potential and room for creativity are nearly limitless, and the tourism market is really huge.

The architecture and trade-off choices we discuss here can help to create amazing experiences. Whether selecting a platform already available in the market, or building a custom one, this is something JOYA Team can help with.

If this is something you’re considering or want to explore further let’s talk.

You can find out more about our experience in the AR Design field.

Contact us to learn more and develop your XR application together.