You Can Now Tour Alexandria In 360-Degree Virtual Reality

ALEXANDRIA, VA—What's almost as good as visiting Alexandria itself? Getting a 360-degree virtual reality tour on your computer.

That's now possible thanks to Visit Alexandria's initiative designed to spark interest among prospective visitors. The experience features 20 local attractions such as Captain’s Row, the Mount Vernon Trail, King Street, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, boat cruises on the Potomac River and the the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum.

In addition, local businesses are joining in to give web browsers a look around. A number of restaurants, shops, attractions and hotels, are participating in the project to display 360 imagery on Google Maps and Google Streetview. For instance, try taking a look inside Del Ray's Bon Vivant Cafe + Farm Market on Google Maps Streetview.

The feature is available on computers and smartphones, or visitors can get the full experience at the Alexandria Visitor Center's virtual reality station (221 King Street).

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The initiative aims to give a taste of what Alexandria is like, in hopes that they'll plan a visit. It's being funded in part through the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s Marketing Leverage Program $49,821 grant.

“360 and [virtual reality] are increasingly what travelers are thirsting for,” said Patricia Washington, president and CEO of Visit Alexandria, in a statement. “According to a 2017 study by Destination Analysts, more than half of travelers surveyed said they would be interested in using VR for travel inspiration. We are proud to be among the early adopters at the forefront of this new trend.”

Alexandria's emphasis on attracting tourists is no surprise given their crucial economic impact in the city. New data from the Virginia Tourism Corporation shows Alexandria had a record $790 million in visitor spending and $26.6 million in tax revenues during fiscal year 2017. In addition, its 73 percent hotel occupancy rate beats out the DC suburbs (72.3 percent) and national (65.5 percent) averages.

Check out the Visit Alexandria 360 feature here.

What other sites do you want to see featured in 360-degree tours? Let us know in the comments.

Image of Captain's Row via YouVisit, courtesy of Visit Alexandria