A pioneering holiday business has opened in York – complete with a virtual reality room, where you can experience your trip without leaving the city.
Heritage Collection Travel is on Goodramgate near Monk Bar.
It is the brainchild of Michael Davies, who has 14 years in the travel business.
The shop has a unique decoration scheme, with greenery and a water feature on the left, and a city scape on the right – plus a plane flying through blue skies on the ceiling.
There’s even a table made from a former piece of York Minster, fresh from the stonemason’s yard.
But the biggest innovation is in the back room.
“Virtual reality is the new thing!” Michael told YorkMix. “I’ve not seen it before in travel.”
After watching someone use one of the VR headsets “I thought it’d be great to use that for travel, to give you an idea of your destination,” he said.
Using the Heritage Travel technology, you can immerse yourself in a 360º world, whether that’s a walk around your city hotel and nearby streets, or joining the crocs and zebras on a Serengeti river crossing.
“It gives you that feeling of what it’s like to be there – the thunder of the hooves and the number of animals that are there,” Michael said.
“Alternatively, you could be walking down the beach, discovering the location of the restaurants, with the sound of the waves in the background.
“So come in have a drink coffee, or something a bit stronger, and really live the experience of what your holiday could be.”
People ready for a getaway
The travel industry has suffered more than most during the Covid restrictions. But Michael is optimistic that people are ready to book holidays again.
“Travel in itself will always be a human need,” he said. “While there are still restrictions – and rightly so – hopefully people will want to sit down with a travel agent who can take you through the process from start to finish, with all the different financial protections that you might need.”
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Don’t a lot of people just book online now?
“I think people want a combination of both,” he said. “We do have our internet site – and internet prices – but with that service, which is so important to me as well.”
Heritage Collection covers everything from UK breaks to Arctic expeditions, honeymoons in the Maldives to safaris in Africa.
And the even better news? “The prices for Europe this summer are going to be absolutely fantastic,” Michael said.