Earlier this week, when escalating COVID-19 numbers threw cold water on travel plans everywhere, we did a walk through the Veerabhadra Temple in Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh, from the confines of our Mumbai office. Navigating us through the tour was our mouse, which at a click, not only offered 360 degree views of the 16th century site, but also directed us through every tiny alley in the temple complex, allowing us to zoom in and out of structures and sculptures that caught our attention along the way. The virtual tour, an experience recreated by Who VR, a startup at the cusp of heritage-tourism-culture-wellness-technology-neurosciences, comes at an uncertain time for the tourism industry.  

According to a report titled Indian Tourism Industry and COVID-19: A Sustainable Recovery Framework in a Post-Pandemic Era, published in October 2021 (Sage Journals), the travel and tourism industry in India, which employs around 87.5 million people either directly or indirectly, is at the risk of losing more than half of its workforce—up to 57 per cent—due to COVID-19. Can virtual tourism then revive and rebuild domestic travel in the coming years?