You Don’t Need An Oculus Rift to Enjoy Qantas New Immersive Tour of Hamilton Island

If you don’t have the money to pay for an Oculus Rift, and always wanted to take one of those 360 degree tours people go on about, worry not: Qantas, Samsung, and Google have it sorted.

Qantas, which introduced virtual reality entertainment for its premium passengers earlier this year,  has taken the new trend of airlines experimenting with the technology, blended it with the trend of airline destination marketing, tossed in some Samsung and Google secret-sauce, and served up a fresh-tainment salad on YouTube, aimed to make viewers hungry for a personal visit come the next Aussie summer.

On a computer, the new video, Visit Hamilton Island in 360º Virtual Reality with Qantas, can only be enjoyed on a Google Chrome browser. But that’s a free download. It can also be viewed on iOS and Android mobile devices with the latest version of the YouTube app. Also free.

A controller on the upper left hand corner of the video lets viewers turn the image, in Google Street-view fashion, with smooth video playback.

As Qantas explains:

“In this revolutionary three dimensional, 360 degree Virtual Tourism experience, you can fly with the pilots in the cockpit of a Qantas jet as it lands at Hamilton Island airport, relax at the world-class luxurious resort qualia, swim with sea turtles and an abundance of tropical marine life in the Great Barrier Reef, play golf at Hamilton Island’s Championship golf course, enjoy breathtaking aerial views from a helicopter tour over the iconic heart reef, and sail to the magnificent Whitehaven Beach on a yacht.”

If you’re not using Chrome or the right YouTube app, this will look flat: