Virtual tourism experience for destinations
Nplay builds the virtual tourism experience Saudi Arabia's destinations can share with visitors before they travel. A destination has one job: make people want to come, then help them once they arrive. We combine the Nplay Halo Box, multilingual AI avatars, hologram historical figures and immersive video tours into a single programme a tourism board can run from one dashboard — in Saudi Arabia, Jordan or at a fair abroad.
Awareness first, then the visit
Most destination marketing still relies on printed brochures, a stand at a travel fair and a video loop. The visitor reads, watches and walks on. Nothing answers a question, nothing remembers the visitor's language, and nothing can be updated once the material is printed.
In 2024 we prepared a national tourism-awareness proposal for a destination authority in Saudi Arabia. The idea was simple: let visitors engage with historical figures, a tour guide and artefacts through touch, voice and AI avatars, using hardware that needs only electricity and internet. This page describes how we would deploy that programme for any destination or tourism board. Where a scenario comes from that proposal rather than a delivered project, we say so.
What we would deploy
Five building blocks, all from one supplier, all managed from one cloud dashboard.
Hologram historical figures
Founders, explorers, poets and rulers recreated as life-size 3D characters inside the Halo Box. Our 3D studio writes the script, models the figure and animates the story — the same craft we used for a national memorial in Jordan.
Hologram services →Hologram historical figuresHologram tour guide
An AI avatar trained on the destination's knowledge base: sites, opening hours, routes, history. It answers in the visitor's language, in real time, from a kiosk, a box or a phone.
AI hologram presenters →Hologram tour guideHalo Box booths instead of stands
A Halo Box replaces the traditional exhibition stand at travel fairs and in visitor centres. It ships assembled, works in a lit hall, and swaps content for every event from the cloud.
Halo Box specifications →Halo Box booths instead of standsImmersive VOD tours
Proposed programme: 3D picture-in-picture recordings of landmarks, published as on-demand tours for headsets, phones and web. Our Phase-1 plan targeted 20 tourism locations.
Immersive broadcasting →Immersive VOD toursDestination metaverse
A 3D version of the destination where visitors plan a trip, walk landmarks with a guide and buy tourism products in a 3D portal — before they travel.
Metaverse platforms →Destination metaverseTraditional stand vs Halo Box booth
| Factor | Traditional stand | Halo Box booth |
|---|---|---|
| Footprint | Custom build per event, several metres of floor | One cabinet, 2071 × 600 mm footprint |
| Content refresh | Reprint, rebuild, re-ship | Update from the cloud CMS in minutes |
| Languages | Staff on hand, printed translations | AI avatar answers in the visitor's language |
| Interaction | Read and watch | 40-point touch, voice, live Q&A |
| Reuse | Largely single-use | Same unit moves fair to fair, centre to centre |
| Measurement | Business cards and estimates | Dashboard analytics on plays, sessions and questions |
From storyline to first visitor
Discovery and storyline
We map the visitor journey — awareness abroad, arrival, on-site — and decide which figures, sites and stories carry the destination.
Content production
Our 3D and film studios model the historical figures, film presenters for live hologram streaming and train the AI guide on the official knowledge base.
Deployment
Halo Boxes arrive assembled at visitor centres, airports and fairs. Power, internet, pairing to the cloud — then a trial show with your team.
Operate and measure
One dashboard schedules content across every unit, streams live broadcasts from landmarks, and reports what visitors asked and watched.
Tourism is where immersive spend is heading
Places a destination programme earns its keep
- Visitor centres and heritage sites — a guide that never leaves the desk
- International travel fairs — one box replaces the stand, content changes per market
- Airports and border points — first impression in the traveller's own language
- Hotel lobbies and malls — hologram tour guide selling excursions and experiences
- Roadshows abroad — the portable unit travels with the delegation
- Online — a destination metaverse and VOD tours reach people who have not booked yet
Virtual tourism experience Saudi Arabia: frequently asked questions
Has Nplay delivered a virtual tourism experience in Saudi Arabia already?
The destination programme on this page is a proposed deployment prepared for a Saudi tourism authority in 2024. Its components are delivered products: the Halo Box, the AI avatar system, the cloud CMS and our 3D studio, which built a multi-hall hologram experience for a national memorial museum in Jordan in 2023.
How does a hologram tour guide work?
An AI avatar is created, given a persona, voice and languages, then taught the destination's knowledge base. It is published to a Halo Box, kiosk or phone, listens through the built-in microphone array and answers visitors in real time. Tourism technology in Saudi Arabia needs Arabic and English at minimum; more languages can be added.
Can historical figures be shown respectfully and accurately?
Yes. Scripts are written with the client's historians, reviewed before 3D production, and approved at storyboard stage. We followed exactly this review path for the memorial project in Jordan.
Does the Halo Box need a dark room like a projection hologram?
No. It is a sealed cabinet with a transparent LCD and internal lighting, so it works in a lit visitor centre or exhibition hall. Projection holograms remain the better choice for very large halls; see our hologram services page for both.
What does the tourism board need to provide?
The storyline and approvals, the official knowledge base for the AI guide, and a location with power and internet. We provide hardware, content production, installation, training and support.
Keep exploring
Services
Guides and articles
Put your destination inside a box
Send us one landmark and one story. We will show you how it looks as a hologram, an AI guide and a virtual tour — in Riyadh or Amman.