{"id":98885253,"date":"2016-08-22T12:59:42","date_gmt":"2016-08-22T16:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/?p=98885253"},"modified":"2016-08-22T15:44:01","modified_gmt":"2016-08-22T19:44:01","slug":"pokemon-go-will-the-game-become-a-game-changer-in-the-travel-bizz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/pokemon-go-will-the-game-become-a-game-changer-in-the-travel-bizz\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon Go: Will the Game Become a Game Changer in the Travel Bizz?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a human on planet Earth, chances are you\u2019ve heard of Pok\u00e9mon Go, or are already playing it. If not, well, maybe you should get going.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pok\u00e9mon is a Japanese media franchise based on fictional characters called \u201cPok\u00e9mon,\u201d which humans (also known as Pok\u00e9mon Trainers) catch and train to battle each other. Though it\u2019s been around since 1995 with collectible cards, a television show, and video games, Pok\u00e9mon Go is the franchise\u2019s first foray into augmented reality.<\/p>\n

The game has broken nearly every mobile game record, and is now the<\/span> biggest game in mobile history<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]With <\/span>20 million active daily users<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and 100 million downloads, the app made between $3.9 — 4.9 million on day one, and is predicted to have made $200 million since its launch a month ago (a predicted $10 million a day).<\/span>[\/perfectpullquote]<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s so much more than a game. Known as augmented reality, Pok\u00e9mon Go isn\u2019t just another virtual world, where players can get lost (i.e. World of Warcraft and Second Life) – it\u2019s a virtual world essentially overlaid on the real world. For the first time maybe ever, the game developers at Nintendo have done what Michelle Obama, teachers, and our parents have been trying to get kids to do for years – go out and play. Only thing is they\u2019re using the game\u2019s platform to do so, and it appeals to more than just kids.<\/span><\/p>\n

And while there\u2019s plenty out there about what it\u2019s doing for individuals (<\/span>this guy <\/span><\/a>quit his job to catch \u2018em all, a college ballplayer <\/span>was shot <\/span><\/a>while playing in San Francisco, some players <\/span>broke into<\/span><\/a> the Toledo Zoo, \u00a0and there was a <\/span>stampede <\/span><\/a>in Central Park when a Vaporeon showed up), it\u2019s also transforming the travel industry. In fact, the app has been out for just over a month, and the transformation has already begun.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are two camps for how the travel industry has reacted to it. While many businesses are taking advantage of the game\u2019s popularity since you actually have to go somewhere to \u201ccatch\u201d the elusive Pok\u00e9mon, others aren\u2019t loving the game. In fact, <\/span>whole countries <\/span><\/a>have outright banned it.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Camp Love, we have National Parks. Thrilled about the traffic it\u2019s driving to their grounds, several parks and monuments (including Thomas Jefferson\u2019s homestead Monticello) have begun to post about the rare Pok\u00e9mon found<\/span> on their grounds <\/span><\/a>on Facebook and other social media sites, garnering attention from locals and visitors alike. And the National Mall and Memorial in Washington D.C. have taken it to a whole new level and are offering <\/span>ranger-guided Pok\u00e9mon Go hunts.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Local businesses are also in Camp Love – as long as they play their cards right. Businesses can benefit from the buzz by paying to send out \u201clures\u201d to drive traffic to their storefront. <\/span>L\u2019Inzio pizzeria bar<\/span><\/a> in Long Island, Queens, is taking full advantage, paying $10 to lure characters to their location. Since they did that, the restaurant\u2019s business has shot up 75%.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s just the beginning. Pok\u00e9mon Go tours have already been announced. <\/span>Junior Travel <\/span><\/a>out of Spain was one of the first to launch an official tour, and received over 2,000 applicants for the guide position. Launching in Valencia, Barcelona, and Madrid, the tour takes rookies to hot-spots for Pok\u00e9mon throughout the city. And <\/span>Tony Kenmuir out of Edinburgh<\/span><\/a>\u00a0boasts a taxi route that offers <\/span>50 <\/span><\/i>potential Pok\u00e9mon targets on a single journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

An<\/span> Austin tour bus <\/span><\/a>is doing something similar, offering extended bus rides to catch the Pok\u00e9mon. The tour’s founder Philip Lloyd guides passengers in tracking the live creatures, alerting passengers when they\u2019re coming up on them and offering background information on Austin neighborhoods they pass through when there\u2019s a lull. \u201cAlright, everyone,\u201d he said, \u201cso we have a Kadabra coming up. We have about 90 seconds to catch it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When embraced properly, there are hundreds of ways businesses and sites can capitalize off of the game. But the game is definitely not without its critics.<\/p>\n

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Although the game offers many benefits such as exercise, sun, and the opportunity to make new friends, it also leads visitors to sites where it may be inappropriate to play the game.[\/perfectpullquote]<\/p>\n

The National Parks, while thrilled about the traffic it\u2019s driving to their grounds, announced that people need to pay attention to their surroundings, \u00a0since there are real animals there and places where <\/span>you can hurt yourself\u00a0<\/span><\/a>if distracted. Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania also issued a <\/span>Facebook reminder <\/span><\/a>that the park is \u201csacred ground,\u201d hoping that Pok\u00e9mon doesn\u2019t get in the way of the respect the space requires.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the Holocaust Museum and Poland\u2019s Auschwitz Memorial have<\/span> pleaded with Pok\u00e9mon <\/span><\/a>hunters to stop playing on their sacred grounds. Andrew Hollinger, the communications director for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum told USA TODAY, \u201cTechnology can be an important learning tool, but this game falls far outside our educational and memorial mission.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of The Simon Wiesenthal Center, <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>, \u201cThis can\u2019t be another chapter, it can\u2019t be another scavenger hunt. That\u2019s a desecration of the memory of the victims and it\u2019s a cheapening of the history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But sacred sites aren\u2019t the only ones concerned. Safety is also a very big issue. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo <\/span>recently announced <\/span><\/a>that registered sex offenders would not be allowed to download the game as a condition of their sentence. Since 22% of users are minors, they become potential targets for sex offenders, especially since they are distracted, and lured to the same sites adults are. They are also hoping to prevent any Pok\u00e9stops from appearing less than 100 feet from a registered sex offender\u2019s residence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other countries are beginning to see the dangers of distraction the game poses. Iran flat out banned the game,<\/span> Kuwait banned <\/span><\/a>it at government sites, and an Indonesian official <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that the app presents a \u201csecurity threat.\u201d A Russian news anchor also\u00a0<\/span>warned <\/span><\/a>that playing the game in a church\u00a0could send players to jail for up to three years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of the camp you\u2019re in, one thing is certain – \u00a0Pok\u00e9mon Go is revolutionizing the travel industry. But the big question is: will it last? Other trends have sparked an initial buzz but later died, and <\/span>some speculate<\/span><\/a> the same will happen with this game. With virtual reality offering a refreshingly real-world approach, encouraging individuals to move, travel, get outside, to Pok\u00e9mon Go somewhere, some\u00a0<\/span>think<\/span><\/a> this is one trend that is here to stay. As for the long-term effects of the game on the travel industry?<\/span><\/p>\n

Only time will tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a human on planet Earth, chances are you\u2019ve heard of Pok\u00e9mon Go, or are already playing it. If not, well, maybe you should get going. Pok\u00e9mon is a Japanese media franchise based on fictional characters called \u201cPok\u00e9mon,\u201d which humans (also known as Pok\u00e9mon Trainers) catch and train to battle each other. Though it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":98885262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[501],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98885253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98885253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98885253"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98885253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98885275,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98885253\/revisions\/98885275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98885262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98885253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98885253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98885253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}