TripAdvisor’s tour company Viator has rolled out more than 100 virtual experiences, including pasta-making courses, self-guided wine-tasting, and sight-seeing trips, as part of its new project #RoamFromHome, which enables tour guides and experiences hosts to bring their activities online.
The curated experiences are a mixture of free and paid-for, with roughly 80 per cent of the latter run by small businesses. For the paid experiences, Viator will waive commission, with all proceeds going to the operator.
Viator said the initiative is to allow travellers to quench their wanderlust during lockdown, while supporting tour operators hit hard by Covid-19.
Travellers can access Viator’s new virtual experiences in a dedicated section on its website. Experiences are organised by category, including culture, sightseeing, and food & drink.
Homebound travellers can prepare vegetarian dishes like mattar paneer in a private cooking class with a chef broadcasting from her home kitchen in Mumbai, or learn to make pasta at home from a chef in Florence, who has been running Italian food tours with her family for over 15 years.
While the experiences are currently only available in English, Viator said they may expand to include additional languages in the future.
