Machakos County Virtual Tourism with Google Africa

The Machakos County Department of Tourism and Culture sanctioned the filming, mapping and virtualisation of the Tourism Circuit and Machakos Tourism Business Network, in collaboration with Fallohide in partnership with Google Africa through Africa 118. Targeting over one hundred tourism SMEs and Tourist attractions all over Machakos, mapping and filming to uplift them during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Targeting more than 150 tourism SMEs and tourist attractions all over Machakos by mapping, giving them access to Google Business accounts, and shooting 360 VR content to improve their digital presence on Google Maps. We took the same 360 photos and 360 videos and turned them into regular 2D photos and videos, giving the businesses more than 5,000 assets for digital marketing. Also Google Africa through Africa 118 Inc. trained and supported these businesses to get their accounts up and running! Since then the hotels have reported more engagement especially online thanks to the mapping through Google Maps.

We gave struggling SMEs a stronger digital presence for growth by utilizing Virtual Reality. This pioneering effort is the first time Virtual Reality has been used for this kind of use case. In addition, it is Africa's first local government to use Virtual Reality to promote its tourism industry.