The Faroe Islands are a desirable destination for many travelers, boasting a scenic landscape, great food and a distinctive location. With tourism in the middle of a coronavirus-related slump, many would-be voyagers to the Faroe Islands have likely put their plans to visit the archipelago on the backburner for now.
But technology can work around many seemingly insurmountable obstaclesm, and it turns out “not being able to get to the Faroe Islands” is one of them. At Fast Company, Evan Nicole Brown wrote about an inventive practice that the islands’ tourism board has implemented: remote-controlled human tour guides. As Brown describes it, it’s not unlike a video game, except viewers are controlling actual people:
Members of the Visit Faroe Islands team — Faroese locals — are walking through the landscape with a live video camera strapped to their bodies to show off the islands’ unique cottage-core architecture, waterfalls, and rocky cliff sides. Each tour can be led by different “main players,” who control the movements of the guide from their living room for two minutes; an online joypad determines whether the guide runs, jumps, or changes direction.
The interface might not be quite as versatile as another user-operated trip to a scenic island, but it does look like a fantastic way to take in some memorable scenery without running the risks associated with air travel right now.
Brown’s article notes that the tours are taking place twice a day and run through the end of April. The project’s website notes that the tours last for about an hour apiece. We can only assume that it will also inspire at least one episode of Black Mirror in the years to come.
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