( CNN ) -- Glynis Freeman stands on a tower balcony in nighttime London , peering down at the dizzying lights hundreds of feet below . The distant rumble of city traffic rises up from the streets . A gust of wind brushes her hair . Freeman smiles while swiveling her head in all directions to take in the view . `` That was cool , '' she said a few minutes later . `` I want to go back to London . '' That 's because Freeman was never physically in London . The Marietta , Georgia , woman was 4,000 miles away in an Atlanta hotel lobby , wearing a headset and trying out a demonstration of new technology that can place people in exotic virtual settings almost anywhere on the planet . It 's all part of a new experiment by Marriott , the global hotel chain , to let guests sample virtual destinations with the Oculus Rift , a headset whose high-definition , 3-D display immerses wearers in a lifelike interactive world . `` We really want to appeal to the next generation of travelers , '' said Karen Olivares , director of global brand marketing for Marriott . Virtual travel is in its infancy and a long way from being mainstream . But the travel industry is intrigued by its potential , which goes far beyond Google Street View or online `` virtual tours '' of hotels and resorts . The idea is not that virtual travel will replace real-world travel , because nobody in the industry would go for that . Instead , the travel industry hopes that people who sample virtual snippets of alluring vacations -- say , rafting the Grand Canyon or hiking the Great Wall of China -- will be persuaded to splurge on the real thing . Behind the Oculus Rift . Driving this trend are next-generation systems such as the Oculus Rift and Sony 's Project Morpheus , which promise a leap forward in virtual-reality technology . The much-hyped Oculus Rift headset looks like something a skier or scuba diver might wear and fits snugly over the wearer 's face , paired with headphones . Its crisp 3D display immerses you in an interactive world -- a medieval village or a tropical jungle -- which you sometimes can navigate with the help of a game controller . The goggles come packed with a 100-degree field of view , extending beyond viewers ' peripheral vision . They have an accelerometer , gyroscope and compass to track the position of your head and sync the visuals to the direction where you are looking -- allowing Oculus to improve on the sometimes jerky visuals of other virtual-reality systems . The Oculus Rift was designed to enhance video gaming . But Facebook paid $ 2 billion for its maker , Oculus VR , in March , seeing the device as a potential future communication platform . One developer for the Oculus Rift is excited about the technology 's long-term potential to tranform travel . `` I could go for a run in the morning in some exotic beach and in the evening stroll the streets of some city ... I could be a virtual storm chaser close to a tornado and even travel deep in the ocean , '' the developer wrote in an online forum . `` In fact these experiences will be so real , without risk , and of course cheap that I might actually have second thoughts about traveling ... Antarctica without the cold ... Jungles without the heat and bugs ... And people who will provide ( this ) content will make millions . '' Virtual journeying . Consumer versions of the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus -- which works in much the same way -- are n't expected on the market until 2015 at the earliest . But that has n't stopped the travel industry from tinkering with prototypes . Thomas Cook , the international travel agency , announced a trial program in August that will allow customers at one of its stores in England to don Oculus Rifts and experience a flight on one of its airplanes or tour a Sentido resort . And Marriott has been touring U.S. cities this fall with its `` Teleporter , '' a booth that invites visitors to climb inside , strap on an Oculus Rift and take a virtual tour of Wai'anapanapa Black Sand Beach in Maui and Tower 42 in London . Viewers watch a 90-second video produced by Framestore , the British creative studio that has done visual effects for `` Gravity '' and other movies . To make the experiences feel more lifelike , fans in the booths blow soft breezes while misters recreate the feel of ocean spray . Whether such virtual-reality glimpses inspire someone to take a real trip remains to be seen . But visitors to the booths on a recent weekday in Atlanta came away impressed . `` That was truly amazing . It reminded me of something from 'Star Trek , ' `` said Lisa Lewis of Monroe , Louisiana . `` London has always been a dream destination of mine . And just to get a feel for a place -- it was much more than I imagined . ''
The travel industry is letting customers `` sample '' potential trips through virtual reality . Guests wear headsets such as the Oculus Rift and are immersed in a virtual world . Marriott spokeswoman : `` We really want to appeal to the next generation of travelers ''