Quark Expeditions Wins Gold Magellan Award for Antarctica 360° Virtual Reality Experience
MEDIA RELEASE
Contact: Mariela Castro
Phone: 416.644.0666
Leader in Polar Expeditions Awarded Top Travel Honor for Promotional Video
[Seattle, WA] – November 2, 2016 – Quark Expeditions®, the leader in Arctic and Antarctic expedition travel, is pleased to announce its ‘Best Promotional Video’ award in the 2016 Travel Weekly Magellan Awards. Quark produced and launched Antarctica: 360° Virtual Reality Experience in July 2016. The series of 15 VR video clips filmed on the seventh continent has since been viewed over 75,000 times.
The Magellan Awards honor the brightest and most creative professionals in a broad range of tourism and hospitality categories including Cruise Lines, Hotels, Airlines and Airports, Travel Destinations and more. A panel of top travel professionals representing the best names and most accomplished leaders in the industry evaluates thousands of nominations submitted from around the world.
“This year’s winners continue to raise the bar, establishing themselves as not just the most talented and creative people in the travel industry but among the most creative and talented of any industry,” said Arnie Weissmann, editor in chief of Travel Weekly. “The creativity that travel industry marketers and designers display to inspire travel and enhance the travel experience continues to impress our expert judges and readers.”
The series of stunning and immersive videos transports viewers to icy Antarctica, where they can explore onboard a cruise ship, cruise on Zodiac landing craft, paddle a kayak across a frigid inlet, or explore a historic monument in virtual reality. A two-man film crew captured the sights and sounds of Antarctica in spectacular 360° footage using GoPro cameras.
“Quark’s Antarctica: 360° Virtual Reality Experience gives people worldwide the unprecedented opportunity to learn the sights, sounds and experience of an Antarctic expedition from a computer or device,” said Rachel Hilton, VP, Customer Experience for Quark Expeditions. “As stewards of the polar regions and pioneers in polar exploration, we’re incredibly excited to share this technology-driven experience with others who are curious about or interested in learning more about Antarctica’s unique and fragile ecosystem.”
Quark also took top honors this year in the ‘Cruise Expeditions Itinerary’ category for its Arctic Express: Greenland’s Northern Lights fly-cruise expedition and in the ‘Small Cruise Ship’ category for the second year in a row. The pioneering polar expedition company was recently named ‘World’s Best Specialist Cruise Line’ by World Travel Awards and topped the Fodor’s Travel Guides list of ‘World’s Best Cruises for 2016’ for Arctic Icebreaker Expedition: Ultimate Northwest Passage. In 2015, Quark Expeditions won both the Gold Magellan award for ‘Best Small Cruise Line’ and the Silver Magellan award for ‘Best Cruise Blog.’
Viewers are advised to download the YouTube app for easy viewing on a mobile device or tablet and are able to navigate around the Antarctica: 360° Virtual Reality Experience by rotating their mobile phone or swiping with a finger. The scene can be controlled using the cursor on a desktop or laptop computer. For a fully immersive experience, viewers can download the Quark Expeditions Antarctic VR app from Google Play or the App Store and explore with a Google Cardboard or Gear VR headset.
About Quark Expeditions®:
Specializing in expeditions to Antarctic and the Arctic, Quark Expeditions® has been the leading provider of polar adventure travel for 25 years. With a diverse fleet of specially-equipped small expedition vessels, icebreakers, and unique land-based adventures, it offers travelers unparalleled access to the most remote places on earth. Led by passionate and seasoned expedition teams, including scientists, naturalists and researchers, the on-board program focuses on guest interaction to educate and enrich the passenger experience. The company is known for its unwavering commitment to safety and sustainability, including its partnership with The Nature Conservancy (USA). It was also the first to offer passengers — free of charge — carbon offsetting aboard Ocean Diamond and Ocean Nova voyages.
About Travelopia:
Travelopia offers premium, experience-based adventure holidays and expeditions worldwide for active travelers. In addition to QuarkExpeditions.com, the division includes expedition specialists IEtravel.com and Zegrahm.com; leading European adventure and activity specialists ExodusTravels.com, Headwater.com, World-Challenge.co.uk, Sawadeee.nl, TrekAmerica.co.uk and GrandAmericanAdventures.com; as well as US-based destination management company AmericanAdventures.com. From reaching the top of Kilimanjaro and canoeing on the Zambezi, to catching tiger cub sightings and breaking ice en route to the North Pole, Travelopia roffers inspirational experiences that create lifelong memories.
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