Beyond blending in

Virtual visits

Luo is working on projects to enable Chinese to visit Peru without having to physically travel across the ocean, through virtual reality and metaverse technology.

"I felt that there are so many stories to be told for the Chinese public to know more about the magic land of Peru," Luo said.

He pointed to his encounters with vicuna during his visits as an example.

"We all know the animal llama, but I got to know about the fabric from the vicuna."

The species resembles the llama but produces even more valuable wool.

"So, what I thought is, basically, with the development of digital technology — myself as a researcher of virtual reality and also the metaverse — we are going to use digital technology to build virtual museums and show in a highly realistic and interactive way the spectacular things in Peru and, more generally, Latin America.

"Then, we can enable more people to enjoy the culture and the local products, and interact with the people in a digital world without actually having to catch a late flight."

One project involves developing an immersive virtual museum to showcase the biodiversity of Peru's coastline.

"You get the seabirds, you get the fish, and you get the sea animals. That's really great, but very few people know about that," Luo said.

"At the same time, you can just 'teleport' yourself to historical sites like Machu Picchu. So, that gives you a kind of magical feeling."