Virtual tours allow people to view an environment without having to physically travel to their location of interest. Through virtual tours, people can get information and experience which may not otherwise be available to them, preview a location before an actual visit, and make more informed plans and selections. And most virtual venues are far from exotic; virtual tours often fulfill practical, everyday queries about a potential destination. With the quality and accessibility of virtual tours improving and broadband penetration rising, people are increasingly turning to the internet to get a feel for such areas of personal interest as colleges and universities, tourist and vacation locales, historical sites, museums, real estate, and hotels.

 For example, instead of setting up an on-site visit with an agent, a potential home buyer can now do some of the legwork on her own time. Sitting in front of a computer while clicking and dragging the mouse, she can take in 360-degree views of houses and inspect rooms from corner to corner and floor to ceiling, with descriptive text or audio accompanying her along the way. Without leaving her room, she now spends far less time viewing far more choices.

 As in 2004, certain groups of internet users are more likely to have taken virtual tours: those ages 30-49, college graduates, those with higher household income, those living in non-rural areas, those with more online experience, and those with broadband access. For example, 57% of people in the 30-49 age bracket have taken virtual tours, compared with 47% of those ages 18-29 and 29% of those ages 65 and older. Sixty-one percent of college graduates have taken virtual tours, compared with 41% of high school graduates. Those with household income of $50,000 or higher are also more likely to have ventured somewhere online than those with lower household income (64% vs. 41%).

  Unsurprisingly, broadband users and those with more online experience still lead the way when it comes to virtual tour taking. Sixty-two percent of home broadband users are virtual tour takers, compared with 41% of home dial-up users. Some 60% of internet users with six or more years of 3 online experience have taken virtual tours, while only 28% of those with two to three years of online experience have done so.

 And while rural internet users might be expected to utilize some of these exploratory tools more, they are, in fact, less likely to be virtual tour takers—38% have taken virtual tours online, compared with 54% of suburban users and 53% of urban users. In addition, internet users who are parents of children under 18 at home are more likely to have taken virtual tours than those who have no children under 18 (58% vs. 47%).