You climb into a boat and the guide asks if you want to see sea lions along the beach, or hike into the rainforest highland to a group of waterfalls.

Turn to look behind you and see two more people in the boat, the outboard wake behind them. Look up and see trees reaching to the sky and raindrops falling on B.C.’s Central Coast near Nimmo Bay. A floating wilderness lodge with Adirondack chairs and a crackling firepit await your return.

The Wild Within, a virtual reality experience produced by Destination B.C. is the first for North American destination marketing. Its December launch in New York and Washington was covered by 94 media outlets including National Geographic, USA Today, Time, Outside, Lonely Planet, Wall Street Journal, Wired and Ad Week magazine.

The video is experienced with virtual reality goggles and a stereo headset, a system developed by Samsung. It supplements conventional promotional videos, and is being presented at tourism trade shows and travel media events across Canada and in in Beijing and Shanghai in June.

To view the video showing how it was made, click here.

For a look at the finished presentation, see below.