What if you could travel from Jaipur to New York, wake up beside a mountain, check into a luxury hotel and spend the afternoon on a beach — without ever boarding a flight?
That is the unusual reality of a growing group of virtual travel influencers and digitally created personalities. Their social media feeds feature everything from international destinations and luxury resorts to road trips, wellness retreats and cultural experiences. The difference is that these creators do not physically travel.
As the world marks World Tourism Day, here are some of the digital personalities building travel-focused identities online — and doing so without airport queues, passports or jet lag.
Kavya Mehra: A Lifestyle-First Digital Creator
With around 24.6K followers, Kavya Mehra is a digital persona launched by Collective Artists Network in December 2024.
Her online identity combines several lifestyle categories, including beauty, wellness, technology, fashion and travel.
Rather than functioning purely as a destination guide, Kavya’s content presents travel as part of a broader aspirational lifestyle. Her posts have featured settings ranging from beaches and yacht experiences to volleyball sessions and walks through the streets of Calpe.
Her feed therefore blends travel with wellness, leisure and lifestyle content.
Kabir Manja: The Digital Adventurer
Kabir Manja takes a different approach to the virtual travel space.
With approximately 6.7K followers, his digital persona revolves around backpacking, biking, fitness, outdoor adventures and mountain living.
His content leans toward the appeal of slow travel and open-road exploration rather than luxury hotels and conventional holiday imagery.
From cycling routes to life in the hills, Kabir’s persona is built around the idea of travelling closer to nature and embracing outdoor experiences.
Kyra: India’s AI Travel Influencer
Kyra is among the better-known virtual influencers in India’s digital creator ecosystem.
Launched by FUTR Studios in 2022, she has been described as India’s first AI or virtual influencer. Her computer-generated persona was designed around a young model and traveller and has developed a following of approximately 249K on Instagram.
Kyra’s digital adventures have taken her to beaches, heritage locations and international destinations, including New York.
Her profile has also moved beyond social media. Kyra has appeared on Shark Tank India, highlighting the growing intersection between virtual personalities, entertainment and brand marketing.
Emma: Germany’s Virtual Tourism Ambassador
Emma represents a different model of digital travel influence.
Created by the German National Tourist Board in 2023, Emma was designed as a multilingual virtual ambassador to promote Germany to audiences around the world.
Presented as a technology-friendly Berlin resident with an interest in travel and culture, Emma’s role extends beyond conventional Instagram content.
Her digital ecosystem includes chatbot interactions in more than 20 languages, allowing users to engage with the virtual personality while discovering information connected to Germany.
Emma has approximately 37K Instagram followers.
Alba Renai: From Hotel Marketing to Digital Travel Content
Alba Renai, based in Madrid, was developed by Be a Lion and trained by VIA Talents.
Her digital persona was initially positioned as a marketing asset for Meliá Hotels & Resorts before expanding into broader destination and lifestyle content.
With around 19K followers, Alba’s virtual itinerary has included locations ranging from Spanish beaches to major entertainment events.
Her online persona has appeared at Coachella and even at a Bad Bunny concert, creating the impression of a constantly moving international lifestyle.
Why Virtual Travel Influencers Are Changing Tourism Marketing
Virtual influencers are becoming an increasingly interesting tool for tourism and lifestyle marketing because they can exist across multiple locations without the physical and logistical limitations faced by human creators.
A virtual personality can be digitally placed in a destination, hotel or event while maintaining a consistent visual identity.
For tourism organisations and brands, this creates possibilities around:
- Destination promotion
- Hotel and resort marketing
- Social media campaigns
- Multilingual audience engagement
- Branded storytelling
- Digital tourism experiences
However, their rise also changes the traditional relationship between travel content and authenticity. Unlike human travel creators, virtual influencers do not personally experience the destinations they appear to visit.
The Future of Travel Content May Be Partly Virtual
Travel influencers once built their audiences by documenting real journeys. Today, technology has introduced another category: digital personalities whose journeys can be created without physical travel.
From Kyra in India to Emma in Germany and Alba Renai in Spain, these virtual figures demonstrate how tourism storytelling is expanding beyond conventional photography and video.
And there is one advantage they all share: whether their digital itinerary takes them from a beach to a mountain or from Jaipur to New York, jet lag is never part of the schedule.
World Tourism Day 2026
World Tourism Day is observed annually on September 27, providing an opportunity to highlight tourism’s economic, cultural and social significance.
The emergence of virtual travel influencers adds a distinctly digital dimension to that conversation — raising questions about how people will discover destinations, interact with travel brands and experience tourism content in the years ahead.
