The players in the tourism industry still do more to improve the experience of travelers. To do this, they use new technologies to develop new services to improve the customer journey. What types of new technologies the tourism players are investing and why?
RFID / NFC, Beacons, connected objects, big data, 3D Printing, Mobile Payment, augmented reality, the Google glass… These digital trends are tomorrow Tourist facts. Beyond the simple innovation, new technologies can improve the service provided to travelers.What opportunities do they provide?
The iBeacons
What Beacons? These small tags for efficient localization technology. How does it work? The beacons operate through a digital system based on Bluetooth technology. The beacon can remotely wake up a mobile application installed on an iOS or Android system. They therefore can be activated by parts of the application once the user enters its perimeter. Some prerequisites are required, it is necessary that the mobile application is already installed in the phone and that Bluetooth is enabled on the smartphone. From there, the possibilities are great for tourism actors!
Experience in airports facilitated through Beacons!
Several players offer innovative services at airports through iBeacon technology. For example, the application Radar Functional Travel caters to all travelers worried about not find their luggage on arrival. It suffices to slide a beacon in your luggage. The application will notify you when the luggage is found nearby. The maximum detection distance is approximately 20 meters.
Easy Jet has installed several beacons on London Airport to guide their travelers, but also to show their boarding pass at the right time. The goal is to speed up boarding and provide timely service to its passengers in case of delayed flights EasyJet hopes to push discount coupons to restaurants around the departure lounge or even check where a passenger is in the airport and decide to wait!
The San Francisco Airport is testing the beacons to guide visually impaired people using voice technology to transmit the services available in the surrounding area such as coffee or the nearest charger.
Assist travelers in tourist areas or even in the cities!
The beacons were also used as part of a giant treasure hunt, including Faberge. Indeed, the jeweler organized in May a giant treasure hunt in the city that never sleeps. Players had to checker the whereabouts of the egg sculptures everywhere (in place for the occasion) to trigger automatic enrollment in a lottery. A new playground for Tourist offices and other actors who can organize treasure hunts and other game on a massive scale!
Museums gradually integrate this technology to assist travelers during their visit. The Rubens House in Antwerp integrates the technology used to send the right information at the right time for visitors.
Google Glass applications that change life!
Google Glass In Travel Industry
The application “Word Lens” is a very useful tool for frequent travelers! “See the world in your Language ‘with Word Lens… Just look at a text written in French / Spanish / Italian / German / Portuguese to get an instant translation into English abroad…
The future of air travel with augmented reality
Airbus has filed a patent for an augmented reality helmet that completely surrounds the head and allows the sensory isolation. It was even planned to integrate a virtual keyboard and an olfactory system on the armrests to broadcast certain smells travelers. In a few years, it will be possible to immerse the traveler in an atmosphere out of the ordinary… And why not discover a destination of choice in augmented reality?
There are many possibilities…
To open your bedroom door with RFID / NFC, without anything other than your phone? Pay by facial recognition, with a mobile wallet, a social network or a mobile application? All this is now possible!
Albert Palacci is writing for several online magazines and websites, he is passionate about digital marketing and he loves travelling around the world, more about him you can find on his http://www.slideshare.net/albert-palacci or https://plus.google.com/+AlbertPalacci1.