transforming tourist destinations · the digital accessibility of a destination, the mobility at...
TRANSCRIPT
TRANSFORMING TOURIST DESTINATIONS WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
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INDEX
Introduction
What is AI?
Defining “Smart Destination”
How does AI impact on the tourism industry
Influencing the traveller decision making
Why do DMOs need to use AI?
5 ways to use AI in a destination
Transforming your destination using MOCA AI
Demonstrating the value of using AI in Tourism
About MOCA
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INTRODUCTION This guide outlines how governments can implement Artificial Intelligence technologies in order
that they can transition to a new Smart Tourism landscape - one which works in harmony with
the citizens and local business growth.
While we have been listening to talk about the Smart City sector and its adaptation to tourism (as
Smart Tourist Destinations), it’s now that it’s really gathering strength and becoming a real boom.
Technology has changed the way we experience, enjoy and share the places we visit. And it’s
because those who have taken the lead, such as The Canary Islands in Spain, for example,
have shown: efficiency for the city in terms of achieving more awareness in visitors about the
environment and the maintenance of the destination, and also the efficiency to generate a win-
win model where tourists, the private sector, the destination and the country itself can benefit
from intelligent management services. It contributes to improve public services, boost local
employment and bring connectivity to remote communities.
The current tourist is more demanding, very well informed, seeks the best value for money,
expects to receive personalized services and lives in a hyperconnected world.
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WHAT IS AI?
Today, modern definitions of AI focus on automation and sometimes miss the business opportunities available to business leaders. These include the augmentation of human decision making, faster and more precise predictions, greater personalization and differentiation.
According to the Gartner’s IT glossary, it’s defined as “a technology that appears to emulate human performance typically by learning, coming to its own conclusions, appearing to understand complex content, engaging in natural dialogs with people, enhancing human cognitive performance (also known as cognitive computing) or replacing people on execution of nonroutine tasks.”
At MOCA we define AI as a set of methods inherited from mathematics and physics,
which mimic the learning process of the human brain. It consists of a series of steps that allow the machine to learn from past events and, from those, to infer future results taking into account all learnt system variables.
For example, if a tourist goes regularly to beaches and these have a special or unique characteristic (e.g. white sand or good waves for surfers) AI can notice this and recommend, in future trips, destinations with the specific characteristics preferred by the traveller. AI systems are not only capable of learning the behavior of the person, but also they learn the context, inferring not only visit recurrency but also why it’s visited (context of the location).
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“Smart” has become an increasingly popular term to describe technological, economic and social developments fueled by technologies that rely on sensorization, data analysis, human-machine interaction and networked exchange of information. The mobile revolution, and specifically the role of the smartphone and its many opportunities to support travel experiences (Wang et al., 2012), is especially worth mentioning in this context.
A Smart Destination can be defined as a travel destination that uses vanguard technological platforms that guarantee sustainable development of the territory, making interaction and integration of the visitor with the environment easier, increasing the quality of their experience in the destination and improving quality of life of the residents.
DEFINING A “SMART DESTINATION”
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The 21st century traveler is a hyper connec-ted individual in a multitasking and multi platform mode. We are before individuals who receive and process large amounts of in-formation and who have the ability, thanks to digitalization, to quickly compare and assimi-late and thus accelerate the decision process.
Taking into account the data, which is growing daily, we will need a technological platform capable to store, process and analyze all this Big Data generated from the interconnection of the different stakeholders and the information related with the tourism activities. In this context, Smart Tourism Destinations not should only make a basic use of Big Data, it should be able to understand the need of tourists and offering right services that suit traveller’s preference at the right time.
That is where AI plays an important role, as a driver that potentially enhance the tourism experience through offering products and services that are more personalized to meet each of visitor’s unique needs and preferences.
HOW DOES AI IMPACT ON THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
85%travelers
150 milion users
97%Millenials
80%travelers
40%travelers
Use their smartphones in their
transfers and trips.
Connect to TripAdvisor to inform their
decision based on opinions of other
users
Share photos of their trips on social
networks.
Use public Wi-Fi networks during their
trips.
Use their smartphone to plan or
reserve trips and spend an average
of 4 to 5 hours connected to their
smartphones.
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Nowadays the traveller does not go, primarily, to a travel agency to gather knowledge. The traveler seeks relevant information online and validates it with other users looking for recommendations.
The digital accessibility of a destination, the mobility at the service of the visitor and the communication of the destination with its visitor before, during and after the trip are not a future scenario but a reality for the traveler in his decision making stage.
Apps, connectivity and new digital models have made users demand product purchases and service consumption in one click.
Every time there are less tourists with maps in their hands or asking where a monument or a street is. Instead we see more travellers checking their travel guide on their smartphone. They check digital map providers (e.g. Google Maps) and portals (e.g. TripAdvisor) to get to know their surroundings and find, for example, a restaurant that fits their tastes.
INFLUENCING THE TRAVELER DECISION MAKING
BEFORE
INSPIRATION DECISION PURCHASE EXPERIENCES SATISFACTION RECOMMENDATIONS
DURING AFTER
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In the midst of the experience, the traveller uses social media as a channel for his audience to live with them the journey. Social networks already play a very important role in a daily life of the traveller. In this context, an active traveller could increase the reputation of a tourist destinations and their services, produce engaging content and influence other travellers before starting their trip to visit a specific destination.
Taking into consideration the situation and how the digital transformation gives us data that is used to gather knowledge and improve the user experience, we must take
into account key factors for the destination to become “top of mind”.
• Facilitate the tourist offering through different
channels and in a single click.
• Know the omnicanality of travelers to offer
the best user experience within destination.
• Identify the different types of travelers who
visit or intend to do so to adapt the offer to
their needs and lifestyle.
• Adapt and digitize the services and activities
of the destination to the different types of
visitors.
• Establish a fast and effective communication
with the visitors, attending their requirements.
INFLUENCING THE TRAVELER DECISION MAKING
In conclusion, digitalization and AI enable a Destination to transform into a Smart Destination.This allows to understand the visitor journey - before, during and after the trip - and discover tourism patterns and trends. Connected and intelligent destinations have a clear competitive advantage and one of the best value proposition of all destinations. The value of these implementations and digital improvements are a necessary reality.
But we don’t focus only on tourism services. Smart tourism destinations seek to fusion diverse services efficiently. A city that enables smart tourism will even seek to connect its systems with the means of transportation, tourist places and accommodation options; promoting the connection of multiple services and offering lower costs for clients while increasing quality of life.
INFLUENCING THE TRAVELER DECISION MAKING
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Nowadays, in the tourism sector, there is an obvious growing digital divide; the destinations that still compete in a traditional and non-digital way see lower profits, growth and income compared to those that have prepared their destinations with a digital infrastructure and apps for collecting behavioral data as well as marketing automation systems to improve the visitor experience and improve the local business flow.
According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, “an important shift from a mobile first world to
an AI first world” is occurring. Your phone camera can “see.” You can speak to your mobile device and receive responses back from it. Self-driving cars are becoming a reality.
As a Destination Manager Officer (DMO), you can use AI-based technology right now to incorporate personalization, reduce traveller frustration, improve safety and get faster and more precise predictions on economic and tourism growth. All this with reduced human intervention.
¿WHY DO DMOS NEED TO USE AI?
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Knowing the interests of visitors during their stay allows smart cities to better plan public policies related to tourism, as well as cultural events or general entertainment. Even before the arrival of the visitor, if we have been able to identify them in the purchase process, the smart destination can adapt their services to the traveller, improving their experience, and offering the opportunity to local businesses to influence these travellers with a more personalized touristic plans and activities.
• Personalized services: Offer local business services, activities, events and culture according to the traveler profile built by the geolocation data and its interaction in the destination and the context.
• Communication: Using intelligent chatbots, travellers can be attended quickly when asking for information, booking a trip, and requesting for assistance.
• Mobility: Increase the frequency of visitors to the destination and to other regions of interest.
» Use geolocation to build traveler profiles
and understand similarities between visited
destinations and offer in your destination.
» During purchase process, identify visitor profiles
and locate similar profiles to offer tailor made
destinations.
» Detect traveler profiles and study their mobility
at the destination to find out if they will respond
to a personalized intra-travel offer in real time.
• Safety: Offer an system for alerts and complaints online through chat bots.
• Health: Create a healthcare system with the ability to offer primary care through mobile devices and other online sensorized devices.
• Transportation: Offer available transportation means depending on traveller socio-economic profile and preferences. Recommend available parking areas near place of interest.
5 WAYS TO USE AI IN A DESTINATION
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Through digitalization, the optimization of the acquisition cost of new tourists and the enrichment of the user experience, MOCA helps Tourist Destinations to generate a better economic flow for the territory, while contributing to the sustainability of the environment, the improvement of the quality of life of the citizen, and the promotion of a more personalized tourism.
We developed a four step process that can be applied without the need to invest on skilled managers. MOCA platform is designed to be transparent, interoperable and easy to integrate with the current infrastructures.
1. Presentation: Discover our solution for smart tourism destinations and some of our success cases. We will do a live demonstration in your destination so you can see first hand MOCA’s capabilities.
2. Proposal: In this phase we will research your destination’s infrastructure and understand your city objectives to propose next steps. We prepare a specification that will show how to connect your infrastructure and how to gain value.
3. Deployment: We will connect MOCA to existing infrastructure and deploy new ones to fulfill the objectives in your destination. In this context, MOCA reduces time to deployment drastically. In comparison with other platforms, MOCA AI solution can be deployed in 6 months instead of the two years that many consulting firms offer.
4. Going Live: Once the deployment tests are successful, the service will be in production on our cloud infrastructure (also available on their On premise version) and it’ll be available 365 days a year.
TRANSFORMING YOUR DESTINATION USING MOCA AI
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In the same way that Google, Facebook and Amazon helped change consumer habits, MOCA provides governments and destination managers with new ways to create value from digital assets, on a much larger scale and at minimal cost, while owning their data completely and having full access to it.
We help tourism managers and governments to:
Increase sales generated by tourism thanks to a better knowledge of the visitor and their activation through different channels (mobile, web and physical world), offering tailored services for each visitor segment.
Increase the flow of visitors within the country by enabling connectivity with other regions and taking into account the profile and pattern of each visitor created through AI. Increase the visitor lifetime value (LTV), and predict the future purchases making use of historical data through the AI. Create new business models for both local businesses and businesses within the region. Predict economic and tourism growth by measuring and understanding travelers’ patterns and behavior
TRANSFORMING YOUR DESTINATION USING MOCA AI
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We help different cities and destinations to improve the positioning of their territory, enhance the traveller’s experience during their stay, increase the economic flow of business and local activities and therefore improved the overall quality of life of the citizen.
Below we will show 3 examples of Smart Cities where MOCA has helped transform the cities by adding intelligence.
SPAIN: BENIDORM
MOCA has installed its SDK in the Visit Benidorm app, allowing tourists to receive
useful information about sights of interest, cultural heritages, restaurants, hotels and transportation, at the exact moment the information is needed. By gathering information and analyzing users’ behavior in real time, MOCA’s technology enables the delivery of personalized recommendations based on the specific needs and preferences of the tourist. Moreover, because of many travelers arrive in cities without internet connections, the experiences are delivered offline using beacons as triggers.
DEMONSTRATING THE VALUE OF USING AI IN TOURISM
Key Metrics for Benidorm Smart City:
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SPAIN: MALLORCA
We helped Mallorca to better understand mobility services by improving the management of digital and physical infrastructures which led to reduce public spending and promote the sustainable and intelligent development of tourist destinations.
Mallorca is one of the largest deployments of Internet connectivity on an urban area in the world, particularly in Tourist Destinations. MOCA is being used by Wiongo to process, analyze and visualize historical and real-time data on urban mobility using Wi-Fi access points.
DEMONSTRATING THE VALUE OF USING AI IN TOURISM
Key Metrics for Mallorca Smart City:
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NETHERLANDS: ZUTPHEN
As an important traffic junction, Zutphen is also working on making the city even more beautiful and smart. Until July 2018 there will be, among other things, extensive work on the infrastructure maintenance.
This work has consequences for the accessibility of the city, so in order to improve the quality of life of its citizens, MOCA was installed in the Zutphen app to inform people about current traffic.
For instance, a citizen that is driving in the proximity of the working area is alerted via mobile app to take an alternative route. Thanks to our solution, citizens will always see the road closures and what alternatives they have. Also, they get a picture of the parking locations at a glance and it gives you the latest news about the IJsselkade, the Oude IJssel bridge and other projects of River in the City.
DEMONSTRATING THE VALUE OF USING AI IN TOURISM
Key Metrics for Zutphen Smart City:
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MOCA AI RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM
Recommendation systems (also known as
recommendation engines or recommenders) are
a type of information filtering system that can
be applied on virtually any kind of web portal or
mobile device and help users find new content
that is relevant to their interests - from places
to visit to products and services to discover.
In our approach, we apply content
recommendation systems that requires us to
address multiple real-time situations such as
user device (mobile, web), connectivity (internet
available, internet not available), real-time user
location (to provide location-specific adjustments)
and global audience trends and anomalies
(such as avoiding to recommend items that
experience anomalous acceptance rates). Our set
of requirements require us to develop a hybrid
approach that addresses the limitations of
many existing methods.
Since 3 years ago, Mobile World Congress is using
MOCA’s Recommendation System providing an
outstanding example of our technology at big-
scale.
DEMONSTRATING THE VALUE OF USING AI IN TOURISM
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS
With the attendee experience in mind, MOCA
ensured that My MWC mobile app delivered
real-time information to visitors, exhibitors
and organizers alike by providing highly-targeted
notifications. Integrating the event app and
website, MOCA provided a Recommendation
System based on machine learning. Mobile users
received in-app personalized recommendations
such as people to meet, exhibitors to visit
and sessions to attend depending on their
interests, behavior and micro-location. Using
real-time location technology, MOCA learned
attendee preferences and provided insights into
attendee behaviour to optimize and improve
future events.
@mocaplatform.com 17
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MOCA is a cloud based platform powered by artificial intelligence that is able to learn from the traveller’s interactions in the digital and physical world. It allows Smart Destinations to monetize their data through automation, segmentation, personalization and digital geo-marketing. The uniqueness and competitive advantage of MOCA relies on bringing a paradigm shift in Smart Cities platforms, following a person-centric approach. Around the person, we build the next layers to create a holistic approach and create an ecosystem where people, cities, and industries get the information they need to maximize their performance and ROI. MOCA AI smart Cities Platform offers solution for the 3 actors: governments, people and private sector, only with one integrated platform.
Our solution is simpler, more convenient, and less expensive for the government. We help the tourism stakeholders to embrace and benefit from a more accurate solution for every region.
PEOPLE
GOVERNMENTS
They need to have accessibility to infor-mation of the territory where they live and travel.
Their challenge is to attract visitors and increase revenue
Their challenge is to understand the needs of the territories interconnecting the smart city.
PRIVATE SECTOR
ABOUT MOCA
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