Now more than ever, families and travelers require more from tourism experience providers from up-to-date information about COVID policies around mask wearing, vaccination requirements, capabilities and ticketing when returning to attractions.
Tourism attractions have struggled to communicate and provide real-time information to their patrons. The trip process has become the focus of many travelers and providing reassurance to tourists has led to the implementation of new technologies.
Two of California’s leading tourist destinations, LA Zoo and Oakland Zoo, are leaning into new technology systems to keep up with visitor questions.
In anticipation of their reopening earlier this year, the LA and Oakland Zoos tapped into Satisfi Labs’ technology and relaunched their AI-powered assistants to provide guests with answers to their questions regarding updated COVID protocols, ticket sale inquiries, and health and safety information.
Satisfi Labs works with destination marketing organizations and tourism attractions to provide AI-powered solutions through its technology.
The AI virtual assistant is trained to help guests throughout the entirety of their visit to attractions.
The challenge
LA Zoo is home to more than 270 different species and receives nearly 1.8 million visitors per year. Oakland Zoo is home to over 850 native and exotic animals with a strong focus on animal care and education. Throughout the pandemic, returning to destinations has proven difficult due to new guidelines that need to be followed, as well as obstacles in relation to COVID risks.
With regulations changing the way people go about their lives, the rules of going to the zoo were constantly being updated. Both zoos needed a way to streamline operations so they could communicate efficiently and effectively with their large customer base without overwhelming their employees.
Conversational technology
The customer experience at destinations is changing and companies need to meet the customer wherever they are in their journey. This emphasizes the importance of connecting through social media platforms and text messaging to bring personalized answers to visitors of tourism attractions in real-time. Using Satisfi’s technology, LA Zoo and Oakland Zoo launched their virtual assistants on their websites and Facebook Messenger, a platform often used by visitors for inquiries.
The virtual assistant provides answers instantaneously, and has helped to decrease the number of customer service calls to their call center. Being able to provide answers to visitors 24/7 allows destinations such as the zoos to free up time for employees to handle more critical tasks. It also enables them to increase the volume of inquiries they are able to respond to.
Results
In the year since Oakland Zoo reopened, the virtual assistant answered more than 27,000 messages, 87% of which were received on the web. The assistant has also helped more than 10,000 visitors and has significantly helped the call center staff, saving staff members more than 23 weeks of work.
Since LA Zoo’s assistant relaunch in February, the virtual assistant has helped save staff the equivalent of 47 weeks of work through June, and, as expected, the assistant received a 110% increase in the number of daily active users.
A spokesperson for Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association says:
“Despite being closed for an extended period of time last year, our guests have been eager to come back and learn about the hundreds of species that our zoo is home to. Satisfi Labs’ virtual assistant ensures they’re prepared for their visit with the most up-to-date information. We’re also thrilled to be able to understand insights about what our visitors care about the most; as membership information is a top inquiry topic. We discovered that they weren’t just eager to come back once, but want to continue coming back to create memorable experiences."
Since the implementation of the virtual assistant, both Oakland Zoo and LA Zoo have learned that the technology can provide assistance to visitors and save time for staff, while simultaneously providing a personal aspect to communications.
Tech for tourism's future
As both zoos continue to be one of California’s lead attractions, their partnerships with Satisfi Labs will continue for the foreseeable future. Technology will make for safer and more engaging experiences not just for zoos, but attractions, venues and tourism destinations everywhere.
The pandemic has highlighted just how important the distribution of information is, as well as the planning experience. AI tools are taking tourism experiences to the next level and making sure there is the utmost safety at all stages of the visit.