Touchless tech: COVID has accelerated the digital evolution in tours and activities

Tours and activities was coming of age as a sector.

It had spent 10 years, perhaps longer, trying to grow up in terms of technology to improve distribution and delivery. 

The sector was also attracting huge attention from investors and seen by many big travel players as a growing part of the product portfolio.

Then the pandemic hit, and its development was arrested.

Tours and activities businesses saw their customers dwindle to almost nothing - many closed or went into hibernation, others scrambled to do virtual tours and some investigated how to eventually restart safely.

That latter segment of those companies that could adapt their services were tipped as early winners in tours and activities as consumers avoided crowds and looked for local things to do.

Questo, for example, has been able to expand into new cities with its self-guided tours and recently unveiled a partnership with London Taxi Tours for an experience in the capital.

But, most agree that the pandemic has accelerated much of what was happening in tours and activities technology already.

Accelerating a trend

Melanie Meador, CEO of Redeam, a channel management and digital ticketing specialist for the tours and activities industry, says demand for contactless solutions has increased significantly.

She says the pandemic has “lit a fire underneath” the already-pressing need to update antiquated technology in the industry while also meeting increased expectations from consumers.

“Asking people to print a paper voucher, stand in line with other people, then turn that voucher over to someone to validate it and give you a gate readable ticket can’t happen in a COVID world.”

Meador believes the check-in process for tours and activities is an area that will be further developed, with kiosks that can provide a ticket or open a gate - thus removing the need for human interaction - perhaps playing more of a role.

Other technology advances for the sector likely to evolve rapidly, she adds, will help attractions tap into ancillary revenue opportunities and digital payment solutions.

It’s no surprise that some of the largest attraction companies lead the way in terms of operating in the current reality. 

Disney Parks and Resorts, for example, has had to adapt systems to allow for reduced capacity and is requiring customers to specify the park and day of visit once they have purchased a ticket.

In addition, technology to allow for contactless security and bag checks were trialled in June, ahead of parks reopening, plus contactless menus that could be viewed using QR codes were also put in operation. 

While it’s easier for large players with more resources to adapt their experiences, this still leaves smaller attractions and experiences to find a way forward.

Many of the smaller operators, or as Meador puts it “the guy with two kayaks in Hawaii,” don’t need to make big changes apart from making sure they stand out and can be easily booked in a digital world.

But for the palaces, museums, galleries and historic houses, technology startups and more established players are coming forward with solutions.

Divento, for example, adapted its existing digital booking system to help historic houses and museums reopen with a time-slot system for visitors.

Others are catering to in-attraction needs.

Realife Tech works in the live events space. The company, formerly called LiveStyled, received $7.2 million in fresh funding in late June and said it planned to focus on event safety.

The Realife mobile app provides users with information to help them navigate while they are at an event, but it can also tailor messages to individuals around safety such as areas of high foot traffic to avoid.

Wishtrip, meanwhile, says it is helping attractions and parks reopen by enabling them to manage guests remotely through in-app staff-guest chat, a mapping system to view how guests are distributed within an attraction and push notifications about over-crowding and directions for less crowded areas.

Similarly, Data Duopoly also helps attractions implement social distancing by ensuring visitors are evenly distributed to different areas of a site.

Through its Xplor-IT technology, the company can also increase engagement and gamify the experience to bring back the fun element.

The fun element is important so that consumers are not constantly reminded of the virus.

Where's the fun?

Anthony Palermo, co-founder of Connect&GO, likens the current situation to having to wear a hard hat, which acts as a reminder of risk. He stresses how important it is for attractions to implement contactless tech to address safety and security concerns but also create a great experience.

“We want to regain confidence, that’s step number one, but step two is we have to make it fun again.” 

His company provides wearables, such as wristbands, with built-in radio-frequency identification, that venues and attractions can use for payments, ticket redemption, brand engagement and gamification.

Palermo says not only do the wristbands enable pre-loaded packages that consumers have purchased, but they also access control and tracking through LED lighting and Haptic vibration devices to alert people if they are too close to one other.

Going forward, he sees more packaging of the technology with tickets, mobile wallet and passport all rolled into one application on wearables or phones.

Other experts believe the digital circle is almost complete for some tours and activities. 

What started with human retail and human delivery some 20 years ago and then advanced to digital retail and human delivery will now move to digital retail and digital delivery.

That’s according to Alex Bainbridge, CEO of autonomous sightseeing venture Autoura.

He says autonomous vehicles will be a reality in three or four years, and that could mean that the only tours humans will continue to deliver will be luxury ones.

While his ultimate vision is autonomous sightseeing vehicles, as the technology develops, the company has been testing various models with Sahra, its sightseeing bot, including taxi tours of a city or area that could be branded by a travel company.

Bainbridge says there are advantages to digital delivery in general, as well as what Autoura has been working on specifically.

Not only is it physically distanced by nature, but also the experience can be personalized.

That could be down to preferences such as language and dietary requirements or a more tailored, interactive tour where the artificial intelligence element asks questions and changes tack according to the answer.

He also sees a future of far more flexible tours that can fill in more waking hours of visitors to a destination.

While the average half-day tour lasts up to four hours, an autonomous sightseeing experience could build a whole day tour with food stops and local culture very much part of the experience.

“You would buy one commercial experience a day generally in a destination. Now we have a total addressable market of 15 hours and because it is digital delivery we have no marginal costs.”

While the future is uncertain, with car manufacturers devoting huge sums to the autonomous sector, the vehicles will play an important role in the not-too-distant future.