Tracey Poggio, chairman of ANTOR, shares the myriad ways that members are leveraging technology to boost destination promotion and facilitate training for travel agents.
Many ANTOR members have been early adopters in technological experiences and using technology to promote their destinations.
The Philippines were one of the first destinations to use VR at WTM more than five years ago, and this was found on many member stands this year.
Online training goes back nearly 20 years, followed by webinars, and is now used by all ANTOR members to provide distance training for agents and operators. Apps are widely used across the industry too. While we are exploring how AI can be used in destination marketing, here are some examples of the technological tools agents can expect from our members:
Starting with my own destination, Gibraltar is adopting AI technologies to enhance its visitor experience in St Michaels Cave bringing history and narrative to life.
The Bahamas Tourist Office uses technology, including the online agent training portal Bahamac.co.uk and an extensive digital library to give media and industry partners access to the best imagery from the islands. Bahamas.com is a continually updated consumer website giving travellers planning to visit news, facts and inspirational ideas ? with so many beautiful islands they are never short of interesting information to share through digital and social media channels. Out-of-home advertising uses moving imagery and they work with programme and film makers in the UK and internationally to spread the news from The Islands Of The Bahamas.
Tobago Tourism Agency works with MyBookingRewards to promote its Tobago101Specialist.co.uk online training programme, and Tobago Rewards incentives. Up to 101 agents can earn ?50 (tax and N.I.C. deducted) for logging a seven-night booking on Tobagorewards.com, to celebrate Tobago?s social media hashtag #101ReasonsTobago. The Agency highlights 101 reasons to go to Tobago on its TobagoBeyond.com website. In its consumer marketing, the agency is increasingly using tech-based tools such as behavioural targeting, which enables it to link its promotion to consumers? interests outside of travel.
#CatalunyaExperience is the hashtag promoting Catalunya in social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook and Youtube. With more than 1.8 million followers, Catalunya has been doing social media for more than 10 years and the Catalan Tourist Board was the first tourist board to organise a fam trip with Influencers and content creators. Plus Legends of Catalunya was launched this year as the first videogame created by Playstation to promote a destination.
The German National Tourist Board is using Virtual Reality VR) glasses. In 2019, we celebrated 100 years of Bauhaus with the VR glasses showing users Gropius? directors office at Bauhaus University. The German Summer Cities campaign at London?s Exhibition Road Festival had visitors sit on a swivel chair with VR glasses experiencing a 360? bike-ride through Germany. For 2020, the VR glasses will show users a Beethoven concert with their own experience of playing the piano.
The Egyptian Tourism Board used a variety of technological and digital tools to enhance their presence at WTM (pictured) including holograms of museum artefacts, an Instagram wall of celebrity posts, a digital wall and floor of moving images of experiences to be had in Egypt and virtual reality experiences such as an epic hike in Sinai and diving in the Red Sea plus a AR augmented reality where passers-by found themselves being projected into the image on the screen.
For further information, see www.antor.com
