Projects of the Winning Cities Helsinki and Lyon

The European Capitals of Smart Tourism competition was launched by the European Commission for the first time in 2018. The initiative promotes innovation in tourism to increase the attractiveness of cities. It contains the concepts submitted to the competition by a total of 38 cities from 19 EU Member States. The projects are divided into the areas of sustainability, accessibility, digitalization, and cultural heritage and creativity. Below is a summary of the projects of the two winners from 2019, Helsinki and Lyon, as well as other examples from the field of digitization.

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Helsinki2020

Helsinki2020 created a virtual model that allows tourists to experience the city digitally. This virtual journey is intended to provide an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to live sightseeing. The virtual reality model also gives people the opportunity to "visit" Helsinki who are unable to travel to Finland due to lack of time, health or financial reasons.

WeChat Mini Program

This project also comes from the city of Helsinki, which is considered an increasingly important destination for Chinese tourists. In February 2018, the "WeChat Helsinki mini program" was launched. WeChat is a Chinese app that serves as a social platform and chat, and includes various other functions such as digital payment methods. Through the WeChat mini program, travelers from China can get up-to-date information on weather, holidays, events, attractions, as well as various useful assistance for their stay.

iGirouette network

An innovative signage system was created for Lyon's historic districts, which are UNESCO World Heritage sites, to blend in with the cityscape. It includes orientation boards equipped with NFC technology (wireless data transmission) and the "iGirouette network" with 15 digital signposts. By connecting to their smartphones, they show visitors the way to various relevant locations such as museums, bus stops or events.

ONLYLYON

ONLYLYON is another Lyon project. It is a customer relationship management tool that collects data on visitors from across the city. The aim of the tool is to better understand tourists and enable them to experience the city in all its facets. The data collected will be used to create relevant information, tips and suggested routes for visitors. In turn, this will allow for a better distribution of tourist flows throughout the area, reducing traffic in the most visited areas.

Open Tourism Days and Copenhagen Week

Participants at the 2017 Open Tourism Days in Copenhagen, an event for software and hardware developers, had access to various data from the city to create innovative offers. Tourists should be able to explore the city better and at the same time the flow of visitors should be better distributed. One of the results was the "Know Your Bro" app, whose basic idea is to guide visitors to lesser-known parts of the city and boost local commerce. The app includes a 5km tour with 21 touchpoints. Once a user reaches these touchpoints, he or she receives information and stories about the location via smartphone. The 2018 "CopenhAIgen Week" also featured AI experts from around the world. The goal of the event was to use AI technologies to provide tourists with better vacation offers and increase safety during their stay.

Valencia Smart City Strategic Plan

The Valencia Smart City Strategic Plan includes 17 projects that will transform Valencia into a smart destination. The basis for this is the VLCi data platform, which collects data from various sensors throughout the city. This includes information on public transport, the use of city bikes, and the purchasing behavior of tourists. The data will be made available free of charge to local tourism businesses. The initiative will also produce reports to help businesses improve their tourism offerings.

Nexto App

The Nexto app was created by Slovenian developers. It is a storytelling app that aims to enrich the sights of the city of Ljubljana with new experiences. The app combines traditional audio guides with interactive maps and additional features such as puzzles, riddles and collecting objects by scanning them with your smartphone. Thanks to the download function, the application can also be used offline.

#myRavenna and myHelsinki

The cities of Ravenna and Helsinki offer locals and tourists different platforms, such as blogs, social walls and websites, where they can share their experiences. These channels allow users to interact with each other and share their experiences in the city. In this way, tourists have the opportunity to give feedback on the cultural offerings and provide input for the future design of the city's tourism offerings. Locals, on the other hand, can share information that shows the city from a new perspective and help decide what content and topics are covered.

Conclusion

The best practice collection provides a good overview of current and innovative tourism projects. The examples show how digitalization in tourism can help to create new experiences for visitors, better allocate tourist flows to specific areas, and make the destination more accessible and experiential for different target groups. The competition has been announced again, so the innovative actions and concepts will continue to be promoted.