Take the step towards interactive place-based experiences

BFUF

Rapid media developments during recent years have brought about significant changes in the tourism industry. These include challenges for business in adopting new technologies, as well as the opportunity to offer information about destinations to new audiences, and to market and sell products and services to new markets. There is increased competition for tourists, and the demands and expectations of visitors increase with the use of new digital media. Businesses that meet these expectations have a competitive advantage and may attract more visitors.

Digitalisation of the tourism industry has also opened up new research areas. Our project starts from the challenges faced by actors in the tourism industry and initiates a development and innovation process through which businesses in the tourism and IT industries interact with researchers. The aim of the project is to increase local knowledge and to combine this with digitalisation, thus laying the groundwork for further promoting place-related experiences through digital solutions.

The project aims to develop a first prototype idea that eventually may contribute to increasing the companies’ knowledge and competitiveness in the tourism industry. A prototype may involve a new service in the shape of a technological solution involving an experience in a digital environment (such as a mobile phone application) that seeks to enhance visitors’ experience of the place. Through an in-depth study of a small number of places, different layers of local information and knowledge are identified based on the specific place’s history and geography and the place itself. Sources may include historical maps and documents, the narratives of the local inhabitants, tourism actors and visitors. The media use of businesses and visitors is also mapped. Based on the data collected, businesses gain awareness of the added-value of the place in question for tourist experiences. This also forms the basis for interaction with actors in the tourism industry and IT sector. We hope to bridge the tourism industry and the IT sector through the pilot project and prototype. In this way, a unique partnership between two cluster developments is created through smart specialisation: they meet on creative terms with the aim of developing a product.

http://bfuf.se/projekt/vaga-ta-steget-mot-interaktiva-platsforankrade-upplevelser/

Funders: BFUF, Region Värmland and Karlstad University

Project manager: Lotta Braunerhielm

Participants: 

  • Linda Ryan Bengtsson
  • Laila Gibson, consultant
  • Daniel Olsson, Värmlands museum
  • Ingmarie Junler, Vildmark i Värmland
  • Andreas Stjärnhem, Sticky beat
  • André Jansson (reference group)
  • Cecilia Möller (reference group)
BFUF