Imagine travelling to a city where all the tourist offers are available on an app and in your native language . Where you don’t need to queue for galleries because installations can be conjured up using your smartphone. Or exactly where virtual reality (VR) reconstructions of historical events breathe life into heritage sites .
Smart cities are redefining tourism .
Two years associated with pandemic-related travel restrictions changed the way we experience the world. Virtual tours helped us explore destinations from the comfort of our couches, and business journey waned as video calls took over.
Now borders have reopened, countries are capitalising on this technology in order to attract tourists plus enhance their experiences.
The term ‘ smart city ’ might make you think of robots walking the streets, flying cars crossing the particular skies or artificial intelligence controlling public services. The reality is slightly different, but no less exciting.
Being a smart town means standing out in accessibility , sustainability , digitalisation, creativity and protection associated with cultural history.
Denmark ’s capital led the way in which about this even before the pandemic. The Copenhagen Visitor Service invites visitors to plan their itineraries with the help of touch screen guides, robotics plus VR goggles, while an app disseminates information and collects data to help improve the service.
Hoping to join these ranks, locations like Zagreb inside Croatia plus Paphos in Cyprus spare no effort. They are using technologies such as augmented reality (AR) to create virtual encounters that are usually reserved for the gaming industry.
These initiatives have seen both towns shortlisted for that 2023 European Capital of Wise Tourism, a competition that recognises outstanding achievements by Western metropolitan areas while travel and leisure places.
AR transforms Zagreb into a giant digital art exhibition
Last month, the particular Zagreb Tourist Board teamed up with technologies company Equinox to turn the capital associated with Croatia into a huge virtual artwork exhibit, dubbed Art Future.
Visitors were invited in order to download the Equinox XR application on their phones. Once they reached the location of a particular ‘installation’, they could open their own camera on the app and the artwork was overlaid inside AR — a familiar experience for any Pokémon GO players out there.
“Augmented reality is a technology that enables people to encounter digital content, embedded in the real world which surrounds them, ” explains Ivan Voras, founder of Equinox and technical director of the event.
“This can be achieved through special hardware want glasses, but it’s much more efficient plus reaches a wider audience currently to do it via mobile phones . ”
Nineteen contemporary artists, animators and 3D modellers from around the world displayed their particular ‘locative art’ : virtual art in real-life locations – at Artwork Potential.
“Visitors plus residents [could] view art work created by major international performers within almost every square or even park across the city, ” says Ivan. Themes covered the particular polarising world associated with NFTs , the healing power of artwork, and conceptual solutions to global warming .
This was not the first time Equinox collaborated with the Zagreb Visitor Table for a future-forward display. At Christmas, they placed animated plus interactive gift boxes around the town for people to find.
Both projects created digital exhibits firmly rooted within the real life — and demonstrated how tech can be used to enhance visitor attractions without the need with regard to major infrastructure.
Paphos brings its mythical traditions websites to life through your mobile phone
Paphos in southwest Cyprus is a popular tourist destination. The particular coastal city is known as the particular legendary birthplace associated with Aphrodite, and its historic remains possess earned it UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
Leveraging the city’s mythological past within futuristic fashion, the particular Paphos travel board has developed an application that allows users to bring the fabled history to our lives.
The Aphrodite’s Birthplace application interacts along with three various scenes from the myth.
“By pointing your own device to various areas around the beach , the app allows you to experience an animated Aphrodite in a real-world environment, ” describes Nasos Hadjigeorgiou, head of the Paphos regional board of tourism.
Users can see Aphrodite rising from your waves as she is born or spy her relaxing within the beach in increased fact.
“The main reason for us to use AR is to convert the particular intangible part of the experience in to tangible, providing electronic info plus interaction in a real-life atmosphere, inch states Nasos.
Soon, culture lovers interested in learning more about Aphrodite’s misconception will have a new tool in their support.
“We are in the final stage associated with developing a complete application about the myth of Aphrodite. This will include details and places which are connected with the Goddess’s birth plus existence, inches says Nasos.
Besides this new app, the particular Paphos travel and leisure table has big plans for its wise travel project.
“We are also investing heavily in intelligent signs, converting static indicators to online [ones], ” states Nasos. This can bring 360-degree trips, audio manuals in several languages , videos and photos in order to visitors’ fingertips.
What can travellers expect through clever destinations in the future?
As the tourism sector continues to embrace technology, sensible destinations are likely to become the norm.
This can materialise within thousands of ways, creating smoother, more memorable plus personalised experiences regarding vacationers.
Museums will become a lot more interactive, landmarks could be digitally overlaid with historic pictures and information, plus travelers might be able to see how busy attractions are in real time so they can strategy their own visits accordingly.
Travel and leisure boards will leverage technologies in ever more creative methods, blurring the lines between the digital and physical worlds. For example , Visit Sweden recently launched ‘Spellbound simply by Sweden’, a folklore-filled audiobook whose ending can only be heard when you are physically present in the Swedish forest .
There is still a huge gap to overcome between traditional locations as well as the smart cities we want to visit. But the advancements we are seeing inside travel and leisure already give all of us a taste associated with what travel will be in the future .
