The DTTT team partnered with the EU-funded Tourbit project to moderate conference sessions and produce a podcast series highlighting the personal journeys of entrepreneurs and the power of collaboration between tourism companies and technology providers.
At the Digital Tourism Think Tank, we are passionate about supporting tourism SMEs and helping drive knowledge exchange, enabling businesses and destinations to drive their digital and sustainable transformation. Our team partnered with the EU-funded Tourbit project to moderate conference sessions and produce a podcast series highlighting the personal journeys of entrepreneurs and the power of collaboration between tourism companies and technology providers. Throughout the series, we explored how innovative ideas could be made actionable with limited investment, leveraging a transnational and cross-ecosystem support scheme based on three pillars: Learning, Building, Testing and Implementing.
The Tourbit Final Conference on 1 March 2024 acted as a strong opportunity for tourism SMEs to gain valuable insights and identify the best path forward on their digital transformation journeys. Led by Nick Hall, CEO of DTTT, the conference featured three roundtable sessions highlighting inspiring SMEs that have harnessed technology to drive innovation and success.
The first session, "Building a Strong Digital Presence," focused on the importance of online visibility for tourism businesses. A panel discussion featuring entrepreneurs from Portugal, Iceland and Finland explored topics focused on the use of digital marketing for achieving growth, leveraging content and community building to build trust and the potential of AI-powered chatbots to enhance customer engagement.
The "Optimising Workflow through Digital Tools" session delved into the operational side of digitalisation, with entrepreneurs from Belgium, France and Slovenia highlighting innovative solutions to streamline processes and boost efficiency. Discussions ranged from the importance of a strong technological foundation for client relationship management to balancing personalisation and authenticity and tackling seasonality challenges through smart digital solutions.
The final session, "Innovation with Purpose", showcased two forward-thinking businesses from Spain and France that are pushing boundaries in achieving strong community impact. This roundtable demonstrated how technology can drive sustainability, such as by leveraging technologies such AR and NFTs to connect art, culture and technology and how smart automation can reduce a business's carbon footprint.
The "Tour Tech: Your Five Weekly Takeaways to Tourism Success" podcast series leaves a rich legacy of actionable insights for businesses in the tourism industry. Each episode served as an entrepreneurship masterclass, shedding light on the multifaceted ways technology is shaping the future of tourism. The podcast emphasised the importance of adapting and evolving alongside emerging trends to success in the competitive tourism market.
This episode highlights how technology enables destinations to obtain timely and reliable feedback from their visitors. The discussion centres on how Salmi Platform's data dashboard and regular reporting have optimised Visit Pyhä-Luosto's operations and given insights into the most important destination development opportunities. The challenges and benefits of using data to improve tourist experiences are also outlined, emphasising the importance of responsible data practices within the tourism industry.
This episode explores how Bookline has partnered with Gat Rooms to develop an AI voicebot to streamline phone reservations, respond to enquiries and generate leads to boost bookings. The value proposition of this technology is highlighted, including improved guest satisfaction and multilingual communication, increasing the proportion of direct bookings and reduced workload for reception staff.
This episode shines a light on how digitalisation is paving the way for a more sustainable tourism industry. It explores the collaboration between DiscoveRent and Greentripper to integrate innovative digital tools that calculate and transparently communicate the environmental impact of travel choices to visitors and empower tourists to make informed decisions.
This episode demonstrates how technology can transform the way tourists explore destinations, spotlighting the innovative collaboration between eXplorins and Pelai Centre i Rodalies. The focus is on 'phygital experiences', a concept that seamlessly blends the physical and digital worlds and delves into how digital tools, such as AR, are used to create unique and engaging experiences for visitors in Barcelona, ultimately transforming the way tourists explore the city.
This episode emphasises the importance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the tourism industry, exploring how Kemi Tourism has worked with Avidly Agency to transform sales processes in a digitalised world. It highlights how to simultaneously optimise operations and foster stronger internal collaboration and develop a more streamlined and effective customer experience.
This episode explores how hospitality recruitment is being transformed, emphasising how high turnover and seasonal fluctuations can be overcome through innovative digital solutions. The collaboration between Merytu and Independente Hotels & Hostels showcases how an app-based approach can streamline recruitment, foster transparency and performance reviews and empower a more dedicated, brand-aligned workforce.
This episode highlights how chat-based AI tools are bridging the communication gap between hotels and guests, highlighting the partnership between HiJiffy and AMMI Hotels. The episode delves into the transformative power of this technology and how automated guest interactions lead to improved communication and a more seamless guest experience.
This episode explores Camping Menina's collaboration with Go Giro and Hopguides to utilise AI-powered storytelling to maximise visitor experiences and how campsites and hotels can offer extra ancillary services to guests. It highlights how AI can be used to create digital tour guides that curate engaging stories, allowing visitors to engage with destinations in a more immersive and personalised way.
Focusing on the collaboration between Lushna and Camping Sass Dlacia, the episode explores how digital tools empower businesses to thrive and stay true to their core values of sustainability and design excellence. It showcases the importance of digital task management systems, two-way communication flows and the potential of AI tools in streamlining operations.
The episode emphasises the importance of embracing new technologies for a more sustainable future, highlighting how benchmarking, forecasting and early identification of excess energy consumption can contribute to a greener and more profitable hospitality industry. The episode explores the collaboration between Builtrix and Visabeira Group and how leveraging inexpensive smart meters and AI algorithms empowers hotels to gain valuable insights into their energy consumption to make data-driven decisions.
This episode highlights the limitations of off-the-shelf solutions and emphasises the potential for businesses to innovate and develop custom solutions that perfectly align with their specific requirements. It explores the strategic partnership between Camping Hamrar and Reisa to develop a bespoke campsite management system that replaces outdated pen-and-paper methods with a streamlined digital solution which automates processes.
This episode delves into the concept of affective computing, a technology focused on understanding human emotions. It highlights the collaboration between Un p'tit Voyage and L'Aleph to tailor trip planning to each visitor's emotional preferences, creating a more personal and fulfilling travel experience.
This episode explores how digitally enabled self-service models are revolutionising the hospitality industry in the aftermath of COVID-19, focusing on the collaboration between Hotel Breiddalsvik and Proactive Iceland. It dives into how the hotel has implemented contactless solutions such as digital locks and self-check-in to streamline the guest experience while freeing up staff for more personalised interactions. The episode also highlights the benefits of automated email communication for keeping guests informed and generating upselling opportunities.
While SEO and SEA are crucial for online travel agencies (OTAs), the episode emphasises the importance of specialised translation agencies over AI tools when expanding into new markets to ensure culturally-appropriate content that resonates with international audiences. It focuses on the partnership between Little Guest and Skriptó and the importance of monitoring website data and experimentation to design an easily navigable website based on user behaviour and search engine algorithms.
The series concludes by reflecting on the transformative power of digitalisation for tourism SMEs. The Tourbit consortia shares key takeaways from the series and highlight the importance of collaboration and partnerships as well as strong data management to boost competitiveness in the industry. The importance of empowering SMEs to navigate the technological landscape through dedicated support in building digitalisation roadmaps is emphasised. The discussion underscores the economic ripple effect of digitalisation in tourism, signifying the positive impact it has beyond individual businesses.
At the Digital Tourism Think Tank, we are passionate about supporting tourism SMEs and helping drive knowledge exchange, enabling businesses and destinations to drive their digital and sustainable transformation. Our team partnered with the EU-funded Tourbit project to moderate conference sessions and produce a podcast series highlighting the personal journeys of entrepreneurs and the power of collaboration between tourism companies and technology providers. Throughout the series, we explored how innovative ideas could be made actionable with limited investment, leveraging a transnational and cross-ecosystem support scheme based on three pillars: Learning, Building, Testing and Implementing.
The Tourbit Final Conference on 1 March 2024 acted as a strong opportunity for tourism SMEs to gain valuable insights and identify the best path forward on their digital transformation journeys. Led by Nick Hall, CEO of DTTT, the conference featured three roundtable sessions highlighting inspiring SMEs that have harnessed technology to drive innovation and success.
The first session, "Building a Strong Digital Presence," focused on the importance of online visibility for tourism businesses. A panel discussion featuring entrepreneurs from Portugal, Iceland and Finland explored topics focused on the use of digital marketing for achieving growth, leveraging content and community building to build trust and the potential of AI-powered chatbots to enhance customer engagement.
The "Optimising Workflow through Digital Tools" session delved into the operational side of digitalisation, with entrepreneurs from Belgium, France and Slovenia highlighting innovative solutions to streamline processes and boost efficiency. Discussions ranged from the importance of a strong technological foundation for client relationship management to balancing personalisation and authenticity and tackling seasonality challenges through smart digital solutions.
The final session, "Innovation with Purpose", showcased two forward-thinking businesses from Spain and France that are pushing boundaries in achieving strong community impact. This roundtable demonstrated how technology can drive sustainability, such as by leveraging technologies such AR and NFTs to connect art, culture and technology and how smart automation can reduce a business's carbon footprint.
The "Tour Tech: Your Five Weekly Takeaways to Tourism Success" podcast series leaves a rich legacy of actionable insights for businesses in the tourism industry. Each episode served as an entrepreneurship masterclass, shedding light on the multifaceted ways technology is shaping the future of tourism. The podcast emphasised the importance of adapting and evolving alongside emerging trends to success in the competitive tourism market.
This episode highlights how technology enables destinations to obtain timely and reliable feedback from their visitors. The discussion centres on how Salmi Platform's data dashboard and regular reporting have optimised Visit Pyhä-Luosto's operations and given insights into the most important destination development opportunities. The challenges and benefits of using data to improve tourist experiences are also outlined, emphasising the importance of responsible data practices within the tourism industry.
This episode explores how Bookline has partnered with Gat Rooms to develop an AI voicebot to streamline phone reservations, respond to enquiries and generate leads to boost bookings. The value proposition of this technology is highlighted, including improved guest satisfaction and multilingual communication, increasing the proportion of direct bookings and reduced workload for reception staff.
This episode shines a light on how digitalisation is paving the way for a more sustainable tourism industry. It explores the collaboration between DiscoveRent and Greentripper to integrate innovative digital tools that calculate and transparently communicate the environmental impact of travel choices to visitors and empower tourists to make informed decisions.
This episode demonstrates how technology can transform the way tourists explore destinations, spotlighting the innovative collaboration between eXplorins and Pelai Centre i Rodalies. The focus is on 'phygital experiences', a concept that seamlessly blends the physical and digital worlds and delves into how digital tools, such as AR, are used to create unique and engaging experiences for visitors in Barcelona, ultimately transforming the way tourists explore the city.
This episode emphasises the importance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the tourism industry, exploring how Kemi Tourism has worked with Avidly Agency to transform sales processes in a digitalised world. It highlights how to simultaneously optimise operations and foster stronger internal collaboration and develop a more streamlined and effective customer experience.
This episode explores how hospitality recruitment is being transformed, emphasising how high turnover and seasonal fluctuations can be overcome through innovative digital solutions. The collaboration between Merytu and Independente Hotels & Hostels showcases how an app-based approach can streamline recruitment, foster transparency and performance reviews and empower a more dedicated, brand-aligned workforce.
This episode highlights how chat-based AI tools are bridging the communication gap between hotels and guests, highlighting the partnership between HiJiffy and AMMI Hotels. The episode delves into the transformative power of this technology and how automated guest interactions lead to improved communication and a more seamless guest experience.
This episode explores Camping Menina's collaboration with Go Giro and Hopguides to utilise AI-powered storytelling to maximise visitor experiences and how campsites and hotels can offer extra ancillary services to guests. It highlights how AI can be used to create digital tour guides that curate engaging stories, allowing visitors to engage with destinations in a more immersive and personalised way.
Focusing on the collaboration between Lushna and Camping Sass Dlacia, the episode explores how digital tools empower businesses to thrive and stay true to their core values of sustainability and design excellence. It showcases the importance of digital task management systems, two-way communication flows and the potential of AI tools in streamlining operations.
The episode emphasises the importance of embracing new technologies for a more sustainable future, highlighting how benchmarking, forecasting and early identification of excess energy consumption can contribute to a greener and more profitable hospitality industry. The episode explores the collaboration between Builtrix and Visabeira Group and how leveraging inexpensive smart meters and AI algorithms empowers hotels to gain valuable insights into their energy consumption to make data-driven decisions.
This episode highlights the limitations of off-the-shelf solutions and emphasises the potential for businesses to innovate and develop custom solutions that perfectly align with their specific requirements. It explores the strategic partnership between Camping Hamrar and Reisa to develop a bespoke campsite management system that replaces outdated pen-and-paper methods with a streamlined digital solution which automates processes.
This episode delves into the concept of affective computing, a technology focused on understanding human emotions. It highlights the collaboration between Un p'tit Voyage and L'Aleph to tailor trip planning to each visitor's emotional preferences, creating a more personal and fulfilling travel experience.
This episode explores how digitally enabled self-service models are revolutionising the hospitality industry in the aftermath of COVID-19, focusing on the collaboration between Hotel Breiddalsvik and Proactive Iceland. It dives into how the hotel has implemented contactless solutions such as digital locks and self-check-in to streamline the guest experience while freeing up staff for more personalised interactions. The episode also highlights the benefits of automated email communication for keeping guests informed and generating upselling opportunities.
While SEO and SEA are crucial for online travel agencies (OTAs), the episode emphasises the importance of specialised translation agencies over AI tools when expanding into new markets to ensure culturally-appropriate content that resonates with international audiences. It focuses on the partnership between Little Guest and Skriptó and the importance of monitoring website data and experimentation to design an easily navigable website based on user behaviour and search engine algorithms.
The series concludes by reflecting on the transformative power of digitalisation for tourism SMEs. The Tourbit consortia shares key takeaways from the series and highlight the importance of collaboration and partnerships as well as strong data management to boost competitiveness in the industry. The importance of empowering SMEs to navigate the technological landscape through dedicated support in building digitalisation roadmaps is emphasised. The discussion underscores the economic ripple effect of digitalisation in tourism, signifying the positive impact it has beyond individual businesses.
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