This report follows a hybrid workshop ran for NECSTouR members at their first in-person conference since the pandemic, hosted by Tirol Tourist Board in Austria.  We explored digitalisation in the frame of  the European Commission's S4 Specialisation Programme.

‍

When we look at digitalisation, many may will come with a perception of a radical transformation; out with the legacy way of doing things, in with the new. Some may even detach digitalisation from sustainability, as though these two seemingly different subject areas have nothing in common. Look a little closer however, and it soon becomes clear that the radical transformation brought about by digitalisation and the pressing urgency of global (and local) issues highlighted, when we consider sustainability, are almost certainly going to redefine the world around us.

‍

To make that a positive change, we as individuals and leaders who can inspire it, must use our human capacity to make change happen.

‍

In this double forty-five minute session, we explore empathy as a means to achieving that.

‍

‍

Setting out Challenges and Priorities

‍

Setting the scene, the session started by exploring some of the critical issues when looking at the opportunity to establish more competitive and sustainable destinations through digitalisation and data. A wide range of perspectives were shared on this, which point to the complexity of each and the relationship which exists between cooperation, strategy, development and digital transformation. To highlight just four of the challenges, participants explored:

1. Challenges in maximising the potential of data - this points to concerns around data privacy and the traceability of data, the effective collection of data, challenges around sharing the outcomes of isights gathered, as well as the effective dissemination and value derived from intelligence.
2. Lack of digital knowledge and capability - which was particularly felt around the need for up-to-date digital skills where acquiring these is often compounded by a lack of time, particularly amongst SMEs.
3. Stakeholder alignment - this challenge was expressed widely, that getting all stakeholders on the same page to go further than stated commitments on sustainability was challenging.
4. Engagement, awareness and commitment - there are considerable challenges in facilitating better public-private cooperation when it comes to raising awareness around the issues, lobbying for the necessary investment and adapting or aligning stakeholder expectations.

‍

The session then looked at the actions considered six priorities, here is what came out of this:

1. Finding a common vision came out at an overarching level, a view emphasised by the fact that all participants were themselves representing different regions and organisations. Furthermore, there was agreement that there is a need to find common definitions on sustainability.
2. Cutting through the complexity of digital when it comes to sustainability, in consideration of the multitude of decisions to be made, investment needed and balance of the priorities emerging.
3. Specific issues related to sustainability were also highlighted as priorities, namely the importance of supporting social inclusion, reducing the carbon impact of our industry and supporting the transition towards a circular economy, where tourism plays a critical role.
4. Communication and education were considered essential on a number of levels, such as the importance of educating future generations, but also right to the top, where political leaders need a strong case to be made to support sustainable actions through sectoral investment and transformation.
5. Balancing commercial realities was also considered necessary if we are to address sustainability effectively. The fact that after more than a decade of digital growth many business struggle to get ahead, highlights the issues related to time and resource pressure. This might mean that change is likely to be driven by commercial need and pressure rather than a desire to be trained and adapt.
6. Data ethics was the last point discussed, where proprietary data is widely considered the crucial asset in understanding, measuring and improving behaviours, yet an increasing number of concerns exist around privacy, such as legal limitations on sharing and using data and consumer hesitancy around safety.

‍

‍

Applying Empathy

‍

For the second part we used co-design to explore empathy. To apply this approach, we started by exploring 'the users', asking the question: "who is impacted by sustainability?" By personifying those impacted by sustainability, we can better understand their realities; from those enacted to steer solutions, to regular consumers who are able to act with purchasing power.

‍

Participants considered the issues from a wide range of perspectives, including:

• General public - kids, families, guests, students, residents
• Business - employees, business owners, managers, farmers
• Destination - Government employees, Project Managers, DMO Directors

‍

We then took time to consider their 'day-to-day realities', thinking about everything from the desire to simply enjoy life, lack of time and busy schedules, the search for quick and easy information to enjoy the destination, the need for structure and clarity in decision making processes. Taking this further we looked at their needs, from efficient transportation to affordable experiences to infrastructure to connect urban and rural experiences. At a business level, the need for training, investment and governmental support, whilst helping sustainable revenue models to come out on top.

‍

Lastly, we looked at their struggles. For industry this meant looking at opportunity creation, rural investment, creation of sustainable product and managing investment. Perhaps not all of these seem either radical or unexpected, but this exercise of exploring human empathy is the first step to considering users and their day-to-day realities. Too often, solutions are designed without this perspective leading to a heightened risk of failure and a misalignment of objectives.

‍

So where does technology come into this? Well, we are all too familiar with the 'we need an app' syndrome which defined the early days of digital. The goal here is to avoid that with the latest period of change, which brings digitalisation and sustainable transformation together, in large part underpinned by data.

‍

‍

Framing a Vision

‍

We have established that the challenges of sustainability are in fact human challenges, not only structural challenges. In many ways this helps to change our perspective, from insurmountable academic exercises, to a set of more achievable, broken down tasks, such as 'how might we convince visitors to take action?'. Of course, when we also understand how we can leverage technology to achieve this, we are on to a winning formula to start exploring solutions. This is digitalisation and sustainability in action.

‍

So here's what we do next; we 'frame a vision'. Here are some, which emerged in a rapid-fire round of HMW's:

• How might we use technology to improve the sustainability of the offer?
• How might we use booking data to improve our tourism offering?
• How might we bring everyone together to work sustainably through digital?
• How might we use technology to build more competitive business models?
• How might we benchmark to compare and improve?
• How might we collect data on a larger scale?
• How might we use consumer data to do better resource planning?
• How might we use technology to build a circular economy?
• How might we use tourist data to reduce resource wastage?
• How might we use visitor feedback data to improve product and make it more sustainable?
• How might we use destination data to create a baseline for a concrete decision making process?
• How might we use technology to make business models more resilient?
• How might we use data to convince businesses to become more data oriented?
• How might we use visitor data to help visitors discover the places we want?

‍

‍

Reflecting

‍

By hypothesising how we might address these 'human' issues through digitalisation, we considered the barriers to getting there. This included what stands in our way, considering the primary challenges to leveraging data and technology for sustainable development. Here are just a few:

• "We struggle to find the right technology"
• "We struggle to use data to better manage the destination"
• "We struggle to define the right data and indicators to achieve sustainability"
• "We struggle to measure sustainable development"

‍

This is a lot to cover in just 45 minutes, so we can't possibly explore all of these issues or go further in our co-design session. Where we take these quick-fire observations will be for another session. For many, this form of collaboration was new, perhaps even a little daunting, but two key takeaways emerged.

1. Remember to think about the users before we jump to conclusions and...
2. We can all bring solutions and be designers without being digital experts

‍

Curious to jump in and explore the Mural? Take a look here.