The DTTT team collaborated with Tourism Northern Ireland to deliver a masterclass on digital innovation for tourism businesses, which included an overview of key trends and a design thinking workshop, practical examples of businesses' digital innovation journeys and a summary of essential tips for tourism businesses.
The DTTT team collaborated with Tourism Northern Ireland as part of their Tourism Enterprise Development (TED) programme to deliver a masterclass for tourism businesses in Northern Ireland focused on digital innovation. Our CEO, Nick Hall, facilitated the half-day session of presentations and design thinking workshop. The DTTT team also produced a whitepaper summarising the key insights from the discussions.
The masterclass was comprised of three distinct sections. The morning began with an overview of the key trends shaping the tourism sector. Secondly, businesses presented their individual digital innovation journeys. Finally, Nick shared some essential tips for tourism businesses.
Some of the trends that are currently defining experiences in the post-pandemic context include increased value for money, the relevance of the social and economic aspects of sustainable travel and the ease of travel expected by visitors. It is important for businesses to adapt to the constantly changing landscape.
During the design workshop, local businesses from Northern Ireland assessed the different trends to identify how they are relevant to their respective organisations. Businesses also shared the opportunities for exploiting the trends as well as the challenges faced.
There is a growing importance for new business models, such as the circular economy. The priorities of travellers are shifting towards creating value for communities and the environment, meaning businesses need to provide more meaningful travel experiences. This trend calls for embedding sustainability into the entirety of company operations to increase the perceived value.
According to Skyscanner's Horizons report, 36% of travellers are choosing destinations where their money will go further. With an increased desire for budgeting tips and tricks, businesses should highlight the free, unique and amazing value they can provide. Helping visitors explore the destination as a local to find hidden gems is also becoming increasingly important for achieving stronger performance.
Everyone has a mobile phone and we increasingly do more in our day-to-day lives through them. Simplicity is key when creating mobile-first experiences. People want to have fun when discovering destinations and the businesses in them and should incorporate interactive elements, such as playfulness and gamification. When building booking systems or websites, ensuring the integration of different payment methods which reflect this shift from desktop to mobile usage is fundamental. Businesses don’t need to be tech experts to be able to leverage these tools and platforms, which are becoming more user-friendly.
Creating ‘Instagramable’ spots at attractions can help increase the appeal of younger generations to visit, which will in turn spread awareness on social media and help lower marketing costs. Businesses can also partner with influencers which will help tap into their audiences and achieve a wider reach. TikTok is a key growing channel which is defining traveller choices. Jumping onto trends, creating memorable jingles and using trending songs are some of the keys to appealing to younger generations and succeeding in the social media landscape.
People are increasingly driven by the things they watch and the places and locations that appear in movies, TV and on-demand streaming services, an increase that has become more notable after the pandemic. According to the American Express 2023 Global Travel Trends report, 64% of people say they have been inspired to travel to a destination after seeing it featured on a TV show, news source or movie. This represents a key opportunity for businesses because it influences the social experiences we seek when travelling.
To stay on top of things and further competitiveness, there are many tools available. Generative AI is the most disruptive development we have seen in recent years. This technology can help improve productivity by building on Large Language Models to understand human language and prompts to produce social content, code and images, and even ensure accessibility and adaptability.
Titanic Belfast shared how the COVID pandemic provided an opportunity to advance its digital transformation. They have strongly focused on reimagining the customer experience and developing multimedia guides that allow visitors to be fully immersed in the experience. This involved digitalisation and upgrading of all consumer touchpoints to provide seamless visitor experiences.
The Nerve Centre presented its Our Place in Space project, centred around a scale model of the solar system combining a three-dimensional sculpture trail, interactive AR app and exciting learning and events programme. Having a strong focus on social content and an ‘always-on’ attitude was key to the success of the project, as well as building partnerships. Targeted advertising and out-of-the-box thinking helped to enhance marketing activities.
The Tower Museum highlighted its different digital innovation projects, highlighting their aim to get visitors to visualise historic environments which no longer exist in the city. They achieve this through immersive experiences which mainly rely on VR headsets but also incorporate AR elements for social media promotion. They also use a variety of hardware and software to represent a range of different themes.
Finally, Tourism Exchange Great Britain (TXGB) outlined how they bring tourism businesses together to drive sales and boost productivity by connecting the market in new ways through digital, data and technology. The platform achieves this by providing simplicity for businesses, connectivity of systems and an inventory of booking channels. TXGB helps to create smarter destinations and has generated millions of pounds of bookings and helps tourism businesses reach more customers and increase direct bookings.
The event ended with the sharing of essential tips for destinations. These included the importance of shifting mindsets and practice, not being afraid to take risks, using AI tools as your ally and creating an always-on calendar.
The DTTT team collaborated with Tourism Northern Ireland as part of their Tourism Enterprise Development (TED) programme to deliver a masterclass for tourism businesses in Northern Ireland focused on digital innovation. Our CEO, Nick Hall, facilitated the half-day session of presentations and design thinking workshop. The DTTT team also produced a whitepaper summarising the key insights from the discussions.
The masterclass was comprised of three distinct sections. The morning began with an overview of the key trends shaping the tourism sector. Secondly, businesses presented their individual digital innovation journeys. Finally, Nick shared some essential tips for tourism businesses.
Some of the trends that are currently defining experiences in the post-pandemic context include increased value for money, the relevance of the social and economic aspects of sustainable travel and the ease of travel expected by visitors. It is important for businesses to adapt to the constantly changing landscape.
During the design workshop, local businesses from Northern Ireland assessed the different trends to identify how they are relevant to their respective organisations. Businesses also shared the opportunities for exploiting the trends as well as the challenges faced.
There is a growing importance for new business models, such as the circular economy. The priorities of travellers are shifting towards creating value for communities and the environment, meaning businesses need to provide more meaningful travel experiences. This trend calls for embedding sustainability into the entirety of company operations to increase the perceived value.
According to Skyscanner's Horizons report, 36% of travellers are choosing destinations where their money will go further. With an increased desire for budgeting tips and tricks, businesses should highlight the free, unique and amazing value they can provide. Helping visitors explore the destination as a local to find hidden gems is also becoming increasingly important for achieving stronger performance.
Everyone has a mobile phone and we increasingly do more in our day-to-day lives through them. Simplicity is key when creating mobile-first experiences. People want to have fun when discovering destinations and the businesses in them and should incorporate interactive elements, such as playfulness and gamification. When building booking systems or websites, ensuring the integration of different payment methods which reflect this shift from desktop to mobile usage is fundamental. Businesses don’t need to be tech experts to be able to leverage these tools and platforms, which are becoming more user-friendly.
Creating ‘Instagramable’ spots at attractions can help increase the appeal of younger generations to visit, which will in turn spread awareness on social media and help lower marketing costs. Businesses can also partner with influencers which will help tap into their audiences and achieve a wider reach. TikTok is a key growing channel which is defining traveller choices. Jumping onto trends, creating memorable jingles and using trending songs are some of the keys to appealing to younger generations and succeeding in the social media landscape.
People are increasingly driven by the things they watch and the places and locations that appear in movies, TV and on-demand streaming services, an increase that has become more notable after the pandemic. According to the American Express 2023 Global Travel Trends report, 64% of people say they have been inspired to travel to a destination after seeing it featured on a TV show, news source or movie. This represents a key opportunity for businesses because it influences the social experiences we seek when travelling.
To stay on top of things and further competitiveness, there are many tools available. Generative AI is the most disruptive development we have seen in recent years. This technology can help improve productivity by building on Large Language Models to understand human language and prompts to produce social content, code and images, and even ensure accessibility and adaptability.
Titanic Belfast shared how the COVID pandemic provided an opportunity to advance its digital transformation. They have strongly focused on reimagining the customer experience and developing multimedia guides that allow visitors to be fully immersed in the experience. This involved digitalisation and upgrading of all consumer touchpoints to provide seamless visitor experiences.
The Nerve Centre presented its Our Place in Space project, centred around a scale model of the solar system combining a three-dimensional sculpture trail, interactive AR app and exciting learning and events programme. Having a strong focus on social content and an ‘always-on’ attitude was key to the success of the project, as well as building partnerships. Targeted advertising and out-of-the-box thinking helped to enhance marketing activities.
The Tower Museum highlighted its different digital innovation projects, highlighting their aim to get visitors to visualise historic environments which no longer exist in the city. They achieve this through immersive experiences which mainly rely on VR headsets but also incorporate AR elements for social media promotion. They also use a variety of hardware and software to represent a range of different themes.
Finally, Tourism Exchange Great Britain (TXGB) outlined how they bring tourism businesses together to drive sales and boost productivity by connecting the market in new ways through digital, data and technology. The platform achieves this by providing simplicity for businesses, connectivity of systems and an inventory of booking channels. TXGB helps to create smarter destinations and has generated millions of pounds of bookings and helps tourism businesses reach more customers and increase direct bookings.
The event ended with the sharing of essential tips for destinations. These included the importance of shifting mindsets and practice, not being afraid to take risks, using AI tools as your ally and creating an always-on calendar.
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