Digitalisation has been an important topic for more than 15 years - also in tourism. For most players, dealing with digital tools is part of everyday life. Nevertheless, the pandemic has shown where the deficits lie. The past few years have only been the beginning, or more precisely: a first, comparatively slow wave of digitalization.
Today, tourism in North Rhine-Westphalia is at the beginning of a second wave, which is rolling in with unprecedented transformative power and dynamism. It is driven by new, disruptive future technologies, especially artificial intelligence. The speed of the second wave offers both opportunities and challenges. It will show who can keep up with digitalization with confidence or who is already having problems staying afloat in terms of digital topics.
Digitalisation is by no means new territory in NRW tourism, but has been a lived practice for many years. Digital transformation already played a central role in the 2019 State Tourism Strategy. Further milestones in recent years have been the launch of the Data Hub NRW, the data strategy for NRW tourism, the maturity model as a self-check for DMOs and the "Smart Destination" guideline. This makes NRW tourism one of the pioneers in Germany, especially driven by the state tourism association and strong destinations. However, there is a greater need for action at the sub-regional and local levels.
With a view to the North Rhine-Westphalia tourism system, it will be important in the future to work out and bundle the power of joint action more strongly, because in the second wave of digitalization at the latest, more than ever before, consistent cross-destination cooperation is needed to use resources precisely and efficiently.
In order to master the balancing act between basic tasks and the development of new technologies for a successful digital transformation in North Rhine-Westphalia, three levels of action are of central importance, which are examined in detail in this report.
The level of service providers is an integral part of the tourism cross-section industry, the digitalisation of which is a fundamental prerequisite for the vision of a "digital twin" of NRW tourism. The perception of visitors is always the sum of all experiences, not least all interactions with the service providers on site. Digitalisation at the operational level is therefore not a "nice to have", but a central key to the digital transformation of NRW tourism.
The second wave of digitalisation, especially artificial intelligence, will separate the wheat from the chaff even more than before.
Digitalisation has been an important topic for more than 15 years - also in tourism. For most players, dealing with digital tools is part of everyday life. Nevertheless, the pandemic has shown where the deficits lie. The past few years have only been the beginning, or more precisely: a first, comparatively slow wave of digitalization.
Today, tourism in North Rhine-Westphalia is at the beginning of a second wave, which is rolling in with unprecedented transformative power and dynamism. It is driven by new, disruptive future technologies, especially artificial intelligence. The speed of the second wave offers both opportunities and challenges. It will show who can keep up with digitalization with confidence or who is already having problems staying afloat in terms of digital topics.
Digitalisation is by no means new territory in NRW tourism, but has been a lived practice for many years. Digital transformation already played a central role in the 2019 State Tourism Strategy. Further milestones in recent years have been the launch of the Data Hub NRW, the data strategy for NRW tourism, the maturity model as a self-check for DMOs and the "Smart Destination" guideline. This makes NRW tourism one of the pioneers in Germany, especially driven by the state tourism association and strong destinations. However, there is a greater need for action at the sub-regional and local levels.
With a view to the North Rhine-Westphalia tourism system, it will be important in the future to work out and bundle the power of joint action more strongly, because in the second wave of digitalization at the latest, more than ever before, consistent cross-destination cooperation is needed to use resources precisely and efficiently.
In order to master the balancing act between basic tasks and the development of new technologies for a successful digital transformation in North Rhine-Westphalia, three levels of action are of central importance, which are examined in detail in this report.
The level of service providers is an integral part of the tourism cross-section industry, the digitalisation of which is a fundamental prerequisite for the vision of a "digital twin" of NRW tourism. The perception of visitors is always the sum of all experiences, not least all interactions with the service providers on site. Digitalisation at the operational level is therefore not a "nice to have", but a central key to the digital transformation of NRW tourism.
The second wave of digitalisation, especially artificial intelligence, will separate the wheat from the chaff even more than before.
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