The Digital Impact Award
2024
Nominee
Finalist
Shortlist
Winner
Challenges in the VisitLuxembourg App
Visit Luxembourg
The introduction of the VisitLuxembourg App in July 2021 marked a significant milestone for Luxembourg for Tourism, advancing the digital transformation of the destination and enhancing visitor engagement. This app bridges the communication gap with visitors while they are exploring the country, emphasizing active experiences in Luxembourg.
The app offers a range of practical tips and useful information for planning trips, while also sparking spontaneous adventures across the country. Notably, 19% of users have utilized insider tips provided through the app, highlighting its role in guiding visitors to unique experiences. However, as time passed, we recognized the need for changes to boost user retention and to enhance the user experience onsite by better managing tourism flows. We decided to integrate gamification features that would challenge visitors to experience Luxembourg in unique ways and discover hidden attractions in a playful manner.
This led to the introduction of our "Challenges" in July 2023. These Challenges allow app users to explore Luxembourg's nature and culture interactively. The concept is simple: visitors check in at designated locations to collect points, with check-ins restricted to certain geofenced areas. The challenge itself helps visitors to explore the destination and the journey and discoveries serve as the ultimate reward.
During peak tourism season, ensuring that as many visitors as possible have a high-quality experience is a priority. The Challenges not only enrich visitor engagement but also help manage user flows by directing people toward lesser-known yet equally impressive spots. Families, which represent 34% of overnight travelers and tend to stay longer on average (5 days), are often returning guests and contribute to more sustainable travel practices. Both tourists and locals can discover new and intriguing corners of Luxembourg, away from the usual tourist hotspots.
Some Challenges are tied to cycling and hiking routes, while others are thematic, linking visitors to specific sights of interest. To further encourage engagement, a leaderboard tracks the top participants in each challenge, motivating users to return and complete more challenges. All of these gamification elements are seamlessly integrated into our existing Tourism Content- & Service platform, the core of all our digital initiatives.
Judges Comments
The VisitLuxembourg app provides a well thought through approach to creating a digital companion guide to the destination. The strategic considerations given to its various user groups are what makes this an interesting best practice when it comes to designing digital solutions with a visitor-first approach.
The judges were particularly impressed with the overall design conformity, which delivers an excellent first impression and encourages you to continue deeper into the app. The introduction of Challenges was particularly noteworthy as it gives clear reasons to return time and again, building affinity at a more meaningful level with visitors to the destination, but also creating a fun and compelling way to to discover the destination using interactivity and gamification. The leaderboards represent a particularly nice feature which makes the challenge feel even more engaging.
The focus on helping visitors to benefit from a better experience of the destination, leading them to discover lesser known places, thus directly addressing regionality, is what sets this apart from the outset. The use of mapbox and GPX trails makes this particularly interesting for those keen on outdoor activities such as biking and hiking.
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