By Gautam Garg, May 28, 2014

I am stating the obvious if I say that tourism should be an important agenda for a local government. Getting tourists to spend their money in a community is just good economics. All the community needs to do is to “wow” the tourists so they will tell their friends to visit the community too.

This can be easier said than done. Attractions of a destination, including landscapes, monuments, beaches, and so forth, are only valid as long as they are complimented with a great tourist experience. Tourists often complain that “the place was great but we really had trouble getting there” or “the museum was beautiful but everything was in the local language. That was a bummer.”

Cities and counties that are attune to this challenge are investing in such strategies as supporting tour agents, information kiosks, travel booklets, audio-guides, sign-boards, information boards, or anything and everything that will help keep tourists happy. But these are capital intensive measures, and what does a community do if it’s on a low budget?

It's Time to Go Mobile

In this era of smartphones, adopting mobile engagement strategies is the way to go. According to a report by eMarketer, the number of smartphone users in the world is expected to reach a staggering 1.75 billion by the end of 2014. It is also estimated that by 2017, global smartphone penetration will reach 50 percent.

Instead of investing in capital intensive and ancient techniques, cities and counties should leverage the smartphones of tourists as a medium to increase flow of information. We can call this infrastructure crowd-sourcing or using the infrastructure of your audience—the smartphone in this case—to solve the problem, which is flow of information.

So we use their smartphones, but to do what? Here are options:

Give access to unlimited tourist information. You can provide them with information they are looking for such as directions, notes on historical significance, stories, reviews, emergency numbers, embassy contact information, and do's and don'ts.

Let there be no language barrier. The information on their smartphones can easily be translated in the language of their choice. This is important as it removes any language barrier making it easier for tourists to explore and get around the city.

Push information depending on where they are. Instead of waiting for tourists to search information using Google or on your website/mobile app, why not push information on their smartphones? This can be easily done using  QR Codes.

Paint the town with QR Codes. A QR Code is a 2-D barcode that when scanned using a smartphone application will take the user to the intended webpage. QR Codes can also store such offline information as contact details and Google map locations. It is a low-cost mobile engagement tool that is being increasingly used to make destinations tourist-friendly. QR Codes are put up at such places of interest as monuments, art galleries, museums, town squares, city halls, and other places of historical, religious, and social significance.

On scanning a QR Code, the tourist or for that matter locals can read relevant text on a website, see photos and videos, listen to audio guides, share interesting information on social platforms, and get directions on Google maps. QR Codes can be easily generated using online generators.

See how these cities are using QR Codes to engage tourists:

 

In 2013, Rio de Janeiro added QR Codes into its trademark black-and-white mosaic pavements. According to a report by Associated Press, Brazil planned to deploy around 30 QR Codes at beaches, vistas, and historic sites across Rio to allow tourists and locals to learn more about the city.

 

In April 2010, New York City ran the World Park Campaign in Central Park using QR Codes to engage park visitors with interactive content.

 

Monmouth, a small Welsh town, promotes itself to be the first  “Wikipedia town” after announcing plans to install 1,000 QR Code plaques linking back to Wikipedia articles.

 

The  Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2012 allowed enthusiasts to learn about the Strolkovo Innovation Center, a new development that aims to concentrate intellectual capital around five clusters (IT, Biomed, Energy, Space, Nuclear Tech), through QR Codes that covered every inch of the Pavilion.

Many other such destinations across the world as Abu Dhabi, Philippines, and South Korea have also installed QR Codes across the city to guide tourists and locals.

It's time for your community to go hi-tech. It's possible even with a low budget.

Gautam Gargis is cofounder of Scanova and manages design, customer development, and operations (gautam@scanova.io; http://:www.scanova.io). Photos supplied by Gautam Gargis.