SKEMA Digital Marketing in Tourism and Events: The QR Code, an added value to your business.

Thursday 31 January 2013

The QR Code, an added value to your business.

What is it exactly ?

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional bar code) first designed for the automotive industry in Japan. Bar codes are optical machine-readable labels attached to items that record information related to the item. Recently, the QR Code system has become popular outside the automotive industry due to its fast readability and greater storage capacity compared to standard UPC barcodes. The code consists of black modules (square dots) arranged in a square grid on a white background. The information encoded may be made up of four standardized types ("modes") of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte / binary, Kanji), or through supported extensions, virtually any type of data. Users need to scan the QR Code with their smartphone or tablet and will directly be diverted to the link or content defined in the QR Code.

Can the QR code be used in every tourist area ?

Yes.

In big cities, through the QR code, transportation areas (train station, bus station, airport) provide immediate information to the users such as the schedules, the stops or the traffic state.

Also, museums and recreational places are using this tool to allow visitors to get information about paintings or maps to facitilitate their moving. It has been a revolution for blind people since QR code offers a lot of audio explanations.

Hotels have started to develop the QR code as a marketing tool, diverting the customer to hotel blog, that summarizes nice restaurants around, events or activities recommended by the staff.

Finally, QR Code can also be a promotional tool where visitors can find coupons for activities or tickets to events.

Just follow the trend as cities do.

According to the statistics agency Comscore, the number of people in Europe who scanned QR Code increased by 96% during the year ended July 2012. This is a huge trend that pushes cities to integrate the tool into their infrastructure. Here below is an example of Lisbon, where a QR Code is integrated into the basalt and limestone streets.