QR Codes still exist as a tool for Tourism

By
Gabriela Vega
Dayris Martinez

Personally I thought the QR Codes were going to disappear because from my point of view nobody used them anymore. The thing is that I was completely wrong! If you are not familiar with the term It consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera, and processed using an app until the image can be appropriately interpreted. (Thanks Wikipedia)

(Extract from google.com)

I had a IT Tourism class this week and my professor explained that since the tourism industry is run by small and medium businesses or is family owned, those people don't really have much budget to spend on marketing so the QR code is a perfect tool to advertise their hotels or even locations for a cheap price. That statement really made sense to me but still don't completely convinced I looked up for more information about the topic. 

The first problem that I saw, was that for using the QR Codes you used to have to download an app to read those codes, for me that was extremely unifficient and since we are a generation that don't have time for that and we want all the information as fast as possible it made sense that people stopped using them but the thing is that new phones right now have already that kind of app (I didn't know this, time to buy a new phone!!) so the tourism industry is using again the QR Codes, a good example of how can using this kind of tools help to your hotel or in this casa your travel destination is Rio de Janeiro. 

By itself Rio is a really an exotic destination but not many people know exactly what to do there or don't speak the language so the government of Brazil saw this as a big problem and they came with a really cool solution, use QR Codes by putting them into pavements to guide tourists around the city. The Codes were built with the same stones used to decorate the pavements with traditional mosaic designs. The city installed 30 codes at beaches and historic sites offering tourists more information about the most visited spots an in many languages. 

The launch attracted more users for sure, but Rio let's not give all the credit to the Brazilians, They weren't the first ones to use this actually they got the idea from Portugal, where similar pavement QR codes were placed around the city months before. Thanks Portugal!  

Cool right? Let's all start to consider QR Codes again! 

Disneyland Paris QR codes: a viable solution ?

The 2D barcodes known as QR (Quick Response) codes gives tourism suppliers new opportunities. Indeed, in contains up to 7 089 elements, compared to the 128 elements in a traditional bar code, that allow the customers to access an information page relative to the destination or on the attraction or offering promotions. 

The Disneyland Paris theme park has been following this new trend in technology for tourism. Many QR codes were introduced around the different theme parks at every step of the ‘journey’ through the park. From the main entrance to the specific entrance of each ride, customers can access information by flashing the codes. Interesting, right? 

 photo credit : http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Disneyland is here putting a reliable strategy in place: QR code can only be accessed by smartphones with the right application. The profile of the tourists in the park is quite wide: from families, to young couples or groups of teen friends, but almost every groups considered will have a smartphone at the time of its trip to Disneyland. Thus, the technology is easily accessible and should reach a large number of visitors. The QR codes are displayed all around the park and close to the rides which enables the tourists who have first missed the information to have access to it later on and while queuing for a ride for instance. Entertainment on your smartphone, while waiting for your Indiana Jones ride, it sounds innovative and funny!

 photo credit : http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Disneyland QR codes not only provide information on the rides, the parades and the different shows, but also offer some promotions and coupons to the curious users. The aim is to give you a sentiment of privilege while accessing the coupons through the QR codes! This might be the ultimate incentive to push you to buy an extra souvenir or a meal at one of the shops within the park. 

Besides, it is a low cost technology for the company since the QR codes are not sensitive to time. The QR code can remain the same over the years, as long as the web page or content it accesses is refreshed regularly to provide accurate information.

Therefore, the strategy is clever and also interactive for the customers that usually spend a lot of time waiting in line for the rides. Nevertheless, the Disney project like almost every project including QR codes faces the some issues. The different surveys have shown that QR codes in one of the least popular technology used in travel and tourism. Although it provides some great information to the customers and promoting and marketing tools to the suppliers it faces the problem of its lecture. Indeed, in order to read a QR code, the user must have the adequate application on its smartphone. If not, the user might not download one just to access QR codes on a specific day not matter how entertaining and informative they can be. The need to have a good access to the Internet to open the apps can also be an issue. 

We think that the incentive in the Disneyland Paris Park is good since it can be entertaining for the tourists to have an access to new content and promotions throughout the park and while waiting for the ride, especially since the use of smartphones is very common in this kind of situation. However, the decision to use the QR codes technology might not be a very lasting solution. Besides the issues rose above, we think that a company such as Disneyland Theme Parks should engage in more developing and innovative technologies such as the Near Field Communication. Indeed, this technology could (when widely developed and accessible through almost every smartphones) replace the QR codes put in place. The NFC technology enables to access content just by swapping your phone in front of a specific object or image to access content. It also allows sharing information with the nearby smartphones, which could give Disneyland’s experience an additional tool to promote its shows and shops.  

Source: http://beqrious.com/disneyland-paris-own-qr-code/

Marie Lallement &Florence Autier

Augmented Reality for Events

The report published by MPI aims at identifying technology trends for the following years. We chose to focus on augmented reality.

                         

 

source: eventplanner.tv

Augmented reality means mixing both real and virtual worlds by adding information in an existing space. It can be implemented through smartphones thanks to the touchscreens or cameras. The real worldview is supplemented by computer generated sensory inputs such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.

During exhibitions, it can be useful to add information on a poster thanks to a QR code redirecting the customer to the company’s website for instance.  Moreover, as space is limited in an exhibition and exhibitors have to put as much information as they can in a very small space, implementing augmented reality with a tablet for instance is  a good way to make the visitor live a unique experience at the stand.

During a networking event, it can also be very useful to have additional information about the other attendees: you can scan their badges to have their business card or it can help attendees find their way.

Today there are many mobile apps that have been developed to give access to augmented reality in events and tools such as the Google glasses are very impressive event if it is not fully developed today. There are still many improvements to be made in this field but there are also many ideas that have not been exploited yet and that will add a huge value to the customer’s experience.

To conclude, augmented reality is a good way to make events memorable and more unique for visitors. It is also a good way to give them more information without spamming them or giving them tons of brochures. Moreover, as it can be used through devices that customers already have (mobile phones) it is not too costly to implement it during events and it is totally worth it.

Cyrielle DOLL & Ombeline REBILLAT

REFERENCE

http://www.mpiweb.org/docs/default-source/thought-leadership/MPIFFOMWP2_Technology_WhatsNextWhyInvest.pdf?sfvrsn=0