Heritage, cultural and conservation sites play a significant role in our society. Although they provide opportunities to educate, they’re also responsible for engaging, entertaining, and enriching visitor experiences.
In a modern, digital world, technology is an accustomed part of our lives. Our expectations to be captivated, educated, and excited at attractions have substantially risen in recent years. The surge in the use of the internet is one reason why, as more people have the ability to express their opinions freely on a range of platforms. Because of this, Trip Advisor believes that 72% of people frequently read reviews online before going to an attraction.
Positive and negative feedback now plays a huge role in determining an attraction’s relevance. To encourage visits and generate positive coverage, attractions must up their game. With tourism emerging as one of the fastest-growing and competitive industries, how can places of interest take their innovation to the next level?
In this blog, we’ll be chatting about how going digital and embracing new technology can enhance your visitor experience. We’ll also highlight the various advantages innovation brings for both visitors and attractions.
1. Stand out from the crowd
The first and arguably most important tip – embrace innovation! As we live in a digital age, attractions and venues are constantly looking to utilise technologies to reach new heights and break boundaries, so guests come back and shout about their experience.
By integrating cutting-edge technology, you can set yourself apart from your competitors as well as generate positive buzz and appeal. By creating excitement, this can lead to extra promotion and increased brand engagement from your visitors, as they share their experiences online, and in person. If people enjoy your experience, they’re more likely to return and encourage others to visit.
2. Personalisation is key
One major challenge can be accommodating all age groups and communities. Each generation requires different approaches to their engagement and learning based on their unique preferences and personal needs.
When information is hard to understand, the short window of opportunity to keep visitors engaged can be lost quickly. With technology, you can easily share digestible information to make learning more efficient and fun! Not to mention, varying your tone to make that storytelling experience more captivating to your target audience.
As an example, Hello Lamp Post is working with FOR Cardiff to bring the city’s rich history and culture to life. Catered towards different age groups, both children and adults can take part in one of two of our historical walking trails to get to know the city’s iconic historical sites.
3. The entertainment value
Today’s innovative technology is allowing visitor experiences to present their information in creative and artistic ways that may have not been possible before. Take a historical site for example, these are places full of history and will have lots of stories to share – but how can they be shared in a way that keeps visitors captivated?
By integrating multimedia, the door opens to bring historical and cultural stories to life. For example, instead of describing what an old street looks like, you can share videos and photos to immerse visitors and visually show them the past. This helps to further amplify their knowledge, without the need for extensive amounts of text on display.
On the other hand, informational displays like plaques can only share a very limited amount of detail on a topic. If someone would like to know more, they would have to conduct their own research. By adding a digital layer, more information can be integrated seamlessly into their experience, helping to save people time and make their lives much easier when accessing the information they require.
4. FOMO-induced marketing
Incorporating technology into your destination isn’t just about innovation; it’s also a chance to market your attraction. By creating memorable experiences that get people talking, you can generate organic promotion that reaches people far and wide. This may even lead to others feeling like they’re missing out if they haven’t been to your attraction.
With digital innovation, you can set yourself apart from your competitors. With social media today, positive brand engagement is critical to getting visitors through the door. Platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok can shape audience demands as individuals share their experiences online, as well as via word-of-mouth. The more positive the engagement, the more likely it is that people will feel that they’re missing out on the experiences you’re sharing.
5. Make education and learning fun
Learning experiences should always be engaging. The main goal should be to keep visitors interested for as long as possible, whilst still having a desire to learn more. So, how can technology contribute to providing better academic adventures for all?
How about visitor trails and interactive quizzes? These engagement ideas are a great way to keep your audience interested and they’ll put a fun spin on the information you’re sharing. With quizzes, it’s a chance to unleash someone’s competitive spirit by testing people’s knowledge on subjects relevant to your attraction.
As for interactive trails, they can take visitors on a journey like no other. You can create virtual tour guides that interact with visitors by sharing facts and information about iconic landmarks or places of importance, all whilst being in that physical location at the same time. With both quizzes and trails, you could even leave an opportunity to win prizes at the end to encourage more people to engage!
A great example of where we’ve seen this work well is at Lightwater Valley Family Adventure Park. Hello Lamp Post has supported them with various family-fun trails across the park to keep visitors of all ages entertained. We’ve done everything from a circus adventure to a dinosaur trail and pirate treasure hunt!
6. Elevate your feedback game
Attractions love to hear from their visitors. When it comes to enhancing visitor experiences, their insight and feedback are pivotal to future planning decisions. So, how can digital techniques help you gain high-quality feedback to make improvements?
One method involves integrating feedback questions within your interactive experience. By bringing your physical objects to life, you can transform a bench (for example) into a two-way communication channel that gathers the insight and data you need, in a totally unique way.
As an example, we’ve been supporting the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust since 2020. In doing so, we’ve brought various cultural landmarks to life that educate individuals on the rich history of their iconic sites. As a result we’ve been able to gain valuable feedback that allows the trust to better understand who has visited their attraction.
Through our platform, the trust discovered that people who identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders were represented through our platform by 33% above the national average. This specific feedback has enabled the trust to better understand their visitor demographics and then tailor experiences that are suited to their needs.
The top tips we’ve shared today only briefly highlight the true capabilities technology has when enhancing visitor experiences. By embracing these digital methods, you can stay on top of the ever-evolving expectations visitors have, whilst creating memories that help to drive positive brand engagement and increase overall visitor satisfaction.
Would you like to know how we can help to enhance visitor experiences via digital engagement? Please send us a message via our contact form to chat with our friendly engagement team in either the UK or the US.
