IFITT to host event on Technology Enabled Tourism Experiences

22 February 2012

IFITT event to look at how technology is shaping the experience economy in Tourism.

The International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT) is hosting a workshop entitled “Technology Enabled Tourism Experience Economy” at the EyeForTravel London Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2012. The workshop will take place on Thursday 18th April from 9:00am to 12:00am at the Business Design Centre, London.

The experience economy has become an increasingly important concept in modern society as well as in business. Tourism, as a traditionally service-dominated industry, has always been at the forefront of the experience economy. Therefore, for tourism businesses, designing and delivering meaningful, unique and memorable consumer experiences has become an imperative.

At the same time, recent dynamic technological advancements have provided opportunities for adding value to already high-level quality tourism products and services.

Businesses in the tourism, travel, cruise, aviation, or hospitality sectors, as well as a number of destination management organisations, have successfully implemented recent information and communication technologies to enhance the experiences of their customers.

The event will highlight the increasing importance of technological solutions for customer experiences, and discuss how these can enhance the competitiveness of tourism and hospitality products and services.

IFITT President, Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, said:

“As tourism and leisure are increasingly recognised as experience industries we need to explore how technologies and technology enabled services will be critical in developing and delivering dynamic tourism experiences. Social media, mobile technologies, augmented reality and eventually gaming will give us technological tools for developing such experiences. The gamification of tourism will also enable us to create virtual experience and blend them with real experiences. This is a fantastically exciting area that we will explore on this event.”

The event will be moderated by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis (IFITT President and Bournemouth University). Presenters from the tourism and hospitality industry and academia will include Danny Potter & Noel Hunwick (Owners, Inamo Restaurant London), Hannes Werthner & Rainer Schuster (Founders, Pixtri OG, Austria), Adriana Conte (Social Media Programme Manager, VisitBritain) & Phil Taylor (Head of Digital, VisitBritain), Marco Fanton (Social Media Director of Sol Melia Group) and Barbara Neuhofer (eTourismLab/John Kent Institute in Tourism, Bournemouth University).