A country’s beauty, such as the culture, landscape, monuments, food, etc., is only valid as long as tourists talk about it. Not only that, but a country’s economic growth also relies on the tourists. Providing the ‘Wow’ factor continually is proving to be a great challenge for the tourism industry, despite modern technology and advancement in digital media.
That is because we aren’t leveraging the right one – mobile technology. Adopting mobile-based engagement strategies, such as QR Codes, is the right way to go. It is like using the most adaptive and convenient infrastructure of your customers (the smartphone) to provide a simple solution (interaction, communication, and engagement) through QR Code scans.
Where tourist agencies lack?
It is obvious that tourism and tourists represent a country. Tourist agents and tours & travels companies play a huge role in increasing the GDP of a nation and boost their credibility. Therefore, their top priority should always be delivering unsurpassable, celebrating experiences to tourists so that they speak about the city to their friends and family. But what’s lacking is continuous engagement between tourists and agencies. For instance, we often hear visitors complaining about ‘the place was not on the map,’ ‘we couldn’t reach the sunset point in time,’ ‘we couldn’t enjoy the museum tour because it was in local language’ etc.
Everything is there, at the right place – but the information about it is not provided. So, tourist agents should realize that from signboards to audio guides to travel booklets and event tickets and itinerary – every aspect of tourism should make tourists happy.
The Solution: QR Codes for Tourism and Travel
The agencies can provide all the required information very easily and efficiently using QR codes. QR codes for Tourism and travel can help in a plethora of ways, such as – translate in the local language, act as an engaging audiobook, provide the recipe to a traditional cuisine, act as a travel guide, show how to drape a saree (if it’s India) or how to wear a plaid (if it’s Scotland), and many more such applications. Since QR Codes are read via smartphones, and since every person holds a smartphone today, then what better way to increase the information flow and improve the experience if not with QR Codes?
How are QR Codes implemented?
As we have gathered by now, QR Codes are two-dimensional barcodes that can store more information than barcodes, including URLs, audio and video links, PDF, Google maps, web pages, images, and contact cards. All a tourist has to do is take their smartphone out, scan the QR Code using the mobile camera, and get the required information. They can also download or save the link to view the information later.
QR Codes can be printed on books, signboards, flyers, travel guides, event tickets, t-shirts, DVD players, labels, tags, product packaging, posters, banners, and many other places. And each of these can provide tourists with the information they are looking for.
Each stakeholder of the tourism industry, such as the transport department, hotels, civic administration, local guides, and restaurants can use QR Code Chimp to help tourist agencies improve the travel experience.
Ways to implementing QR Codes effectively
Many cities around the world have successfully implemented QR Codes technology to engage tourists and dispense information. Even if they don’t understand the local language, they will recognize a QR Code and scan it. For instance, QR Codes can be used in the following places by tourist agencies to provide more information.
In Hotels: QR Codes can be printed on hotels display boards, brochures, feedback forms, menu cards, elevator, and access cards. For instance, you can get a downloadable PDF QR Code printed on the room access card that redirects tourists to popular tourist destinations in the city along with Google map links to each place.
On Transportation: QR Codes can be printed on buses, cars, other vehicles provided by the tourism agency to share information about the place, such as links to war videos, heritage, and history, recipes of famous cuisines, nearby bus stops, direction to nearby western union, etc.
In Public Places: QR Codes can be installed in public places, such as bus depots, parks, museums, heritage sites, roads to support and guide tourists. For instance, the USA’s Central Park has several QR Codes placed that stores social media links, interesting cultural facts, and directions.
On Brochures and Tickets: Agencies can print the itinerary, schedules, event information, such as game timetable and other things in world languages. For instance, QR Codes were prominently used in the FIFA World Cup in Brazil for providing information.
In Important Offices: QR Codes can act as a translator to local language guidebooks and posters effectively for tourists. You, along with the city administration, can also deploy a network of QR Codes at different public utility places to help tourists report complaints. The tourist has to scan the code to get redirected to a feedback or registration page to report issues.
With QR Code Chimp, QR codes can be efficiently designed and generated without professional help. QR Codes can be customizable in colors, in different shapes, and with the company logo. Make sure you add a compelling call-to-action to encourage tourists to scan the code.
