How Smart Tourism Experiences Are Served by Technology

According to a 2021 American Express Travel survey of Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, UK and U.S. travelers, the three most desirable luxury amenities for post-pandemic travel are personalized experiences (82 percent), high cleanliness standards (81 percent) and privacy (79 percent). Automated bespoke fuels those amenities and more. The goal is that travelers become so immersed in the destination that they continue to add on experiences and activities because each one exceeds their expectations. Think of a safari one day, a behind-the-scenes visit to a cultural site the next and then a local culinary experience the day after. And the technology enabling that transaction experience is operating seamlessly in the background, letting staff focus their time and energy on using customer data to provide these travelers with exceptional service.

The idea that travelers want to disconnect while they’re on vacation isn’t actually accurate: more than half of respondents to a 2019 BankMyCell report of U.S. travelers said they check their phones one to five times per hour on vacation. It will take a lot of customer data to make automated bespoke a reality, assuming destinations can overcome and accommodate privacy considerations. Much of that data will come from devices like phones, wearables or tablets that travelers bring with them. The average U.S. consumer owns 10 connected devices, according to Statista, and they likely travel with a handful of those. Destinations can use data from those devices in real-time to improve the customer experience.

Automated bespoke helps to create an intimate experience that optimizes visitor capacity and minimizes things like energy usage and waste. Luxury travelers want connectivity married to sustainability—some 68 percent of respondents to the American Express Travel survey said they are trying to be more aware of sustainable travel brands to support. But how can destinations do this? Smart destinations must be truly designed around people to serve both desires, and automated bespoke helps to plan and execute traveler journeys so that the environmental impact is both minimal and positive.

Tourism academic Haley Stainton argues there are five key methods to implementing a smart tourism experience: smart accessibility options, smart sustainability initiatives, smart information sharing, smart research and management tools and smart tourist experiences like augmented and virtual reality.

Few destinations have any or all of these building blocks, leaving opportunities to deliver great experiences on the table. Increasingly, luxury travelers don’t want a typical island experience where they only sit on a beach all day. Social media and customer reviews have demonstrated how people experience destinations and how they make information on what to see and do more accessible, often appearing right in social media feeds. They want a variety of activities, both land- and sea-based. Adventure, safari, culinary travel, and shopping are the most popular types of luxury trips and will remain so through at least 2027, the Allied Market Research report found.

Traditional luxury-focused destinations like the Maldives essentially offer the same experience day after day with a focus on water- and beach-related activities. The Middle East is also known for its luxury products, like Dubai’s Al Maha resort which is geared towards bespoke experiences. But many destinations throughout the region offer cookie cutter experiences that are too pricey for their low level of personalization, and technology isn’t being used to automate things that improve the experience like bag transport or booking activities.

New destinations like Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Project are taking all the different luxury products and experiences the Middle East offers and bringing them to one location while creating bespoke experiences elevated by digital. Sustainability will be the hallmark of the destination, with 100 percent of its energy coming from solar and wind, and 75 percent of buildings being LEED certified. The destination will be run by a smart destination management system that supports a range of personalized services and manages visitor flow to prevent overcrowding and delays.

The Red Sea carefully considers what the traveler experience should look and feel like, and then identifies technologies that bring that experience to life. Using an automated bespoke approach could also enhance sustainability efforts by making operations like housekeeping more sustainable and anticipate what travelers want, when they want it.

One&Only Resorts is a great comparison of the luxury and personalization that Red Sea will offer and the kind of land and sea experiences that will be available. In contrast, however, Red Sea will use digital to inform what kinds of experiences are offered and who they’re offered to while connecting travelers to a one-stop shop, Amazon-like marketplace to have a single transaction scenario that luxury customers are accustomed to.