Newsletter #4 - August 2024
Dear Flagship Partners,
As we return from summer, we take a moment to reflect on our journey over the past two years. This newsletter, marking a little more than the midpoint of our project, celebrates our achievements and shares exciting updates.
Mid-Term Review Validation with Innosuisse
We are thrilled to announce that our mid-term review with Innosuisse has been officially validated. On June 24, our academic partners convened in Bern to present the substantial progress we’ve made over these two years. The meeting was a success, with experts highlighting our strong collaboration, commitment, and proactive communication within the consortium. We extend our gratitude to all our direct and indirect partners for your invaluable contributions. Let’s bring this project toward even greater success in the next two years!
Before diving into our progress, we want to emphasize that if you, as a partner, are interested in deeper collaboration on any of the topics discussed, please reach out to the respective team. We are eager to explore new avenues for fostering synergy.
SP1
National Data Infrastructure for Tourism
Use Case – Visitor Behaviour Analysis in Ticino
In the last months, we worked intensively on developing the Use Case – Visitor Behaviour Analysis. The aim of this use case is to analyse and try to better understand how data from a telecom-provider (Swisscom), a payment service (Mastercard), and a national panel (Intervista) can be used together to better understand how national and international tourists move around in tourist destinations.
Using Snowflake as an infrastructure, we are attempting to develop an approach to solving data challenges related to data granularity at the canton, region and point of interest levels. Over the next few months, a first draft of the proof of concept will be created as a data story. You can follow updates about the use case here.
Save the Date: Innovation & Mapping Festival (14.03.2025 @ Switzerland Tourism in Zürich)
In spring 2024, we took further steps in the field of categorization and standardization of POI-data in tourism. We have created and consulted a charter to guide tourism stakeholders such as tourism regions, DMOs and IT-service providers to work together on a common data standard. The goal is to co-create a master mapping tool that will enable the seamless and clear data sharing process. To kickstart this process, we organize the Innovation & Mapping Festival.
The event will be open to representatives of tourist destinations, tourism IT service and providers companies, students and anyone else interested in the use of mapping POI-data for the tourism industry. Together we will attempt to solve the challenges of data and its categorization. Further information will follow in August, please follow our website.
Annual Conference Resilient Tourism:
The annual conference for Resilient Tourism gathered 65 participants. According to the evaluations, the keynote of Martin Hlůže from Mastercard was the highlight. He explained how Mastercard Tourism Insights helps in understanding tourism behaviour and showed useful analysis for Switzerland. Dolores Ordoñez provided an overview of the current and future EU initiatives related to tourism data spaces. Matthias Günter from SKI+/SBB explained interactions between mobility data space (MODI) and the National Data Infrastructure for Tourism (NaDIT) / tourism data space.
In the afternoon, participants had the opportunity to learn more about the subprojects (SP) and their progress so far - presented by Zeliya Schär and Nicole Stuber-Berries (SP1), Christian Laesser and Simon Kuster (SP2), Jean-Christophe Loubier and Roland Schegg (SP3) and Alessandro Inversini (SP4). A summary of the conference is published on our blog.
This year's conference took place exactly halfway through the project, with two years of cooperation remaining in the NADIT project. We have planned further activities in which you, as partners, are welcome to participate.
SP2
Service Design, Business Processes and Business Models
We are working on various streams of our sub-project with its four work packages. After concluding our groundwork on visitor processes, business models, and service design, we gathered a comprehensive body of knowledge on the status of digitization and productivity in tourism and hospitality in Switzerland and abroad. We are currently preparing the publication of selected insights from our first and second work packages. This includes conceptual thoughts on productivity as well as mappings of digital systems in tourism.
In our third work package, together with HSLU and industry partners, we are conducting a study on the willingness of tourists to be geo-tracked. While the international field work is still ongoing, we are already analyzing some first results for Switzerland. Based on these insights, it should be possible to develop a tracking solution, that allows for a better understanding of tourist behavior. Mapping visitor flows and touchpoints facilitates the development of specific offers and improved service designs.
As we are entering the second phase of this flagship, we are intensifying the development of generic as well as specific business models. While building on learnings from our previous three work packages, we are exploring various configurations and governance modes such as virtual digital integrations. This includes, among others, the bundling of touristic mobility and overnight stays, and the development of a benchmarking tool for hospitality. Furthermore, we are collaborating with industry partners from both within and outside the project consortium to work on energy business models for cable car companies as well as business model typologies for hotels.
SP3
Modelling the Resilience of Tourism Systems
In the third phase of modelling for SP3, we are in the process of developing the part of the model that simulates how the various players in the tourism ecosystem, such as businesses, tourists and decision makers, think, make decisions and behave. This work is based, on the one hand, on Switzerland Tourism's analyses and on academic research in this field. On the other hand, we have begun to build a decision-making system that takes into account the beliefs of stakeholders such as political or financial decision-makers.
In parallel, we are developing a second model to help start-ups integrate this model into their business strategy. Specifically, we are focusing on their ability to identify high-potential geographic areas for their activities based on the simulations and results generated by the resilience model.
Visitor Attendance at Cultural Points of Interest (Simulation Results)
Cognitive Simulation Model
SP4
Coordination, Orchestration and Communication
Since our last communication in February 2024, our subproject has been progressing smoothly.
Leading the Coaching Program in Vaud
Our second round of coaching with the Canton of Vaud is nearing completion. Over the past six months, we’ve engaged with seven diverse projects, including tourism businesses like DMO Montreux Vevey Tourisme, associations such as the Arboretum of Aubonne, a startup, a castle, an aquarium, and a camping site. Each organization has focused on digitalization or data-related initiatives. It has been rewarding to assist these SMEs in leading their projects and achieving their objectives. We are developing valuable case studies for both academic and industry purposes. For more details, visit our website at resto.ehl.edu
Producing Engaging Content
The first two seasons of our Podcast Series are now accessible on YouTube and Spotify. In these episodes, leading experts from the tourism sector explore captivating discussions on digital transformation. You’ll hear inspiring insights from companies like Ljubljana Tourism, Vienna Tourist Board, the European Travel Commission, Accor, Booking.com, and the Data Appeal Company. Tune in and discover their valuable perspectives! If you prefer video formats, we also have some content for you on YouTube.
Shaping Our Hub
During our recent conference, we initiated discussions with partners, focusing on common challenges in destination management. Our collaborative efforts have given shape to our Hub. The map is now available and will continue to evolve. If you’d like to contribute to refining our Hub concept, don’t hesitate to reach out!