2.2 Designing the Tourist Information Office of the Future

Tourist information centres provide a range of information on the destination for visitors and are one of the few places where destination representatives actually meet their visitors. Over the years, destinations have moved away from providing paper guides, maps or leaflets towards looking at new and innovative ways of designing and reinventing the use of the tourist information centre and actual space. With destinations becoming more digitally focused on their marketing approach, it is important to assess the existing needs and setup of tourist information centres and plan for the future.

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We have seen different approaches from destinations when reinventing their tourist information centre from closing the physical centre to introducing mobile destination greeters or helpers that can meet and support visitors in various places around the city. This has proven to be quite successful, being able to support many visitors, especially during the high season where it is useful to spread resources across a wider area in the city.

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If your DMO is planning to revisit the setup and offer of the tourism information centre, whether introducing new technology, such as touch screens and 3D displays or allowing visitors to research, get inspired and browse through what the destination has to offer, it is important to rethink the strategy from scratch mapping out customers’ needs and expectations, thinking about the resources and people you have and which kind of technology you would use to make the experience valuable and useful.

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This template will help you designing the TIC of the future and re-thinking the purpose, setup, needs and future plans of your TIC based on your visitors. Use it with your team to brainstorm about the possibilities.

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