In the past two years [2010-2012] we have done research on the visitor experience of music festivals. We conducted several surveys asking festival visitors for demographic variables, taste in music, their motivation for visiting festivals, mentalities and the evaluation of the festival. We also asked for the use of social media before, after and during the festival. Results show that visitors using social media have a significantly different festival experience from users that do not use social media before, during or after the festival. Results on difference in festival satisfaction are mixed.
Blog in het kader van het onderzoeksproject ‘The Network is the Message‘ Met dit onderzoek willen Hogeschool Rotterdam en Hogeschool Utrecht een antwoord geven op de vraag: “Hoe kan de effectiviteit van communicatie in online sociale netwerken worden beoordeeld en verbeterd?” In deze blog: Het inzetten van social media wordt wel steeds specialistischer, maar het lijkt geen bureauspecialisme te worden. Is dat erg? Veel full service bureaus vinden van niet. Voor hen is de hype voorbij en komt social media als een kanaal naast andere kanalen te staan waar ze wat mee kunnen.
In the autumn of 2009, a group of exchange students in the University of Applied Sciences of Utrecht got a task to make a research project on the current situation of Social Media. The group consisted of 5 people with really different backgrounds and opinions. Two Finnish, one Austrian, one Belgian and one Taiwanese put their heads together to explore the enormous world of Social Media. In this paper, Social Media stands for Online Social Media in other words: websites that allow people to communicate with each other, share opinions and ideas, public or semi-public profiles for the users and possibility to view those profiles. Most known examples of Social Media at this moment (2010) would be Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, flixter, LinkedIN, Tagged, Twitter and Plurk. There are hundreds and hundreds more of Social Media websites and each of them has its own purpose and idea. Some of them concentrate on one topic or subject and some websites are more expanded. Most of the Social Media websites give the opportunity to their users to upload pictures, videos and other data but the most important thing is that social media allow people to communicate ‘one-to-many and many-to-one’ and not as the old fashion media ‘one-way communication’ only.
Background:Many business intelligence surveys demonstrate that Digital Realities (Virtual reality and Augmented Reality) are becoming a huge market trend in many sectors, and North America is taking the lead in this emerging domain. Tourism is no exception and the sector in Europe must innovate to get ahead of the curve of this technological revolution, but this innovation needs public support.Project partnership:In order to provide labs, startups and SMEs willing to take this unique opportunity with the most appropriate support policies, 9 partner organizations from 8 countries (FR, IT, HU, UK, NO, ES, PL, NL) decided to work together: regional and local authorities, development agencies, private non-profit association and universities.Objective of the project:Thanks to their complementary experiences and know-how, they intend to improve policies of the partner regions (structural funds and regional policies), in order to foster a tourist channeled innovation in the Digital Realities sector.Approach:All partners will work together on policy analysis tasks before exchanging their best initiatives and transferring them from one country to another. This strong cooperation will allow them to build the best conditions to foster innovation thanks to more effective structural funds policies and regional policies.Main activities & outputs:8 policy instruments are addressed, among which 7 relate to structural funds programmes. Basis for exchange of experience: Reciprocal improvement analysis and 8 study trips with peer-review of each partner’s practices. Video reportages for an effective dissemination towards other territories in Europe.Main expected results:At least 16 good practices identified. 8 targeted policy instruments improved. At least 27 staff members will transfer new capacities in their intervention fields. At least 8 involved stakeholders with increased skills and knowledge from exchange of experience. Expected 17 appearances in press and media, including at European level.
De huidige samenleving wordt voortdurend opgeschrikt door publieke discussies over kwesties: Zwarte Piet, (verplichte) inenting, 5G, bomenkap, toeslagen, stikstof, aanpak corona, intensieve veehouderij en ga zo maar door. Dergelijke kwesties beginnen vaak ongemerkt en klein, veelal op sociale media, maar kunnen in korte tijd uitgroeien tot impactvolle issues, zo niet crises. De centrale factor in huidige publieke kwesties is de digitalisering van het publieke debat: sociale media dus. Het verloop van issues is daardoor grilliger dan ooit. Issuemanagement is hierdoor een andere discipline geworden waar communicatieprofessionals over het algemeen nog onvoldoende mee om weten te gaan. Van hen wordt een andere instelling gevraagd: want hoe moet je reageren als ‘iedereen’ reageert en denkt het regeren zelf beter te kunnen? Het is in een notendop het dilemma van een democratische en gedigitaliseerde samenleving vol mondige burgers. Het is bij uitstek het huidige dilemma van de communicatieprofessional in het publieke domein. Om deze reden is het veelal niet langer het issue maar de aanloop daarnaar die opgemerkt en begeleid moet worden. Omdat we met dit onderzoek organisaties handvatten willen geven voor een adequate reactie op een issue, zijn met name de geboorte- en groeifase van issues van belang. In werkpakketten worden vijf cases onderzocht die door de publiekspartners zijn ingebracht. We hanteren een estafettemethode: de kennis van het ene werkpakket wordt meegenomen naar het volgende terwijl per werkpakket wel dezelfde methode gehanteerd wordt. Deze methoden zijn deskresearch, interactieanalyse van online en offline data, interviews met professionals en met burgers. Op basis van dit onderzoek wordt een breed toepasbare en structurele aanpak ontwikkeld om ‘de communicatieprofessional in issuemanagement te equiperen’. We willen dit bereiken door enerzijds kennis en inzicht te vergaren en anderzijds door de resultaten daaruit voor publieke organisaties te vertalen in praktische handgrepen (trainingen en/of tools).
i-DEMO aims at supporting EU tourism professionals in acquiring and developing key competences in game-based tourism in order to foster innovation and improve overall tourism organizations’ performance by: enhancing specific skills and competences in game-based tourism; designing an i-DEMO course "Game-based Tourism"; creating an i-DEMO toolkit to apply gamification to tourism; enhancing the application and replicability potential of innovative game-based solutions.Societal IssueThe tourism and hospitality industry has rapidly evolved with technological advancements, especially through ICT and the rise of the sharing economy. Digital platforms, social media, and mobile technologies have popularized gamification in tourism, creating engaging experiences and enhancing consumer loyalty. Gamification immerses tourists in simulated travel worlds, improving satisfaction, behavior, and involvement. Benefits include increased visitor engagement, loyalty, improved marketing, and support for sustainable tourism. However, despite its potential, gamification adoption remains limited in tourism. To address this, initiatives like i-DEMO aim to enhance skills and competences, improving employability in the evolving tourism market.Benefit to societyThe benefits that gamification can offer in the travel and tourism industry are: 1: More Engaged Visitors: we must not underestimate the immersion level that games can offer to travelers; 2: Increased Visitor Loyalty: when somebody is truly satisfied with their experience, they are much more likely to come back; 3: Improved Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism: tourism and hospitality have been the biggest ones impacted by all of the lockdown restrictions; consequently they are using all kinds of marketing methods to motivate people to start travelling; 4: Sustainability: gamification could help promote more environmentally, socially and culturally sustainable forms of tourism, supporting the twin green and digital transition.
