“Tourist office”… that’s a rather old school word. Therefore, this summer tourist offices have been all over the internet. They still attract lots of tourists. In Montpellier, a French city, the tourist office welcomes 2000 to 3000 visitors a day (France Bleu).
So, how do they do that ?
Mobile tourist offices : let’s meet the visitors
In our modern-day world, the client path is changing all the time. We do not go to the tourist office by ourselves, the office must come to us. Following this idea, some municipalities are implementing mobile tourist offices (in little trucks). Those information desks on wheels travel around the region, and stop in the most touristic places.
In France, the fusion of some regions has made the tourist offices cover a larger territory. As a response to this new challenge, the Tourist Office Director of l’Albret (in France), Jean-François Garrabos, underlines that mobile offices will allow to set staging posts, and to facilitate access to information for everyone. This initiative is also about extending opening hours, up to 7days a week ! The tourist office truck goes around markets, wine estates, pools, campings… basically all that you actually miss once back to work!
Offer something else to your visitors !
Few tips can help to develop your tourist office. There is a huge potential : according to the study of the the Ministry of Economic and Financial Affairs (2018), French tourism represented 7,2% of the GDP in 2017! Here are the ideas we selected…
More points “i-mobile” in offices
Those points have been created in France by the Offices de Tourisme de France. They allow visitors to :
- Have a free Wifi connexion
- Charge their devices easily
- Have quality information on their trip and the region.
Selling local products
On the other hand, selling local goods can also be very efficient. The tourist office of Nîmes, in Provence, has won the “Qualité Tourisme” certification (a French label) this summer, thanks to those high-value services (goods from local agriculture, wifi, left luggage service…).
To summarize what we have seen : a tourist office of the XXIst century is CONNECTED.
Connected tourist offices
When we say connected, we mean : connected to people, and connected to internet ! So – I can hear you saying it- how ?
More and more tourist offices are choosing to buzz on social media. Especially on Instagram, with wonderful landscapes, to create a “wow” effect. For example, in France (Corrèze), some regions are becoming real influencers, chasing likes online.
Connecting to visitors
Lots of offices choose to collect visitors’ feedback. Indeed, what’s best to improve your services than listening to your visitors ?
To collect the opinion of visitors, you can set some satisfaction kiosks in your welcoming spaces. What’s the advantage ? Understand rapidly and easily what your visitors expect, and make them come, and return in your office ! You can also use email/SMS campaigns to get even more responses.
Thus, the tourist office of tomorrow will be : connected, mobile, and focused on visitors’ voice. Far away from getting replaced by Internet, he shall walk hand-in-hand with the web and benefit from it.
To discover our feedback collecting solutions, please click right here !
Talk to you later 😉