Everyone knows that the hospitality sector is only as good as its people on the frontlines.
The same can be said for technology and creativity, as it’s the unseen people behind the scenes that really make the magic happen.
Let’s get to know some of the people doing amazing work to help save the travel industry.
5 People Every Destination Should Know
“If technology can bring far-away places to us, why can’t we use it to enrich the places we see every day”, says Samuel Levin, a student a NYU.
The “If” statement is such a powerful phrase and one that I’m hearing amongst technologists and creators all around me. They recognize that abrupt and uncomfortable situations call for innovation and technology to help us cope with our new realities.
Metro ARchive
Sammy and developer McCoy Zhu are the creators of Metro ARchive, an app that enables users to view historic New York City streets as they were a century ago, using AR technology in partnership with The New York Times.
Read more about their story and product here.
Yellow Design
One of the first people I connected with after joining the travel industry, who was building an innovative platform for destinations worldwide was Michael McGlade at Yellow Design in Belfast, Ireland.
Leveraging a design studio’s UI/UX capabilities, AR technology, and public transport data, Michael’s team is building a platform with a holistic view of what it means to operate sustainable tourism in smart cities.
Read more about Michael and AR360 product here.
TBWA Sydney
One of the best destination campaigns I’ve seen since COVID lockdown is “Play NZ”.
Andrew Torissi, Senior Creative at TBWA Sydney told me about the making of this unique blend of tourism videos, storytelling, and connecting with the culture of e-gaming as a relevant way to interact with today’s digital audiences.
The campaign, which targets Australians, particularly those using the Twitch platform watching gamers, brings to light the new reality of a destination not only being limited to ‘travelers’, but as an entire brand that can be enjoyed digitally as much as physically.
Read more about Andrew and the “Play NZ” project here.
Urality
Helping communities improve both visitor experience and local engagement is at the heart of what Justin Copenhaver is doing with Urality.
The problem communities face with too many channels and information overload, Justin believes destinations need to rely on locals and experts to capture the true flavor and authenticity of a location.
Read more about Justin and Urality here.
Twinsity
Fabien Chalas wanted a way to empower teams to view, collaborate, and share their reality captured projects more efficiently with anyone, anywhere in the world. His platform Twinsity is a platform for such collaboration.
“Our mission is to give professionals the digital reality tools they need to make inspections and presentations fast, accurate and collaborative.”
Read more about Fabien and Twinsity here.
It’s truly been a pleasure getting to know these people and excited about the advances they are making for the travel industry as as whole, as well as all of us who now get to experience places in ways never before possible.
And for those of you not familiar with who I am, I wrote an article about my experience working in the travel industry the past year and was also recently interviewed about using technology for tourism.
If listening is more your thing, “Where Did Travel Go” is a new podcast (attempt) hosted by me and my good friend and fellow travel industry guru and CEO of Hello Tours!, Laura Blackhall.
Reprinted with permission
He moved to Tokyo in 2009 and has been working in various areas of content, technology, and media over the past decade before jumping into the travel industry in 2019. You can learn more about Jessop with this short video and also read about his 1 year working in the travel industry here.
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