ARTICLE 1

THE MAJOR TRENDS IN TOURISM, NOW AND IN THE FUTURE

TREND BOOK #5 1 TREND BOOK

WELCOME CITY LAB

2 3 TREND BOOK #5 INTRODUCTION

Paris&Co is the innovation and economic development agency for Paris and the metropolis. Food Tech Welcome City Lab is an innovation platform dedicated to urban tourism that includes the world’s first incubator specifically for

It encourages the development of innovation through the incubation of more than 500 SMART FOOD PARIS this sector. French and foreign start-ups each year, by testing innovative solutions, and by organising Digital publishing national and international events. It is developing its activity in a spirit of open innovation, LABO DE L’EDITION It was created in July 2013 by Paris&Co, with the support of the City of Paris, BPI France, Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau, working closely with more than 120 companies and major institutions. and the French General Directorate of Enterprise (DGE). Its other founding members are Atout France, the Caisse des Dépôts, Health & Well-being the Conseil Départemental des Hauts-de-Seine, Galeries Lafayette, Groupe ADP, the Métropole du Grand Paris, Paris Inn Group, TECH CARE PARIS RATP Group, Sodexo and Viparis. The innovation platform offers start-ups and players in the tourist sector a full range of services: E-sport an incubator, a place for networking, discussions and co-working, a test platform and a monitoring unit. LEVEL 256

Event FRENCH EVENT BOOSTER

Retail Key figures LE D3 18th for Welcome City Lab after 6 years Fintech and insurtech 17th LE SWAVE 19th Sustainable city th th ( La Défense ) 9 10 VILLE DURABLE 8th Creative industries Center of Paris LINCC 16th 11th 20th 7th HRTech, EdTech, FutureOfWork RHIZOME more than more than 6th 150 87% €200 Sports start-ups incubated success rate for the start-ups million raised th th 5 12 LE TREMPLIN in incubation 15th ( Boulogne ) Tourism WELCOME CITY LAB th 14th 13 Mission Handicap HUA

Paris-Rive-Gauche & Chapelle-S more than 1,400 Developing an international network with Urban innovation neighborhoods jobs created MTLab Montréal L’arc de l’Innovation & Singapore Tourism Accelerator

www.parisandco.paris welcomecitylab.parisandco.paris

4 5 TREND BOOK #5 INTRODUCTION Paris&Co’s other 4 platforms Some key figures for the 5 platforms in the leisure sector in the leisure sector from 2019

LINCC - FRENCH EVENT BOOSTER - LEVEL 256 - LABO DE L’ÉDITION - WELCOME CITY LAB

LINCC is Paris&Co’s innovation platform for the digital, cultural and creative industries. The ambition of LINCC is to guide innovation for the creation, production and dissemination of creative, recreational and educational digital content. It draws its wealth from the cultural French Event Booster was created at the initiative of diversity and the transmedia complementarity of its start- Viparis, it is an innovation incubator for the events sector ups and it partner members: Banijay, Caisse des Dépôts, that was born from the observation that the industry needs to reinvent itself, to create new experiences, and to assist Média-Participations and Vivendi; its strength comes from more than its willingness to build a sectoral ecosystem that stimulates all the stakeholders with the necessary transformation. 30 85% partners success rate for the start-ups innovation, tells great stories and incites original and At its home at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, every year innovative partnerships. The fields: Audiovisual, Video & French Event Booster selects an intake of start-ups animated images, Video games, Music, Press & Media, offering products and services for the events sector, Audio & Radio, Live shows, E-education & Ed-tech, promotes their access to the market, and allows them to Publishing. benefit from an exceptional testing ground to perfect and try out their concept.

more than 140 more than €28 start-ups incubated: million of private funds raised 45% in priming and by the start-ups 55% in take-off

Level 256 is Paris&Co’s innovation and development platform for sport. Level 256 is not just an incubator but Every year since 2011, the Labo de l’édition incubator also a real hub for the different stakeholders in esport has been assisting more than ten companies in their today, which brings together the public and private development. The Labo de l’édition also offers guidance sectors, with big corporate groups and associations with to professionals in the publishing chain through different one aim: helping to make esport sustainable and open to types of introductions (conferences, round-tables, more than 1000 more than 150 everybody. hackathons, training courses, workshops, etc.), in an jobs created since the launch collaborations between partners events venue at the heart of the 5th district in Paris. of the 5 platforms and the incubated start-ups

6 7 TREND BOOK #5 INTRODUCTION

Notre réseau international

LE MT LAB SKÅL INTERNATIONAL, the world’s largest DE MONTRÉAL Inspired by the Welcome City Lab programme, MT Lab de Montréal is the first incubator for start-ups dedicated to the sectors of tourism, culture and entertainment in North America. It travel and tourism association. opened its doors in 2017, thanks to the contribution of its founders, the UQAM and Tourisme Montréal. Simultaneously, a place for networking, a start-ups accelerator and a platform for exchanges, President, is happy to renew the partnership with WELCOME CITY LAB every year MT Lab hosts a cohort made up of fledgling companies that create innovative Karine Coulanges for the third consecutive year. solutions for the big players in the industry.

The roles of MT Lab are to: Support entrepreneurialism and innovation in the sectors of tourism, culture and SKÅL Club de Paris was founded on 16 December 1932, at SKÅL INTERNATIONAL now has around 15,000 members entertainment. the Scribe Hotel, after the return of an Educational visit to in 365 Clubs in 90 countries: only members have access to Ensure that the worlds of tourism, culture and entertainment in Quebec and the innovation Scandinavia, which brought together the heads of tourism and the listing. The association organises meetings at a local, ecosystem work together. travel companies, all based in the Opéra district of Paris. regional and international level, such as meet-ups, dinner- Enhance the creativity and the leadership of open innovation in Montreal and Quebec. On 28 April 1934, at the initiative of Florimond Volckaert, debates, conferences and congresses. Every year the SKÅL who was elected as the first international President, this INTERNATIONAL World Congress is held in a different country: ‘Amicale’ became the ‘Association Internationale des Skål 2019, was a cruise from Miami, the 2020 congress, which was Clubs’ Association’, A.I.S.C, and already included 12 clubs in 5 planned to be in Croatia, had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 and different countries. the 2021 congress will take place in Quebec. In addition to the LE SINGAPORE annual world congress, each region organises its own regional The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is the lead development agency for tourism, TOURISM BOARD (STB) Over the years, SKÅL INTERNATIONAL has never stopped congress, notably in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia one of Singapore’s key economic sectors. Together with industry partners and the growing, based on an idea: creating tight local, regional, and Oceania. community, we shape a dynamic Singapore tourism landscape. We bring the Passion and international commercial bonds, and at a European level Made Possible brand to life by differentiating Singapore as a vibrant destination that (SKÅL Europe network). The association’s slogan also became: SKÅL takes part in several large international trade fairs, such inspires people to share and deepen their passions. “Doing business between friends”. as, FITUR Madrid, ITB Berlin, IBTM Barcelona, BIT Milan, IMEX One of the key initiatives by STB is the Singapore Tourism Accelerator. Frankfurt and USA, WTM in London, IFTM Top Resa in Paris SKÅL INTERNATIONAL is the only organisation for managers etc. SKÅL members enjoy many advantages: preferential rates, in the tourism and travel fields that brings together all the upgrades, and reductions just by showing their SKÅL card. sectors in the industry, such as, traditionally: hotel owners, The Singapore Tourism Accelerator is a highly-selective, equity-free six-month LE SINGAPORE Tour Operators, DMC (Destination Management Companies), SKÅL is a member of the World Tourism Organization, whose programme for the world’s most promising companies that power the travel and MICE Agencies (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Events), mission is to promote the development of responsible and TOURISM ACCELERATOR tourism industry. Selected companies will be housed in STB during the programme, transporters and car hire companies, Tourist Boards and sustainable tourism that is accessible to all. and will gain unparalleled access to critical business support, connections to Governmental Organisations, airlines, river and maritime Singapore’s tourism ecosystem, and opportunities to pilot and work with world- cruises, as well as the new professions created by the constant SKÅL is also a member of other major international organisations leading industry partners. development of the sector with technological innovations. such as the PATA, IIPT, The Code, ECPACT, ICTP, and the STI.

The association also brings together company managers, In 2002, SKÅL INTERNATIONAL created the “Sustainable executives and Young SKÅL, which includes students, start- Tourism Awards”, which are open to companies from the ups, and young professionals from all the branches of the public and private sectors, teaching establishments, NGO and Tourism & Travel sector. The aim is to create a network to governmental organisations. facilitate their professional integration. Find out more from the skål.org website

8 9 TREND BOOK #5 INTRODUCTION

Atout France intends to develop a competitive tourist offer to meet the new requirements of French and international clients to Key figures for 2019 maintain all of France’s appeal as a destination. The French network of tourism incubators In this way, it assists regions with the preparation of their 2,163 promotional operations carried development strategy and encourages the creation of investment and accelerators projects, particularly through the France Tourisme Ingénierie out programme. 508 communication campaigns, As a successful travel experience depends primarily on the quality 70% of which were purely digital Bringing success to a new generation of entrepreneurs of the services provided, Atout France also regularly assesses the

standards for rating tourist accommodation, and coordinates different quality labels and marks. France.fr: 15.5 million visits and 26 million page views in 2019 For three years, France Tourisme Lab, a pilot network coordinated The Agency more broadly assists industry professionals in and managed by the French Ministry for the Economy and adapting their offer to developments in the tourist markets by 1,519 journalists and influencers Finance, has pursued its ambition of stimulating innovation in providing them with different studies and many training modules, welcomed in France tourism throughout the whole country, so that France continues notably available online. to be a trend setter, and has assisted the creators of companies

that are inventing the future of tourism. In 2020, Atout France enhanced its service catalogue to assist More than 34,000 media professionals in the context of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 and influencer contacts In this way, the network’s role is to assist and federate structures epidemic. Several online tools were made available to allow them to guide start-ups, which are all centred on 1 or 2 branches of to assess the situation in different markets and to prepare for the 1,596 professionals welcomed tourism. This positioning is determined according to the regional Would you like to join the network and contribute resumption of business. tourism strategy, which ensures optimal assistance for each in France to its development? entrepreneur. France Tourisme Lab currently has 7 assistance Contact the France Tourisme Lab team: In this context, Atout France, worked in partnership with structures and invites you to share its values: excellence, mutual Welcome City Lab, to launch a call for applications to assist with 236 media events and 769 professional assistance and putting people at the heart of innovation. the development of innovative tourist solutions for the post- events organised abroad Covid-19 phase. This initiative is part of a general intention to In the context of the health crisis that has marked 2020, France Anne-Marie MICHAUX

support innovations to enrich the customer experience. More Tourisme Lab and the 100 start-ups in its network are meeting Director of France Tourisme Lab/innovation than 180 projects were presented to the jury of 12 partners that 3 emblematic trade fairs in France: the challenge of innovation that is at the heart of relaunching projects will support more than 10 of the winners that were selected. Rendez-vous en France; Grand Ski; tourism in France. [email protected] France Meeting Event

Also, to encourage a better distribution of the flows of travellers around France, Atout France offers international promotional 220 consulting assistance campaigns France Tourisme Lab is also running 2 projects: actions for professionals in the sector under the new Explore Aude HAPIOT France mark. and studies, a third of which were THE “CAMPAGNE PARADIS” PROJECT, which aims to France Tourisme Lab Project Manager carried out in the context of the FTI stimulate tourist innovation in rural areas to enrich the [email protected] With the support of 32 offices around the world, more than 2,000 offering and make the countryside more appealing and collective or bespoke promotional operations are organised every 12 publications, including 8 studies and attractive. DGE / General Directorate of Enterprise’s Tourism Division year around the world, targeting professionals (international 4 International monitoring letters travellers, the press and influencers) as well as the general public. THE “STIMULER L’INNOVATION” PROJECT working with stakeholders in tourism to increase relationships with start-ups. Find out more: atout-france.fr or france.fr 3,764 participants at training courses and conferences

10 11 THE TEAM

The severity of the health crisis and its economic and social consequences is unprecedented for professions in the tourist industry and those in the leisure, events and performing arts sectors. After being seriously penalised by two long months of lockdown, then by a partial re-opening, which is slow and uneven, the situation that THANKTHANK YOUYOU is subject to great uncertainties raises questions for their future... To Atout France, the Skål Club and Paris City Hall for their direct support for the creation of this trend book. Aren’t the closing of borders, the imperative for social distancing, To all the contributors for the writing of this fifth edition of the trend book, to all the teams from Laurent Queige and the obligation to wear a mask all incompatible with the very Atout France, to Emilie Thiry, Sophie Lacour, Brice Duthion, François Perroy for their precious advice, Managing Director essence of travelling? After all, surely travelling implies moving to Elsa Talvard, François Teyssier and Maurizio Ghisolfi for their help, and to all of our founding freely, combined with the values of hospitality and conviviality, partners, to the different platforms of Paris&Co, and finally to our international partners: the MT Lab bringing us closer to each other, and allowing our emotions to run from Montreal and Singapore Tourism Accelerator. free with our faces uncovered? Probably. But, like any other crisis, this one forces us to adapt. “Creativity is born from anguish, just like the day is born form the dark night,” said Albert Einstein.

Although we have been aware of the creativity of start-ups and their sense of innovation for a long time, even we have been surprised by their capacity for resilience and agility! Many have been able to

Anna Veyrenc pivot quickly. They have invented new flow management solutions, Incubation Manager created new reassuring services, found new complementarities between face-to-face and remote communication methods.

Reading this trend book, you will realise that the creativity of entrepreneurs is astounding!

As innovation is not restricted to this health crisis, we did not wish to limit our research, and we also took an interest in low energy innovations and those that make urban density into a limitless playing field, to reinvest in them and to see them from a new angle.

Elise Akiki This trend book is the fruit of a great collaborative work of thought Incubation Business Manager about the future, coordinated by Elise Akiki from Welcome City Lab. We would like to thank Bénédicte Mainbourg and Philippe Maud’hui, from Atout France, for their precious advice on methodology, the Skal Club Paris, presided by Karine Coulanges, for its continued support, and the teams from Paris&Co, for their advice and careful proofreading. Finally, we would like to thank the writers for their contributions and Alix d’Anselme for her illustrations.

We hope you enjoy your read!

Caroline Leboucher & Laurent Queige Estelle Musellec Communication Manager

12 13 P.60/61 - International article Developing Low-tech Urban Tourism together CONTENTS Ko Koens - Professor of New Urban Tourism at Inholland University of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam TREND 2 P.63 - Infographic Phygitalisation Low Tech Tourism Source: Welcome City Lab P.36/39 - Expert article Hybridisation of event organising: the future of events and event venues Laurent Tripied, CEO of Bziiit

TREND 4 P.40/41 - Start-up article 1 At the heart of virtual immersion. Is the future hybrid? Gamification and virtual TREND 1 Jonathan Szenik, co-founder of Talent Making Talent immersion Caring and reassuring P.42/43 - Start-up article 2 TREND 5 Digital technology and professional introductions: P.66/67 - Expert article a unique cohabitation? P.18/19 - Expert article OThe gamification of tourism Where can you test quickly Andrea Miglietta, President-co-founder of OUispeak Solutions Reinventing the city during the pandemic Olivier Mauco, video games creator, CEO of Game in Society and game design Claudine Barry, analyst from the Monitoring network and video games specialist at Sciences Po Paris and well? Cities, hotbeds P.44/46 - Countertrend article N of the Transat Tourism Chair of ESG UQAM Is distance proximity? for innovation! P.68/69 - Start-up article 1 Sophie Lacour, PhD in Information and communication sciences P.20/21 - Start-up article 1 Extraordinary journeys from your living room DG ADVANCED TOURISM Make Tourism Great again? Yes, we can! Nathalie Paquet, founder and CEO of Urban Expé P.80/81 - Expert article Eric Baÿ, co-founder of Qweekle Tourists as experimenters and pollinators of innovative P.47 - Infographic P.70/71 - Start-up article 2 behaviours The French and the reopening of event driven CP.22/23 - Start-up article 2 Assassin’s Creed tells the history of Paris Anthony Fauré, Marketing & Innovation Director at Unimev, entertainment activities after lockdown E-health, your new travelling companion in augmented reality Editor of L’Innovatoire and lecturer at Sciences Po Paris - Source: Study by IFOP + Weezevent Georges Aoun and Florian Reinaud, co- founders of Concilio Maxime Gattano, Communication Manager, Hootside Innovation and Management School

P.24/25 - Countertrend article P.48/49 - International article P.72/73 - Countertrend article P.82/83 - Field article Millennials: a choice between conquering the world Working from home, a Trojan Horse for start-ups Gamification as an ad hoc travelling experience Making Greater Paris green: bringing fresh air and ecological awareness Martin Lessard, Managing Director, MT Lab Tourism | Culture | Entertainment Lambert Bouley , CEO & co-founder of Escapad from the countryside to the city Chloé St-Hilaire, final year of B.A.A in tourism management and hotel Marcos Da Silva and Andrej Bernik Fieldwork architecture management at ESG UQAM P.74/75 - International article Gamification and virtual immersion of the tourist P.84/85 - Start-up article P.26/28 - Article international experience: An encounter with Alexandre Sabouret Trends in catering for tourists Using technology to establish travelers’ trust Charlotte Thienpont, co-founder of Prune in the post-Covid world TREND 3 Alexandre Sabouret, Associate lecturer at CNAM - “Digital Tourism” CEO of SYKO studio Poh Chi Chuan, Acting Chief Technology Officer, P.86/87 - Countertrend article Singapore Tourism Board Low Tech P.77 - Infographic Artistic pathways and urban memories Virginie Loisel, Artistic Director of the Double Face Association P.29 - Infographic The gamification of tourist experiences: P.52/53 - Expert article The French still want to travel scale and effect For future tourism at the speed of the past P.88/90 - International article Source: Groupexpression Loïc Dosseur, General Manager, Paris&Co Cities are open laboratories for innovation, T more than ever P.30/33 - International study Looking for Silver Linings P.54/55 - Field article Flavie de Bueil-Baudot - COO - European Cities Marketing in the Clouds Above Travel Sound in urban environments Thomas Sandoval, innovation and experience designer Mike Coletta, manager, Research and Innovation, Phocuswright P.92-93 - Infographic Small interventions in public spaces: visitors benefit too! P.56/57 - Start-up article 1 Pascale Leroi Economist-Town planner at the Bikes for everybody. Everywhere. Simply. Institut Paris Région Louis-Marie Meyer, co-founder ouibike

P.58/59 - Countertrend article Connected objects, the key to energy transition for buildings E14 Jean-Baptiste Raphanaud, FoundingN partner of Izho T S15 TENDANCE 1 PRENDRE SOIN ET RASSURER TREND ARTICLE 1 1 Caring and reassuring

The way the world changed was violent. Last Many have been able to adapt or create a new winter, in just a few weeks, we went from carefree offering that is completely appropriate to this consumption of international tourist sites to a approach. But ultimately, will the destinations be very strict lockdown at home. After long weeks ready? How are travellers feeling at the moment? when activity was completely shutdown, when What measures have been implemented beyond everything froze, the tourist industry is now our borders? E-health also has a major role to facing a new challenge: protecting everybody’s play in this challenge of reassuring travellers. It health, everywhere, in every situation. Its is therefore highly likely that this crisis will not survival depends on it. According to a survey stop the desire to travel for everybody, but it will by GroupExpression, the French still want to ultimately change how we travel. It would also travel, but 30% of them want a health guarantee not be surprising to see some of the measures and 21% want safe transport solutions. For any implemented become lasting features. professional in the tourist industry it is therefore essential to implement sanitary measures and to Agnes Repplier, American essayist said: “The reassure customers about how their health can impulse to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of be protected at the busiest sites. life.” Today, this same impulse leads us to believe that travel will not stop, but that it must learn to It is amazing to observe the rapidity and the live for a while with an unexpected visitor. agility of many start-ups, which have been able to adapt to the constraints imposed by the health crisis on the world of tourism, travel and mobility.

16 17 TREND 1 CARING AND REASSURING EXPERT ARTICLE

Turning the town into a huge terrace: Vilnius leads the way

Reinventing the city Cafes and restaurants have been severely hit by the crisis and are reopening under the condition that they strictly respect social distancing. Most establishments do not during the pandemic have the space necessary to make such an organisation profitable. In Vilnius, Lithuania, the authorities quickly countered this problem by allowing the owners of restaurants and Claudine Barry Analyst from the Monitoring network of the Transat Tourism Chair cafes to set up tables in the public spaces of ESG UQAM close to their establishments, even on some roads. Many other towns and cities around the world followed suit. Whether it is in some town The crisis is creating a great deal of drama, but also some opportunities. The virus has enabled us to reinvent what is centres in mainland France or the main streets essential. And to think about a new start. Towns and cities have been freed from car traffic, from a great deal of air pollution, in small rural towns, the concept of sharing but also from the crowds that make them so dynamic and vibrant. public streets with traders is spreading in the Source: Go Vilnius/Facebook summer of 2020. The fear of a second wave or even that a similar situation could arise again in a few years is still there. This pandemic is creating a break from the past and opening a window on the future in terms of sustainable urban development. Reconsidering the purpose of Trends in urban development For responsible and streets that have been accelerated by sustainable tourism the crisis Tactical urbanism to the The town of Oakland, California, was one of Cities that are usually inundated with tourists rescue the first in the USA to implement physical Euromonitor International estimates that have been sadly quiet since the middle measures to transform some 120 km of the pandemic will have permanent impacts of March. This is particularly the case for Several initiatives have seen the light of day streets (nearly 10% of its road network) into on life in towns and cities, in four sectors: Venice and Amsterdam. Local populations to allow for safe travel and the use of local streets for pedestrians, cyclists and people mobility, urban design, the built environment are reclaiming the cities. Residents are shops: pedestrianisation, new bike lanes, in wheelchairs. New York, Seattle, Paris and and self sufficiency. Indeed, in addition to campaigning to avoid falling back into the meeting areas, and terraces on pavements London are creating areas where vehicles using public roads for active transport, we can trap of poorly managed flows of tourists by and public spaces. In a normal context, this are prohibited in the city centre; Berlin, already see an increasing number of projects deploying more restrictive and selective type of project is met with resistance, it Milan and Bogotá are quickly creating new where developments in the area are planned strategies, which benefit the local population requires time, negotiation, compromises, bike lanes. more seriously: big parks and green spaces, but also offer experiences that are more in the approval of elected officials and the construction and sustainable architecture, harmony with the host environment. local authorities, etc. but with the crisis, In Brussels, the city centre, known as urban agriculture and the local production of there was a need to act fast and to adapt the Pentagone has temporarily become essential goods. The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated for people’s safety. As most people’s habits a meeting place, or a district where that cities can adapt quickly and must were disrupted, they were probably more pedestrians and cyclists have the priority Digital technologies may also help to better prepare better for the future. Urban tourism open-minded, making them more prepared over the whole of the public road. Cars can manage travel, to maintain a certain distance is one of the major trends of the 21st century. to allow changes. drive there at a maximum speed of 20 kph. between people or even detect people who It will certainly be addressed differently over are at risk of being contaminated. The latter the coming months or even years. A “new Living areas need to be altered in a In Montreal, Quebec, the creation of a possibility still raises ethical questions about normality” is being sketched out. temporary manner to simplify the everyday vast temporary network of “voies actives respect for privacy. But the notion of a smart life of people and companies in three big sécuritaires” (safe activity streets) has been city and the use of big data are surely part of the sectors: mobility, economic recovery and Source: @dimitry_b added to the permanent infrastructures measures that should be promoted in the near leisure. To achieve this, the municipal that were already planned for the summer future to better equip the authorities to manage authorities are demonstrating their furniture that is easy to install (and to it possible to demonstrate how the of 2020. In all, 327 kilometres of new flows (of people and cars). creativity. They are using the methods of remove) to demonstrate the possible organisation can change users’ behaviour.” pedestrian walkways and cycle paths have tactical urbanism, which usually consists of changes to the organisation of a street, (Translation of the definition given by been added to the existing network. “temporary arrangements that use street a junction or a public space. This makes Montreal Urban Ecology Centre)

18 19 TREND 1 CARING AND REASSURING START-UP ARTICLE 1

Assisting with the reopening of About QWEEKLE cultural and leisure sites Make Tourism Great again? Qweekle was created by Eric Baÿ and Cédric A study published by IFOP in June 2020 Demannez and is used by more than 150 underlined the primordial role for event establishments. For 3 years it has developed organisers in guiding the public and making solutions for ticket sales, online reservations, Yes, we can! it possible to respect safety measures. payment and controlling the access to Indeed, 62% of French people consider that destinations for recreational, cultural and these measures encourage them to attend an sports leisure activities. Qweekle now aims event or to visit a cultural establishment. It is to accelerate its commercial development in Eric Baÿ Co-founder of Qweekle therefore urgent to act to reassure the public France and throughout Europe to meet the about health issues. needs of a market with a great potential. To counter this unprecedented crisis, we have Qweekle has already worked with 4 museums adapted our offer during lockdown to meet Welcoming visitors under the best conditions is an essential issue for those working in tourism and cultural, recreational in Brussels to demonstrate its capacity to the sanitary standards as quickly as possible and sports leisure activities. Qweekle offers a simple and efficient solution. maintain an environment of trust between and to help the establishments hosting the the hosting establishment and its visitors, public with their strategy to reassure their To counter the crisis and attract new national and international tourists, it is now essential that destinations adapt and that sites which is an essential condition for breathing visitors. Qweekle is assisted by Welcome offer visitors safe health conditions. new life into the sector. City Lab from Paris&Co, which is a partner Economic management that of several professional associations (SNELAC, Managing flows of people is one of the critical challenges for resuming tourist activities: warning visitors in advance, anticipating allows for the constraints of “With the closure of all of our clients, we SLA, SPACE) and a member of the IAAPA. flows, avoiding queues, and adapting the gauges for the attendance to the constraints of social distancing. This is a real issue that social distancing had to adapt by demonstrating agility in has obliged many destinations and institutions such as museums, amusement parks, etc. to remain closed. a unique context. Thanks to our solution After releasing a prototype in 2017 and With Covid-19, 95% of the 150 clients of for managing flows, museums in Brussels beginning marketing in 2018, we now This is why Qweekle is offering a flow management solution to welcome visitors in optimal conditions to assist establishments Qweekle, particularly the amusement parks, were able to reopen and comply with equip 150 recreational structures and that host the public so they can reopen. Qweekle already works with several museums to develop a relationship of trust between had to temporarily close their doors. Using social distancing constraints” declared have recorded more than €100 million in the institutions and their public, and to give new life to the leisure sector and tourism in the future. the experience it has gained over 3 years, Cédric Demannez, one of the founders of transactions (ticket sales, events, food & the team adapted to broaden its solution the start-up. beverage, gift shop, etc.). Our solution to all establishments hosting the public. has allowed more than 5 million visitors To facilitate flow management and the A free offer for some players to be made happy, stunned, cultured and reopening of the establishments, Qweekle who have been particularly hard entertained (above all thanks to our clients). offers a complete solution, which is 100% hit by the crisis digital and turnkey, to ensure a smooth and Conclusion secure welcome. Visitors can now book a The Qweekle solution will be free in 2020 time slot online and get a QR code to validate and without commitment for members of In the future, Qweekle’s digital solutions will their access to the establishment. This allows partner professional associations. not just be there to make the public safe, the structures to manage their capacity but so that visits are overall as smooth as gauges and calculate their availability “Our idea is to help today to potentially possible, so that visitors’ time is spent on the instantaneously. recruit future users tomorrow, who will cultural or recreational experience that they have been won-over without having been are seeking rather than queueing, waiting As well as offering a comfortable experience forced. We have received vital help and we and paying, etc. Also, with a pooled SaaS for the managers and for hosting their want to help other companies to get past solution, which requires little infrastructure, visitors, Qweekle is an economic and this hurdle,” explained Cédric Demannez, destinations can redirect a good part of the adaptable solution according to turnover; one of the founders of the start-up. budget for ticket sales and controlling access Your customers You have a vision of You control access from €400 to get started and then less to the works, monuments and attractions—in book their visit attendance in real time at the entrance than €60 per month. Qweekle does not other words, they can focus on the essential. require any heavy infrastructure and can be deployed quickly and easily to meet the post- Covid requirements, and smooth out the Welcoming the public @Qweekle - www.qweekle.com attendance of tourist sites.

20 21 TREND 1 CARING AND REASSURING START-UP ARTICLE 2

A double administrative and medical penalty

For employees who have overcome this first obstacle, the real E-health, your struggle begins: they must adapt to a new lifestyle, and adopt what is often a highly competitive rate of work. These constraints lead them to delay the administrative procedures required to access new travelling healthcare in foreign countries, which are often highly complex. Every euro spent by companies to help their employees working abroad to find a good work-life balance and to find the reassurance they need is therefore well spent. Concilio has set itself the objective companion of transforming this complex process to access healthcare and this is the reason behind the services that it offers to companies to assist their employees.

Georges Aoun and Florian Reinaud Co-founders of Concilio A route to health

The idea behind Concilio came from an encounter between an emergency doctor, Florian Reinaud – who is always being asked by friends and family to help them find ‘the right doctor’ – and a The crisis we are going through has made it technology entrepreneur, Georges Aoun - who has spent his career essential to guarantee health safety at the An uninitiated and poorly equipped patient often finds building digital solutions to meet users’ needs. key stages of the customer pathway. As a themselves in a weak position when confronted with result of this obligation, communication has a illness, as they do not have access to information. When The main asset of Concilio, compared with other contact platforms strategic importance: recreational or business abroad, for expatriate workers or recreational or business for doctors and patients is its database, which is the only one of its travel customers need to be reassured. All the travellers, this vulnerability is increased. Technology may kind in the world. It includes more than 20,000 medical professionals who are recommended by their peers, covering 5,000 pathologies innovations in e-health are now beginning be their guardian angel. in 25 medical specialities, in 60 countries around the world. This to apply to the world of travel. Technological More than one out of three French people intend to work dense and qualified directory guarantees assistance that meets the solutions are appealing particularly to abroad in the next two years (“Workforce View in Europe” user’s needs: access to selected doctors, making an appointment in customer bases with high spending power, Study, ADP, June 2018). But how many entrepreneurs record time, monitoring treatment, and online consultations. such as visitors from the Near and Middle hesitate about crossing borders and how many company East. In this way, we can see the development executives refuse an opportunity abroad because of a lack We all have high expectations in terms of the quality, density, and monitoring of information and results with regard to the healthcare of medical tourism in France. Also, due to the of visibility of the availability of local health care? Because, whilst everybody builds their own network of general system. 71% of employees would like to have a service that facilitates health crisis, many travel agents have seen an practitioners and specialists, when you are abroad you need making an appointment with a doctor or even an online medical increasing demand from their customers for to start all over again! Cultural and language barriers also consultation service (study by OpinionWay - Concilio). The appeal is repatriation insurance in the event that they do not help with resolving emergencies. Therefore, career even greater for employees living abroad. catch Covid-19 abroad. This factor is tending opportunities are still often curtailed by health concerns. to become a condition sine qua non when Digital tools break down borders: they allow companies to offer access to the best healthcare, for all their employees, everywhere in purchasing a holiday. More than ever, the the world. At the same time, the increasing role of digital technology diverse range of e-health solutions is becoming in healthcare makes the quality of the service all the more important. THE travel partner for these times. This is the mission that Concilio has assigned to itself: to help companies to create the best environment for their employees, with Welcome City Lab a solution that is both entirely digital and entirely human.

www.concilio.com

22 23 TREND 1 CARING AND REASSURING COUNTERTREND ARTICLE Millennials: a choice between conquering the world and

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Final year of B.A.A in tourism management N Chloé St-Hilaire and hotel management at ESG UQAM

Although they are normally fans of urban experiences and longs Ah, Millennials, what travellers they are! Short breaks, road trips, student exchanges, etc. any excuse to set out on an weekends, there are good reasons to bet that Millennials will be adventure. Seeking a chance to meet new people and to find yourself. Travelling is not just a habit for my generation, it is also more attracted than ever by trips into the natural world. When greatly valued. According to research by the Expedia Group, Millennials are those who travel the most, with on average 3.1 glamping, staying in a motor-home or a small independent hotel, trips per year. social distancing will be far more accessible and pleasant than in a package deal. Alas, 2020 had other plans… And for those that prefer trips where social distancing is less easy Since March, the global pandemic has made travellers put away their suitcases and, at the same time, wonder about what tourism to apply, will they still feel as safe as before? That all depends on the will be like in the near future. How will health and safety aspects change Millennials’ travelling habits? place. Covid-19 is neither the first nor the last danger of this kind. Mass tourist destinations must therefore implement contingency Are you ready to plan your next trip... measures to ensure the safety of their visitors. But, if you have to in a new way? reserve all your visits and experiences in advance, will Millennials, Statistics suggest that Millennials, who only represent a tiny who love last minute trips, enjoy travelling as much? It is hard to establish what the new travel habits will be as a result proportion of Covid-19 victims (it is more collateral damage that Photos of a Millennial wild camping in Charlevoix of the current crisis. In spite of the data gathered on this subject in affects us), favour their mental health over their physical health. The Reconsidering risk perception by Chloé St-Hilaire recent months, we need to keep in mind that society has a tendency need to meet people, to share and to discover new things is perhaps to slip back into old habits and to get over traumatic events; we need even greater than in more normal times when the desire to stay Another very interesting factor highlighted by this crisis is that high such as couch surfing, car pooling, dining in local people’s homes, only think of the events of 11 September 2001, the tsunami of 2004 quietly at home was occasionally stronger. risk destinations are not necessarily those that we thought. Our etc. Although they often make it possible to have more ‘authentic’ and more recently the Bataclan in Paris. perception of how dangerous destinations are is influenced by a new experiences, fear of others and the propagation of the virus may Consequently, after several months of lockdown, mostly in towns, factor: their response to a biological threat. Will the risk level of a sadly reduce the popularity of this kind of practices, even if they are Whereas this time the danger is not an isolated event due to being in without being able to enjoy the usual benefits, it is unsurprising that festival now be assessed based on its location or its attendees? If this economical and ecological. the wrong place at the wrong time. The danger is almost everywhere. a significant proportion of young people are already thinking about is the case, countries such as Italy, France and the USA may pay the The danger could come from a stranger in the subway or Uncle getting away. price. Not to mention Montreal, which has a global reputation for its In conclusion, as Albus Dumbledore says “Happiness can be found, Marcel or the friendly local baker. Worse still, what if the danger is evermore varied festivals, that must now rebuild its reputation as a even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the you? Without realising it. Scary isn’t it? However, whilst some Millennials do not seem particularly concerned safe destination. light.” Put another way, in this global crisis, it is down to us to develop about getting on planes for safety reasons, Covid-19 may still amplify and support interesting innovations in sustainable tourism. Given that However, according to a study by GroupExpression, a marketing and some current trends such as #flygskam (the shame of travelling Who knows, maybe a destination that is usually perceived as being Millennials may well increase their local travelling, measures need to communication agency specialised in tourism, 64% of Millennials are by plane) and therefore influence how people choose to travel. ‘risky’, but that has handled the propagation of the virus well, will be implemented to incite the emergence of new ecological and viable impatient about making their next trip. No more #throwbackthursday, Indeed, with the popularity of authentic experiences and sustainable now have a better reputation than Montreal in terms of the potential solutions to facilitate travel outside cities. the time has come for new content! tourism, the current crisis gives Millennials another reason to make danger? This changing perception of risk could be interesting to track choices that correspond with their values in terms of sustainable in the years to come. Is it the countries that have the best resources development. that have the best health and safety measures? Not necessarily. Ultimately, we need to wonder if this new awareness of public health will have an impact on more collaborative forms of tourist behaviours

24 25 TREND 1 CARING AND REASSURING INTERNATIONAL ARTICLE Using technology

Tool 3 to establish travelers’ Tool 2 Implement seamless entry at the gates Enable contactless payment Post-Covid-19, customers will want a seamless entry Despite the deluge of contactless payment modes, cash through attraction gates where they arrive at pre- trust in the post-Covid has been a major form of payment in most countries. But assigned time slots and minimize contact with other given that currency is a possible medium for contagion, guests. Customers may also prefer to pre-purchase and be Covid-19 may be the catalyst to push for widespread issued with electronic tickets instead of queueing to get adoption of cashless transaction in the future. The key physical ones at the counter. There is potential for tech world gap today, however, is the availability of cross-border companies to develop a digital solution that combines e-payment options. Apart from the Chinese e-payment electronic transactions, inventory management, issuance solutions, few others have expanded beyond their shores of e-tickets, assignment of admission timings, registration Acting Chief Technology Officer, and regulations governing cross border money transfers and contactless entry. Such solutions will be useful Poh Chi Chuan Singapore Tourism Board would be a key hurdle to tackle. This crisis has presented for attractions, event organizers, MICE, sports & live an opportunity for merchants, payment companies, performance venue operators. and governments to collaborate and scale up on the implementation of contactless, cross border electronic Tools to prepare tourism businesses for the new normal and payment before travel resumes. address travelers’ health and safety concerns

As this article is being written, more than 3.5 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 were detected worldwide with over 93% of the world’s population living in countries that have imposed travel bans (CNN Tool 5 Travels, 93% of people around the world live in countries with coronavirus Tool 1 Real time monitoring of infrastructure / travel ban, 2 April 2020). This has severely affected tourism globally as venue business demand dwindled. Increase light touch/no touch Tool 4 interactions Leverage augmented reality / virtual Venue operators will need to consider availing information It will be naïve to assume that the world will revert to the same norms reality (AR/VR) to deliver more for less on environmental hygiene to customers in the future, when international travel resumes – this is especially so for consumer This pandemic has shown how easily hands pick up such as density of people flow, cleanliness and air quality expectations. Given the high transmission rate seen in the Covid-19 contaminants from surfaces, in turn increasing the risk of With the rapid advancement and high ownership of within the compound. This will allow customers to plan pandemic, consumers will have a heightened concern on personal and the virus being transmitted. Therefore, the less surfaces personal mobile devices, AR/VR content can now be their movement and instill confidence that the place is environment hygiene factors and these can ultimately influence their guests need to touch, such as touch screens and buttons, easily accessed and viewed at one’s own pace and space clean. To effectively provide such information, venue choices. Looking at the plans of key hotel chains (Marriott International, the better. Businesses can conduct a customer service on mobile devices. This technology can be implemented operators have to invest in installing IoT sensors and video Marriott International Launches Global Cleanliness Council to Promote journey audit on interactions that can be substituted via a in instances such as a digital map of a cultural precinct. analytics solutions to estimate people count, and the Even Higher Standards of Cleanliness in the Age of COVID-19, 21 April low or no touch experience. One can explore re-engineering More than just way finding, an AR/VR overlay can provide right digital infrastructure to enable quick visualization 2020 and Mary Pflum, So long, minibar: How the coronavirus will change the interaction via customers’ own mobile devices or using enriching and personalized experience for tourists – akin and easy access of data for visitors. These insights would hotel stays, 22 April 2020), it can be seen that enhanced technology and contactless interfaces (such as voice, sensors, or facial to a virtual companion to help visitors understand local also help to formulate plans for better facilities and crowd measures will play a big role to instill consumer confidence and resume recognition). A good use case would be for guests to self stories in a fun and engaging way, for those who prefer to management, such as space and program redesign. business. check-in via a mobile app on their own device, complete explore the destination without being in large groups led with a digital room key and control of room functions. by tour guides. Here are five key technology tools that businesses can consider to get ready for the post-Covid world.

26 27 TREND 1 CARING AND REASSURING INFOGRAPHICARTICLE 1 The French still want to travel Importance of carrying out broad based initiatives in destination A PANEL OF 560 TRAVELLERS IN LOCKDOWN While the above tools are important, these initiatives will come to a naught if the destination at large fails to establish a consistently high standard of cleanliness and ability to contain the spread of any outbreak quickly. +50% of respondents between 40% living in 66% of respondents 95% of them travelled Singapore implemented a SG Clean 25 AND 64 YEARS THE PARIS REGION were ABROAD certification program in February 2020 - OF AGE and all French regions are WOMEN at least once in 2019 shortly after the first few cases of infection represented were detected. This is a whole of government initiative to rally the public and businesses to adopt best practices and hygiene standards. Singapore’s Government Technology Having a common baseline of hygiene Agency and Ministry of Health also launched A BREATH OF FREEDOM practices that are consistent with industry the TraceTogether mobile application in FROM THIS SUMMER standards for sanitation will help increase March 2020, to enable community driven the overall resilience of the destination in contact tracing. It uses tech to identify 48% PLAN TO TRAVEL THIS SUMMER IN THE MEANTIME, preventing an outbreak from spreading. persons who may have come into proximity LET YOURSELF DREAM... More than 800 tourism establishments with an infected individual for an extended 21% SPECIFY THAT THEY WILL TRAVEL AS SOON have been certified in Singapore as of 1 June period of time. Coupled with SafeEntry, a AS LOCKDOWN ENDS, IF THE HEALTH 52% OF RESPONDENTS CONFIRM THAT THEY PAY ATTENTION 2020, with continual efforts to drive more digital check-in system launched in May AUTHORITIES PERMIT IT TO MESSAGES ABOUT HOLIDAYS & TRAVELLING participation. 2020 to log individuals’ entry and exit in high traffic establishments, these applications 10% EXPECT TO TRAVEL FOR THE FIRST TIME FROM THOSE OVER 55 ARE MORE ANXIOUS AND CONCERNED can provide information quickly for health OCTOBER BY NEWS ABOUT COVID-19 FOR THE MOMENT authorities to follow up with affected individuals for relevant care and treatment. 5% THINK THEIR NEXT TRIP WILL BE IN 2021 25-45 YEAR OLDS ARE INCLINED TO TRAVEL AS SOON AS These are but some of the initiatives taken POSSIBLE by the government to maintain Singapore as a safe and clean environment for all. Conclusion

The path to recovery for tourism business READY TO TRAVEL IF... will not be a quick and easy one. For many, 5 ESSENTIAL CRITERIA FOR their business model or daily operations 30% WANT A GUARANTEE OF HEALTH SAFETY SUCCESSFUL HOLIDAYS will need to change to take on the “new normal”. There will also be challenges 21% WANT “SAFE” TRANSPORTATION 62% OF RESPONDENTS WANT SUNSHINE posed by a rapidly changing situation, new (PLANE, TRAIN, BOAT) local legislations, international protocols 52% WANT A GUARANTEED FEELING OF BEING ELSEWHERE and most of all, different expectations of 20% COULD BE TEMPTED BY PROMOTIONAL travelers. For the industry to quickly find OFFERS AND PRICES 49% ARE LOOKING FOR EXCEPTIONAL LANDSCAPES its footing, governments and businesses need to collaborate through innovation and 13% WILL TRAVEL WHATEVER HAPPENS 33% JUST WANT TO BE NEAR TO THE SEA experiment with new technology that can BECAUSE IT WILL BE ESSENTIAL help meet customer expectations in a post- 35% WANT CULTURE AND EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES Covid world.

Source: Survey by Groupexpression Communication, a marketing agency specialised in travel & lifestyle (27 March to 3 April 2020 ) - 28 www.groupexpression.fr 29 TENDANCE 1 PRENDRE SOIN ET RASSURER INTERNATIONAL STUDY Looking for Silver Linings in the Clouds Above Travel

Mike Coletta Manager, Research and Innovation, Phocuswright

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the global travel industry to an unprecedented halt, and months after the breakout started, plans for reopening economies and borders are still tenuous at best. The virus is receding in some places while flaring up in others, making plans and INTERNATIONAL timelines for a resumption of travel extremely difficult, if not impossible. Amid this troublesome scenario, STUDY social unrest is contributing to fear of traveling far from home, and government stimulus funds supporting the economy in various states and countries are starting to run dry.

But the travel industry has faced dire circumstances many times in the past, and it always bounces back stronger than before. The grit of entrepreneurs and the spirit of innovation is strong in travel, one of the world’s Phocuswright fielded an online survey on March 10- largest industries. Although travel may never be the 28, 2020 targeting the general U.S., U.K., French and same, people always adapt, the human desire to explore German adult populations that had a trip planned will never go away, and we will start traveling again. We through June 30, 2020. Here are a few of the findings just need to weather this very difficult period. that provide a glimpse into the near future.

Travelers initially reacted to the COVID-19 situation with measured optimism. With trips coming up within a three-month window, many travelers surveyed would have already made plans or bookings. Yet more travelers in the U.S., U.K. and France chose to postpone trips, rather than cancel them. One out of three or more in each of these three markets were hopeful they would still be able to take their trip later (see Figure 1).

30 31 ÉTUDE INTERNATIONALE INTERNATIONAL STUDY

FIGURE 1 FIGURE 3 Trip actions for Drivers of next upcoming openness to trip travel – change in transmission risk

However, as we cross the halfway point of 2020, travelers’ attitudes towards staycations may shift. As peak summer vacation season arrives, travel Thus, we should not expect to see signs of a real travel industry recovery until fear of transmission is somehow addressed, whether the virus remains heavily constrained by ongoing border restrictions, quarantine requirements, safety concerns, and uncertain flight offerings. Hungry burns itself out or an effective vaccine is widely available. travelers seeking to escape mundane months of stay-at-home orders are now better informed and aware of what will be feasible in the near term, Phocuswright also recently produced a report on the impact of COVID-19 on travel startups. Travel startups are feeling the impact especially and are adapting plans accordingly. Local or regional travel are considered safer options than anything that requires a flight, as travelers associate harshly, as both leisure and business travel have ground to a halt, suppliers reassess their operations and costs, and investors become more air travel with a higher risk of getting infected (see Figure 2), and the reopening of international borders is still pending in many markets. cautious. Consequently, startups across almost all verticals are struggling for survival. Phocuswright has tracked 1,009 travel startups founded since 2015, and these companies have raised $6.2B in funding and acquisitions. 2018 and 2019 were record years for funding, with a combined total of more than $3.6B raised. 1Q20 started out strong with more than $800M raised; over $500M of it by TripActions. But funding is expected to diminish greatly through the rest of the year and fall far short of 2019. FIGURE 2 In 2018 and 2019, as money poured into the market, travel startup funding was drastically shifting towards later-stage companies. Phocuswright’s The State of Travel Startups 2019 noted that “more money is funneling into fewer later-stage companies, typically the breakout Air vs. non-air winners in each category, a trend that has played out over the last few years and is only accelerating.” travelers who Current conditions may magnify this trend, as investors look to place safe bets with the companies that have the best chance of survival through the pandemic and beyond – those who already have cash in the bank and a chance to solidify market dominance as travel recovers. changed plans For early-stage companies (68% of the cohort analyzed in this report) their saving grace is that, with less overhead and red tape, they can be due to risk of nimbler in adapting to rapidly-changing conditions and, if necessary, pivot to a business model that works. Larger companies can also have becoming ill in more cultural damage to deal with as they lay off staff. But early-stage startups, without much cash on hand, will still suffer greatly, and unfortunately many will go out of business. Kuo-Yi Lim, transit managing partner, Monk’s Hill Ventures, estimates that startups need at least 12 months of runway if the business is to survive this pandemic, and small companies often do not have such a cushion. Unfortunately, many startups will go out of business and many of the best laid plans will be thwarted. But as Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind, and opportunity favors the bold.” The time is now for travel innovators to think hard about cost savings, pivots, creative collaborations, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. For those who can make it through the downturn, a bounty of potential customers and investors may await. Smart investors and corporates know that travel always rebounds, and now is a great time for them to invest both dollars and resources. Thus, funding will not dry up completely, and indeed new funding rounds are still being announced every week. For travelers to feel comfortable taking to the road again, safety from them feel comfortable traveling again (see Figure 3). Travelers don’t People are dreaming about travel more than ever, and pending the economic recovery of discretionary income, demand will explode at some a health perspective is top priority. In the U.S., Germany and France, need antibodies before re-embarking on leisure trips, but they do point. Startups are fighters and are at their best when reimagining what an industry should look like. When things are in disarray is when the a drop in infection rates is the most frequently cited cue for travelers want to feel that there is a reduced risk of becoming ill. ground is most fertile for change. to start traveling once more. In the U.K., infection rate decline is The world will be different when we start traveling again. Startups and innovators of all stripes will have a significant role to play in what things second to official government advisories. 47-57% of travelers across Likewise, anecdotal examples of people traveling safely would not look like on the other side. markets are watching for lower infection rates before traveling again. assuage travelers of the risks involved in leisure trips. Just 8-12% of Despite health being a top concern, only a small fraction – just 7-13% travelers reported they would feel comfortable traveling again when of travelers – reported that getting sick and recovering would make their peers begin traveling without incident.

32 33 TREND 2

Phygita- lisation

Just when we thought that the digital era was Will online events become the new norm? What is already well established, the health crisis has happening in other countries? The entrepreneur accelerated the pace of digitisation of our world Andrew Filev has warned that virtual events even more! Many of us suddenly realised that we may not just be a phenomenon for 2020 but were far from being completely ready to switch may be the new standard for experiences. What easily from face-to-face to remote communication. is actually happening? Will virtual experiences We thought that we had mastered digital tools, in replace reality? We think that the trend towards fact we were just taking baby steps. The sudden ‘phygitalisation’, which emerged a few years cancellation of all the events forced organisers ago, will increase greatly thanks to a familiarity to pivot from one day to the next and to stay in with the tools that will be facilitated by evermore touch with their audiences. Sometimes, they even advanced technological functions. In the future, had to organise their event or meeting on digital business and recreational customers will find platforms, which already had functional features better ways to combine face-to-face and live and ergonomics that made them accessible to experiences, even if we are still far from being all. We can take the example of “Laval Virtual”, ready for a hybrid system. Tomorrow’s events will which was organised in an entirely digital format have the gift of ubiquity. in a few weeks. Start-ups also had no choice other than to adapt, to adopt working from home, and to seek alternative solutions to try to continue to maintain business meetings remotely.

34 TREND 2 PHYGITALISATION EXPERT ARTICLE

This is why, in recent weeks, we have seen many initiatives and ideas In what way do they make a lasting change to proposed by professionals in event organising and the managers of the experiences at events? Hybridisation of event event venues for the hybridisation of events. To share this new trend and the first feedback we intend to analyse the issue as follows: Making an event hybrid is more than just ‘connecting an event to the internet’. By connecting an event to the internet and by organising What is a hybrid event? hybrid experiences, we completely change our relationship with organising: the future of What is the impact on the new time scales for developing space and time: digital communities? The On Site / On Line space (no more physical or geographical What is the impact on the production of content: constraints). Transmedia? Time scales (opening the door to the possibility of interactions, events and event venues What is the impact on the technological building blocks to meetings and return on investment Before, During and After an master? event). The location of the event retains its key role in creating encounters Laurent Tripied CEO of Bziiit What is a hybrid event? and emotions but it opens its public sphere beyond the physical boundaries of the event. It is an event where there are: One or more physical experiences - “On Site Experience” The internet first entered events more than 20 years ago with the We see it every day, the Covid-19 health crisis has had a major and lasting impact on the events sector. The impossibility of holding (conferences, workshops, encounters on stands, etc.) One or more provision of Wi-Fi at trade fairs, online services during conferences trade fairs, conferences or festivals with more than 5,000 people for more than 6 months has led to an unprecedented increase in digital experiences - “On Line Experience” (live broadcasts, online and on stands, and through the provision of maps and programmes the digital transformation of events. debates, online meetings through themed webinars, etc.) online for participants, etc. The digital experiments carried out over At least one experience that combines the 2 worlds (physical recent months, and above all the pace of the scheduling of virtual and digital) through interactive systems that allow for/encourage and hybrid events for the last half of 2020 demonstrates that the From March 2020, the biggest sports The question quickly arose for organisers of ‘physical’ events, such as trade fairs, conferences discussions between online and offline participants digital/physical mix has become an essential service to meet the events organisers (such as the 2020 and festivals, and for the managers of event venues (exhibition grounds, conference centres, requirements of visitors. Australian Grand Prix), then those etc.): How can they position themselves in this new landscape for organising events where Avatars, web cam pictures or holograms are projected onto a operating in the cultural sector digital technology is offering a new solution to issues of distance, simplifying problems with medium (giant screen, table, wall, the floor, smartphone, etc.) to Another very important point is the reduction to the carbon (such as Art Basel or the Annecy travel (and therefore the energy cost) and the possibility of viewing key conferences more interact directly with the conference, workshop, stand, etc. footprint of events. Before the Covid-19 crisis, this subject had International Animated Film Festival), than once, at a time that suits you and at your own pace? become an important point for research and experimentation for the organisers of conferences and Example: The technology developed by Toronto AHRT Media and all the stakeholders in the profession (ISO 20121 certification, the forums (AAT-AD/PD™ 2020 - Forum Analysing the comments on the multitude of initiatives and experiments over the last 6 adapted by the Edtech laboratory, pioneer from Imperial College CLEO event performance calculator perfected by UNIMEV, etc.). for professionals specialised in months highlights what digital technology cannot yet efficiently achieve: meeting people Business School The digitisation of all or part of events provides a real solution to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease) of course, quality networking, emotion (which is still in its developmental stages through reducing travel. It allows organisers to offer speakers from around have launched initiatives to make online events), and more broadly creating significant and lasting relationships between the the whole world without making them travel to the location where events virtual and online. This has participants / fans of a new branch. the event is held. allowed us to see incredible innovation in the formats (through esport competitions, partnerships with online content distribution platforms, etc.), The issue for 100% digital events up to the unprecedented initiative in France of Laval Virtual World: the first SATISFACTION FRUSTRATION professional trade fair held entirely in a virtual world where each exhibitor and opening up new experiences cannot reproduce the power of speaker could attend the conferences making it possible to go from one physical events and move around in themed areas continent to another with 1 click does not permit many targeted and using their avatar. going from one conference to another qualified encounters in a very short in a few seconds period of time Dialogue with the audience in real time with hologram speakers watching your favourite content more does not make it possible to Source: © Imperial College London than once experience intense emotion The 3 spaces for interaction in a hybrid OnLine Experience + OffLine Experience: source Hub Institute does not create ties between the Hybrid Experience: source Bziiit participants or fans of the same subject photo 1 ©Imperial College London photo 2 ©Steve Jurvetson - Flickr: Edward Snowden’s Surprise Appearance at TED at the same time

36 37 TREND 2 PHYGITALISATION EXPERT ARTICLE

Impact on the production of content: What is the impact on the technological DURING Transmedia building blocks to master?

Impact on the production of content: Transmedia Producing hybrid events therefore opens up new opportunities The new time scale for the development of communities means for the audience, and revenues for the organisers of hybrid BEFORE AFTER Physical & Digital the implementation of digital practices and the production of events and managers of event venues. However, this requires the appropriate content for the issues and particularities of each of the implementation of new IT and digital architectures to meet the events cycle media made available by the hybridising of the event: Transmedia requirements and expectations of the audiences. This investment production. constraint however makes it possible to attract and host new events replay B 2 B with new audiences and revenues (rights over content, managing The term ‘transmedia storytelling’ first emerged in 1991 and was licenses, merchandising, etc.). C BETWEEN given its definition in 2006 by Henry Jenkins, a lecturer at MIT. According to him it is a “process where integral elements of a fiction Feedback from events such as the Bordeaux Geekfest (1st pop get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for culture / geek festival) that was held 100% online demonstrate the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment the necessity of adapting the graphic style guide of each hybrid experience”. event to the subject matter: a scientific symposium does not have the same graphic requirements as a cosplay festival or a home Indeed, if you analyse the viewing statistics for online content from a decorating trade fair. How can organisers be able to efficiently What is the impact on the new time scales for (conferences, workshops, networking sessions, visits to stands, 1 hour conference taken during an event, you will find that the whole address hybrid events? For events organisers with several types of developing digital communities? one-to-one meetings, etc.) and how they will interact (asking hour is almost never viewed. Organisers of hybrid events must events in their catalogue this can mean that they need to have an questions or speaking in smaller groups through chat sessions), and therefore be prepared to make content that is appropriate for the online events portal that makes it possible to have a graphic identity An essential point for the success of a hybrid event is the take- finally by recording key moments to be rebroadcast through post- new space-time configuration of the event (the duration of formats for each event and to assemble the technological building blocks up by strong and targeted online communities. The latest event replay sessions. according to their positioning before, during, after, encrusted in a for the communities (matchmaking to facilitate networking during statistics published by the ECN show that the potential for online virtual dimension, varied planes, promoting the highlights and key professional events, broadcasting on different streaming platforms communities is impressive. In France alone, there are more than 150 AFTER: Usually, the time associated with Replays represented 10% phases, incorporating layers of augmented reality, mechanisms for such as YouTube, Twitch for B2C events, etc.). million subscribers for 66 million inhabitants: this means that on of the time of the discussions. This phase has also been affected in interaction, etc.) for each stage of the event. In this way, all of the average, we are members of 3 networks that mostly each have their the long-term by the new hybrid uses. After having recorded and digital media are linked and connected to tell the same story. In this way, with the mastery and implementation of hybrid event own specific centres of interest. The issue is not therefore whether created varied digital interactions, the post-event phase makes it practices, the event venue and the organiser of hybrid events targeted communities for events exist, but rather identifying the possible to continue to bring together the driving factors behind become the Hub for experiences for the branches and issues communities and getting them to take an interest in the issues of each community. The event organiser can use sessions of community addressed by the events. The investment may be large, but the the event. Therefore the success of a hybrid event depends to an interactions as if they were episodes in a season on Netflix. In this differentiation, the opening of new markets, and the new public and ever greater extent on the mastery of the practices and tools for way they can enhance the impact of the event by orchestrating private sector partners are there for the taking for those who act managing the new time scale for developing communities, which carefully prepared replay sessions: documenting what has been first. are known as the “4 phases of managing digital communities”: done, produced to be published like an advent calendar. A calendar BEFORE, DURING, AFTER and BETWEEN. in which the chocolates are the high quality content that was produced during the event. This makes is possible to ‘tease’ the Feedback on the experience from Laurent Chrétien audience by announcing content that will feed into the strategy for CEO / Managing Director Laval Virtual BEFORE: This means producing and spreading the emotion that managing communities after the event. will determine the identity of the event (Teasing, micro-interviews, “What an adventure this entirely VR Laval Virtual 2020 was! For the first time, a large scale event took place in a virtual reality accounts from future participants, etc.). This sequence makes it BETWEEN EVENTS: For a hybrid event to be successful, you need environment that was accessible on computer screens or using virtual reality headsets. 6,600 people downloaded the Laval possible to ‘warm up the communities’ by promoting the hybrid to identify the emotional sequences with target communities Virtual World, created their avatars and attended the 150 conferences, sometimes in rooms filled with nearly 400 people. They experiences that will be available during the event. and partners throughout the whole year. This is the new field for networked in more than fifty virtual meeting rooms or during the nocturnal “Parties”. They were able to attend the incredible increasing communities, the organiser can offer communities awards ceremony live on a virtual screen. Microsoft, the main partner, received 1,200 people per day in its virtual suite. Real DURING: This is the sphere of excellence for events, this sequence the chance to make small encounters (as was the case for the big business, real encounters, real emotions, in other words an exploit achieved by the teams from Laval Virtual that, in one month, must make it possible to enjoy a wide range of experiences. The trade fairs such as CES, VIVATECH, etc.) by offering meetings in transformed the world’s biggest event for immersive technologies into a world’s first. In a few days, but with more than 20 quality of the staging is a determining factor and constitutes one appropriate places for the target communities for the event (a years of experience and expertise in virtual reality, an excellent knowledge of the existing platforms and their advantages and of the strategic points in which the organisers must invest. Both in bar, coworking spaces, visits/presentations in places related to the drawbacks, Laval Virtual became the organiser of virtual events for others with the preparation of other major events, corporate the preparation (sharing items from the Before phase by promoting subjects for the event; as for example esports and cosplay events do events, conferences, congresses, seminars, product launches, etc. This is a wonderful example of resilience on the difficult market the results of competitions, calls for contributions, results of by going to centres for handicapped people), etc. of event organising.” studies, etc.) and during the live event by allowing physical and online participants to choose the types of experiences they want

38 39 TREND 2 PHYGITALISATION START-UP ARTICLE 1

Working towards a hybrid, exponential and ecological At the heart of virtual future Combining physical events with their virtual transcription offers several key advantages compared with traditional events. The immersion. biggest difference is their accessibility and their global scope, as the audience is no longer restricted by physical or geographical constraints. This highlights another benefit, Is the future hybrid? their profitability by optimising the costs and the return on investment. Added to this is the responsible nature of virtual events with an outlook of innovation, creativity and Jonathan Szenik Co-founder of Talent Making Talent respect for the environment.

In an ever changing world where social codes and rules are constantly Our solution being called into question, confronted with an unprecedented health crisis that looks set to have a lasting impact on our society, we have Talent Making Talent offers customised, immersive, virtual cause to get back to our most essential needs. Amongst them, our solutions by creating high quality, photo-realistic 3D relationship with others and our environment is at stake. environments with a range of inviting functional features that are specifically designed to create moments of Although nothing can replace the power of live events and gatherings, collective sharing. The experience is not only physical but in the coming months we need to adapt to continue to communicate, is also well received in the digital space. By encouraging to dream and to get away from it all. This raises the questions of how to users to actively participate through interactive features, transpose emotions, sharing, and interaction, how to create a positive the experience based content aims at creating deep collective or individual experience, and how to present immersive, emotional connections. The aim is to distribute content inviting environments in virtual reality worlds with as much power as and experiences as well as collecting data about users’ in physical space? journeys to make it possible to optimise the experience and to achieve performance objectives. The digital transition, which was already on the minds of major players in France and around the world, is accelerating due to the crisis that We have broken down the ideation process so we can adapt we are going through, which is greatly disrupting society and the to a brand’s main challenges. Our production team is made established economic models. With algorithms, big data, virtual up of design engineers, stylists, producers and developers reality, machine learning, robotics, artificial intelligence, connected with experience in production and post-production for still objects, connected medicine, smart cities, blockchain, Fintech, and and animated images, sound design, generative artworks the increasing use of the collaborative economy, the sharing economy, and programming. The aim is to integrate the content, the etc., no area of life, no economic activity seems to be able to escape staging and the interactivity into a virtual space to create from the digital economy (*source Les Echos). memorable experiences, and remove distances by using connected tools. Tourism and event management is one of the sectors that has been hardest hit by the crisis; the industry must find new means to operate and offer innovative and appealing solutions. Big museums such as the Louvre, the British Museum or event the MoMA have already been offering virtual visits for a few years, but don’t these solutions have a tendency to create greater distance and isolation?

40 41 TREND 2 PHYGITALISATION START-UP ARTICLE 2

The OUispeak tab: our ‘historic’ our young start-up is putting human beings service back in the loop. Our ambition is based on Digital technology and a clear value proposition—Humans serving Founded in 2017, until now our start-up other Humans. offered an interpreting service only on tablet computers. With a bespoke solution Adapting means growing! professional introductions: for anyone in tourist areas such as airports, hotels and shopping centres. This should By causing the closure of shopping centres, come as news to no-one, but in France we stores and airports, the lockdown to contain are very bad at speaking foreign languages the Covid-19 epidemic forced us to be agile. a unique cohabitation? and we are also the country that receives We will doubtlessly need to wait until at the most foreign visitors in the world. Put least September (2020) to see international Human learning another way, we are the world’s leading tourists (from outside the EU) return to tourist destination and very few of us speak France. We had not really considered the Contacts who do not speak the same English. “6-month summer hibernation” option. Like language communicate through a Andrea Miglietta President and co-founder of OUispeak Solutions The second observation is that the tourists many, we had to rethink our offering in view OUispeaker, who is at ease in both cultures. that spend the most in our country (Chinese, of this crisis and adapt to the new situation. Our interpreters, many of whom have been Japanese, Russian, Korean, etc.) are also those in France for 10 or 15 years, have taken on- that speak English less well. We could even The creation of the OUispeak board the cultures of both countries. These With the arrival of Skype, FaceTime and other video call platforms we can feel a new revolution arriving. Video calls have talk about impossible language barriers. But room professional translators can for example entered into our lives through the front door, that of our private lives. We make massive use of video calls, often to see our that was before our idea of making language advise the partners or future partners on nearest and dearest or those that have gone to live far away. interpreters available on a tablet computer. Our room makes it possible to always have how to present themselves. Should they Key accounts such as Longchamp, Nice Côte interpreters ready for a remote call. The be highly respectful, at least to begin with, Although we have been seeking digital encounters in the private sphere for a long time (just look at the success of Snapchat d’Azur Airport, Viparis, the Île-de-France idea is to be able to seek new leads, find like the Japanese or more informal like an or Messenger), in the corporate sphere almost no meetings were held using computers. The technology was there, ready and Region or even the Carrousel du Louvre very resources or even to build a partnership American? The profession did not wait for waiting, but left to one side once people stepped through their companies’ doors. It took a global lockdown to allow video calls quickly adopted our solution. with companies from around the whole OUispeak to go digital, offering language to become part of corporate life. world without speaking their language. Our lessons on Skype or translating texts online The encounter is ‘phygital’. obsession is saving time for our clients and for market places. It is video calls that make it The transition happened in record time, moving from very occasional to almost systematic use. Digital meetings have become their suppliers. Clients just need to book possible to bring people closer. part of our professional habits and are here to stay. This crisis has made us realise that we could work differently. On the OUispeak tab, which we lease to their time slot and we do the rest. Before At OUispeak, we wondered how people could keep strong connections with their partners whilst staying at home. Our answer professionals, there are Chinese, Russian, lockdown, you just needed to book a meeting The “NDA” option is a video conference platform with interpreters: room.ouispeak.io! Indeed, the world stopped but international trade did not! Korean and Japanese flags. Tourists can see room in your company, the team met their flag, come closer and are invited, in together and started the application, it was This allows companies who are getting to their language, to click to be put in contact as simple as that. During lockdown and in know each other to sign a Non Disclosure with an interpreter, free of charge. Five the post-lockdown world this is impossible; Agreement electronically before the seconds after touching the tablet computer, social distancing has to be complied with. At meeting. This offers security to the speakers, as if by magic, they see an interpreter, who OUispeak, to invite scattered employees to their exchanges and for the transfer of files is of their nationality, appear on OUispeak: a a meeting, you just need to share the link to on the platform and outside it. Digitising OUispeaker. The OUispeaker is a professional, the room. professional relationships, like electronic freelance interpreter who uses their PC to signatures offers benefits and saves on answer video calls from the tablet computers time and paper. We have all been obliged deployed on our clients’ premises. The to make changes to how we live and work, OUispeakers act as a connection between and this has had many consequences. Which the salesperson and their foreign customers, ones will stand the test of time? Perhaps without being physically present with them. professional networking will continue Even without physical contact, video brings to take place online to better prepare a people closer. “At OUispeak we have gone physical meeting? for the Human option”.

Our interpreters, the OUispeakers, work on successful international deals remotely. At a time when everybody is moving towards @OUispeakSolutions artificial intelligence and digital technology,

42 43 TREND 2 PHYGITALISATION COUNTERTREND ARTICLE

C O U E N

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PhD in Information and communication sciences Sophie Lacour DG ADVANCED TOURISM

Now that we have all been confronted, to a greater or lesser extent, with forced virtualisation, with communication without personal contact or meeting, with the disappearance of face-to-face encounters, what seemed like the way of the future has become the present for many of us. So what of this life lived at a distance? Can we experience cultural visits, professional Must we meet others? the words that we use only account for a messages. When somebody backs away, or meetings and more broadly holidays remotely? small percentage of the information that leans their body forward, you immediately My image or my avatar? is received from the people we talk to (5 react to these postures according to what Can the virtual be a substitute frame and a frame means a choice. Indeed, cultural and physical differences therefore to 20% depending on different schools of you feel from the person or the situation in for the real? when the operator films the hotel, the beach actually prevent us from really recreating There are two solutions available for events, thought). Around a third is communicated which you find yourself. and even the meeting, it is always only part of reality. At best they can give us a view of it as they are currently offered: either live by our tone of voice. The vast majority of our Virtual is a point of view the reality. The positioning of the camera, the This view may even be counter-productive. video or an avatar (e.g. VivaTech 2020). In message is therefore communicated by our Finally, the non-verbal adds an additional height of the view point, the lighting, and the the context of a video, it is therefore you body language. dimension to the message, which may The first uses of virtual technology date choice of the time are all factors that mean Last year, during the Top Résa trade fair, that is filmed, most often sitting at desk, sometimes be contradictory. Without back to around 20 years ago and they were that the reality is just that of a moment, a I suggested to a start-up from Quebec, with a camera in front of you. This solution, A tour guide for example communicates being entirely aware of it, you may perceive essentially used to recreate monuments that brief period of time that does not represent Déjà Vu, that they could create a unique which is the most frequent, does not allow many non-verbal signs to us that are negative signs that totally contradict what no longer exist, such as Cluny Abbey. But reality in its entirety. experience based on odour. So, Audrey you to move or walk around. You can also be essential for communication: a wink, a little the person is saying and react accordingly. the virtual can also be a means of capturing created several odours: the inside of Notre- represented by an avatar, a sort of ‘cartoon smile, a grimace are all signs that support or Some schools of thought even include reality and making it available remotely or on Everybody is a being that perceives Dame de Paris, a Parisian café, etc. The drawing’ of you. This allows you to move change the meaning of their speech. clothing in verbal communication. site, and even enriching it by superimposing. the world in their own way odour of Notre-Dame, a blend of incense, old around in virtual environments, where other In the context of an encounter, a discussion Everybody is sensitive to the manner It is a remarkable tool for tourism that books and stones bemused several people people are also ‘drawings’ and so are the about a contract or a project, beyond these in which a person wears their clothes, makes it possible to have remote visits or The senses are in physiological terms a who had visited the cathedral in the middle objects that you examine. Regardless of the signs, space also plays a great role. The their choice of accessories or brands and encounters for example. Although it may be matter of receptors and transcribers. It was of summer with thousands of other people, solution chosen, several problems emerge distance that you create between you, your therefore includes this in their interaction, represented as a faithful representation of Aristotle that defined the senses according and who had not therefore recognised what that are all barriers to the quality of the posture (domination or withdrawal) are all the deal they are making or the judgement reality, whether we like it or not, the virtual is to 5 sensors: the nose, the eyes, the ears, the they had perceived. The bistro was greeted relations/communication. non-verbal but explicit signs, which lay the they reach. actually a subjective interpretation. mouth and the fingers. with far greater enthusiasm, but some foundations for the conversation that you people found that it did not resemble the Can non-verbal communication be will have. The non-verbal aspect is essential in When it is a reconstitution of a former What is surprising is that our senses are muted odours of the big cafe brands that virtual? communication, therefore the rigid frame of monument, the recreation of a church facade not a universal value. For example, we do they usually go to. That was really a question In a virtual encounter, there are very few of non-physical meetings strips them of a good or a product that does not yet exist, there not all smell the same thing, more than 100 of the interpretation of the creator. This also Many everyday expressions “we’re on the these signs or they are not all perceptible. part of the communication and reduces may be some doubt about the veracity of parameters can modify your sense of smell: shows us how any experience can only ever same wavelength”, “I can’t see it”, “I can’t During a meeting by video conference for their efficiency. We need to sense the other what you are offered. age, gender (women have a better sense of be individual, and in situ, in person and in the feel it” are about non-verbal communication. example, you sit at your desk and you are person, in the truest sense of the word. smell than men), the place where you live, place to really “sense” and get a feeling of the Although our words have a certain impact, careful not to leave the frame. Therefore, But when it is 360° images of a hotel room etc. But also the condition of our receptors destination. our gestures, our attitude, our look, “say” you cannot come closer, have a private or a dish for example, it is presented as and genetics: a survey recently revealed that much more than our simple words. conversation, move away from somebody being “truthful and with nothing hidden”, 9% of French people and 20% of Germans or make little friendly gestures. Also, as it is reality that has been filmed. And yet, have a problem with their sense of smell. Even Even if not all researchers agree on the people who are speaking to each other as Roland Barthes taught us: an image has a our culture influences our perception. All our exact percentage, they all agree that react subconsciously to mutual non-verbal

44 45 TREND 2 PHYGITALISATION INFOGRAPHIC

Can we create a bond virtually? The French and the reopening of event driven

Sharing is part of the experience The experience of a destination entertainment activities after lockdown or an event is a cumulation of Emotions are dynamic processes caused by unexpected factors specific and sometimes unexpected events and they have an enormous influence on how The experience of a destination or an event we perceive an event and how we interact is also a cumulation of unexpected factors: with it. Also, when we express our emotion, Unexpected sensory experiences, the smell we have a tendency to want to share with of jasmine at the bend in a path by the sea, the other people, we also allow the other person taste of ice-cream, the sparkle of a reflection, to express what they are feeling and this but also an unexpected encounter. The However, in the end 100% allows us to form a relationship. By doing person sitting on their seat in a little street 9 out of 10 After lockdown, However, in the current context, will go to one again... this, we meet one of our fundamental needs in Dubrovnik who tells you about their life in French people 93% feel that something 9 out of 10 French people as human beings: forming relationships. their own way, the family fishing on the banks attend events is missing... are worried about You have to admit that being in the stadium of the Garonne river that shares with you one attending events... for a World Cup Final cannot have the same of the best sandwiches you have ever eaten. feeling as watching it on a TV screen. Moving And what makes this sandwich the best? Conclusion from fear to hope, trembling together, The bread or the ham? It is more because feeling sadness or joy, celebrating victory, of the way it was offered to you, the fact of The virtual is not therefore a substitute for the experience of the place, the community sharing with other human beings in specific reality and will never replace it or actual and the physical and human contact cannot circumstances that also gives them original travel. Gilles Deleuze underlines that the €€ €€ be equalled. Sharing is therefore part of the and unique emotions. opposite of “virtual” is “actual” and not € € experience, it is because we communicate “real”. The virtual is indeed a component of together that we take greater pleasure. When we meet creativity emerges reality and reinvents access to culture, to With the same budget or more In the short term, 67% Organisers need to reassure At a distance, virtually, there is very little heritage and to tourism, but in a fragmented for 85% of them... of French people will return the public, of which 53% possibility of sharing this emotion. Finally, more specifically in terms of and incomplete way with regard to the in the next few weeks mostly require sanitary measures... professional meetings, it has to be said that complexity of human relationships. ideas from teamwork and creativity more often arise during a cigarette break or during For many reasons related to our senses, to our a meal, in other words during informal need for social bonds and to our emotions, moments then can ever happen during an we have an actual need to experience the event held remotely or using virtual reality. real, be it at the destination or at an event. If professionals that organise events are careful to organise times for meetings in To conclude on this need for a physical less formal settings it is exactly because they meeting between humans, I will mention are essential for enriching a symposium or International Hug Day. Indeed, a hug conference. has unexpected beneficial effects. Hugs can prevent depression and viruses by But, the public will not be Digital technology is now also popular, Finally, following the cancellation These moments encourage what we contributing to the production of oxytocin, prepared to sacrifice everything, 1 out of 5 French people of events due to Covid-19 poetically call ‘cross-fertilisation’ and are the key hormone for our well-being. Its level 59% prefer to wait are now prepared 67% of French people want potential vectors for creativity, bringing out in the blood is directly connected to our until conditions return to normal to pay to attend a digital version a reimbursement or a credit note new possibilities and for innovation. capacity to manage stress and the quality of before return to any events our social relationships.

And there is no way to give a hug remotely or virtually!

Source: Opinion poll from June 2020 - IFOP + Weezevent Study - Survey carried out from 18 to 20 May 2020

46 47 TREND 2 PHYGITALISATION INTERNATIONAL ARTICLE

Increasing the quality of Lowering the acquisition cost interaction of new opportunities

Working from home, a During lockdown, many were obliged to use In Canada, the large distances make travel video solutions to meet a potential customer, more prohibitive in terms of time and money a client, a supplier or to interview a job (low-cost air travel and trains are less well applicant. developed). The need for face-to-face Trojan Horse for start-ups The digitisation of business relationships meetings rules out certain ‘unprofitable’ lowers the cost (in terms of time, transport meetings. Video technology ‘lowers the cost and accommodation) and makes it possible of meetings’ such as conversations between to hold exploratory meetings at a low price. the partners or start-ups from MT Lab who Martin Lessard Managing Director, MT Lab Tourism | Culture | Entertainment Unlike telephone calls, video conferences are not in Montreal and would never travel allow the users to present multimedia there without a formal invitation, unless documents, installations, works, spaces, and they are prepared well in advance and with a machines, with more natural interaction. specific agenda. The forced adoption of working from home during lockdown in 2020 has allowed the practice to reach an unprecedented At the same time, whilst video technology critical mass that has revealed several advantages: saving time and reducing the opportunity cost, a breeding ground for brings people closer, it also allows them to The bias of face-to-face meetings is that only innovations. maintain a distance. those who have the means to travel and who Hosting people in your office involves both a can assume the financial and time costs can The mandatory use of working from home during the “Great lockdown” of spring 2020, brought to the forefront this certain degree of preparation and resistance be present in person. At highly attended trend that people have been talking about for 20 years. This unheralded, large scale experiment popularised a reality to the influencing pressures that a physical major trade fairs, the same ‘usual suspects’ that most start-ups have known and mastered for sometime: working and doing business remotely. Technology does not presence gives rise to. are always there. replace face-to-face meetings, but it makes it possible to maintain productivity that maintains, and sometimes increases, Video calls are beneficial for preparatory or The advantage of video-conferencing The agility of a start-up social bonds and business relationships. Start-ups have been prepared for a long time, by necessity and by opportunity. introductory meetings before a project or a technology is that new, original, more visit. informal meetings are possible with small An increase in online collaboration between The situation in Canada and in accommodation to operators that otherwise the room is no longer an acceptable level to companies, such as start-ups, who are less start-ups and big companies is to be Quebec used Airbnb. maintain business relations at a distance. Earlier, we said that companies were catching able to absorb the costs of travelling. expected. Teleconferencing often involves Stimulation Déjà-Vu quickly brought During lockdown, teleconferencing took up with the use of digital technology. Entirely For everyday business, virtual meetings working on shared documents (Google Before the pandemic began, 65% of together agile suppliers and deliverers to place using laptops, each of which has a digital solutions such as Piecemeal, an allow projects to benefit from agile follow- Docs), communication tools (Slack) or companies said that they did not use working distribute antibacterial sprays with odours camera and a screen. This makes it possible inventory tool, which optimises the costs up at a lower costs, which is perfect for tests collaboration (Miro, for brainstorming). from home, compared with just 1.5% of of Quebec. to have a more human touch with more and timetables of restaurants or Merinio, a and developing proof of concept with less companies that said they operated entirely Locketgo changed its offering of online visible faces and body language. management tool with automated reminder investment. Agile start-ups like Arrivages, a purchasing by working from home. At the end of March, lockers to allow for the secure distribution This made it possible to have personal texts for employees, are becoming far more platform for local producers (short loop), there were 4.7 million people working from of promotional or sanitary objects, which interactions by automatically ‘focussing’ attractive in a context where the ‘all-digital’ Ottomata, which is specialised in immersive or Les Cabinets, specialists in hygiene and home, or roughly 40% of the country’s are easy to install indoors or outdoors. the screen on the person who was talking, is better accepted. multimedia installations has quickly experience for public toilets, have benefited workforce. (Survey of the active population keeping everybody’s attention and increasing developed a fun social distancing tool with from the economic ‘pause’ during lockdown (EPA) March 2020) Mastering remote meetings the ease of listening. sensors and cameras. MySmartJourney to offer their solutions that would otherwise offers contact-free activation of multimedia not have had such a good reach. Part of the local economy was late to Start-ups use light video-conferencing At MT Lab, video meetings between start- content using RFID chips and QR codes. All adopt the new digital tools and the health solutions from Appear.in (now Whereby) ups and partners during lockdown made it these solutions are easy to explain using Working from home has gone from being a crisis revealed that many did not have an to Zoom, including Discord or Jitsi. Big possible to maintain a high level of cohesion in video. marginal practice to being the norm during e-commerce website or tools for working companies have followed suit and will the group and to spread innovation. A start- lockdown. In the coming years, it would not online and, above all, they had a poor mastery ultimately abandon their heavy solutions up like Gallea now offers Zoom backgrounds be surprising to see the innovation of start- of the technologies. Companies are now of teleconferencing rooms that are now showing artworks from their online gallery. ups percolating more in large companies catching up with these digital practices, deserted due to social distancing rules. And Hoppin’ has seen its sales take off with its as employees work in an agile manner like but several start-ups saw it as a competitive augmented social reality business meetings entrepreneurs... advantage. “Traditional” teleconferencing involved platform (Oculus Go). WeChalet, a 100% digital and automated groups in rooms that simulated extending platform for reserving chalets, benefited the table to the other side of the country from the reduction in the occupation of short using a giant screen. Ultimately, seeing term accommodation to offer long-term people pixelated as they were too far away in

48 49 TENDANCETREND 33

Low Tech

This unprecedented health crisis has highlighted mobility and look with our eyes, whilst paying the fragility of our urban ecosystems either attention to the sound experience of the urban in our territories or well beyond our borders. surroundings, which are considered as a key In this way we have all become aware of the environment for a more sustainable society. But necessity to make our lifestyles sustainable. To what role does innovation have to play in this travel in a more responsible way and to consume strategy? Low Tech does not necessarily imply less energy today we do not necessarily need the absence of technology, as some solutions to invent everything from scratch, we can include highly technical features, but oriented draw inspiration from inventions and attempts towards low consumption, heading towards a at inventions from the past! Let’s try to put more frugal society. down our smartphones for a bit and try soft

51 TREND 3 LOW TECH EXPERT ARTICLE

Rediscovering the enlightened Taking a photo of a sunset is intended as a makes travelling frenetic, disassociated from tourist that lies within you way of keeping a record of an emotion, often space and time, and prevents the body and to be able to share it. Taking one, as if the old mind from experiencing the journey taken. For future tourism Perhaps you have already since this camera film were still there, with its limited astonishing photo by John Blanding of a number of 24 or 36 shots, forces you to look, There is an object from the past that crowd behind a barrier in which everybody to frame the shot, to wait for the unique we have all too often stopped using and is brandishing a smartphone to take a video moment that you want to record, to use your that makes it possible to recreate these at the speed or photo of an event that is invisible to us. mind to understand what is being offered connections. A high technology object that All these faces covered by a digital tool, all to your eyes. The memory that you are left required advanced expertise, it is a wealth these eyes masked by the appliance that with will be both that of the photo and of of unexpected information, something that will allow them to immortalise this moment taking the shot. Taking photos in a series reveals territories. This object is a road map. of the past or more likely to allow them to say on their with filters and modifications takes you Open one out completely on the table, look social networks: “I was there”. And in the away from this relationship with space, with at the colours that reveal the contours, the middle of these digital faces appears that the place, it makes us disregard the beauty, forests, the lakes and the villages, observe of a human being, radiant and smiling, an turning us into hurried, over consumers. the symbols for remarkable places or Loïc Dosseur General Manager, Paris&Co old lady. So slight, fragile and so happy. She I invite you to do a test, to try a game with curiosities—a magic word—examine the is living the moment in full and that is the your children and your friends, to take only roads and paths, calculate the distances, the reason for her joy. I can only imagine her 2 photos of a subject and no more than 10 gradients, the time. A map never runs out of later describing to her grandchildren with photos per day. Allow yourself to take time battery, does not show you the nearest fast- Let’s start with a quick (highly personal) introduction about low tech. Your first reflex might be to oppose high and low tech, her words, without a photo, the scene that to identify the subject, balance the framing, food outlet and it does not automatically a quick and standard split between the modern and the old, between good and bad, a timeless combat (suggested reading she participated in, entirely. the light, to go and talk to the person you find you the shortest route. It lets you get - “Evolution Man: or How I Ate My father” by Roy Lewis). A more constructive approach could be simply to learn to use new want to photograph, to ask them for their lost, it opens up the possibility of chance, technologies in a more frugal and more appropriate way, in any event systematically questioning their reason for being, their With her capacity to live in the moment, permission to capture their intimacy. which can offer surprises. Above all, it allows utility and their global impact. The aim of low tech is to provide us what we need and minimise the consumption of resources without any intermediary, this lady invites You could abandon this kind of fear of not you to take back full awareness through an and the social impact. us to use our sense once again to live the having remembered everything, using your overall vision of the space and the distances tourist experience in full. smartphone as a backup. You may only have between places. A village is not in its location one photo, but you will have more memories. through chance, a fortress is there because of Reconquering our senses the open valley in front of it, even the layout Reclaiming space and time, of the streets, the organisation of the town, Technology has offered us a new way to letting yourself not see becomes a source of amazement, drawing experience art, towns and tourist sites. everything you into the history of the people that built it. To have enhanced or at any rate different tourist experiences, to share our emotions Taking a step back from technology in your For a peaceful journey with our friends and family, and to access life as a tourist also means reclaiming space the inaccessible. But technology has also cut and time. Far be it from me to consider that the us off from our senses. I am going to focus past was better than the future, to think on one of them, which has been so disrupted Preparing a trip has almost become a stressful that we should avoid any technological by our technologies: sight. Sight, which is so time because the amount of information we progress, that we must return to the tourist often deformed by a smartphone camera. have access to goes beyond our capacity experience of the sixties. But, if your only to absorb it. Online tourist guides, forums source of anguish is being able to correctly for sharing experiences and automatic refold the roadmap or knowing if your recommendations are all remarkable tools photo of the day will be blurred, rather than but they can drive us to an impossible worrying if you will have Wi-Fi or a charger optimisation of our route. We find ourselves for your smartphone, then I think that would drawing up a never-ending list of ‘things’ to represent a great step forwards, towards see, the essentials recommended by blind less stressful tourism. search engines. And our travelling becomes no more than a series of stop-offs, sometimes with no connection, or in any case, with no comprehension of what connects them. Photo taken by John Blanding The excess of these technological solutions

52 53 TREND 3 LOW TECH FIELD ARTICLE Sound in urban environments

Thomas Sandoval Innovation and experience designer

A field of exploration Still limited recognition

This disrupted first half of 2020 and the rediscovered Indeed, although we assign many tasks to visual tools, sound also plays many peace in cities during lockdown has created new of these roles: ambitions for our cities and our lives through issues such as resilience, slowing-down, relocating Accessibility: sound signals on pedestrian crossings for the blind and Illustration by ©Thomas Sandoval or shrinking. The technological race must be partially sighted rethought to create smarter more sustainable urban Information: multi-lingual announcements in the subway environments. A ‘low tech’ trend offers potential, News: Town criers in poor areas of Cairo Of course, we have built sound-dampening Developing accessibility for handicapped If the issue of sound pollution in a city is particularly in issues that had often taken second Orientation: crowds are guided during major events walls around the Paris ring-road and we people, in particular the partially sighted taken into account for the well-being of place: noise, communication and sound pollution. Identity: Simone Hérault, the “voice of SNCF” » offer buildings with vertical planted walls to Making it possible to identify different its residents, the experience they have is Artificial intelligence: increasing popularity of connected speakers and reduce the impact of urban sound nuisances modes of transport and how they interact also important for how visitors perceive a Technology has become an essential partner of every virtual assistants. (HOSANNA European project), but taking with users city and its places. Gastronomical guides facet of our lives, but if we will not go so far as to talk Tourism: augmented reality for heritage sites in binaural sound (spatialised) into account sound is generally limited to Imagining interfaces between the smart or the LaFourchette restaurant review and about “no tech”, we must still try to return to a more noise, when the potential is far greater. city, its street furniture, its residents and its booking website for example include in their considered approach based on using the technologies Rethinking how people experience the urban environment through the prism visitors ratings a criterion for the noise level. Afnor, in place differently. of sound may answer many of the current and future issues in our towns, However, be it in terms of musical production Developing the sound identity of a district, the French standards agency, studied the and in particular a major issue: sound pollution, the second biggest pollution or sound systems in public spaces, through a town or an agglomeration implementation of a voluntary standard, as In our breathless lives, in our cities and in our digital factor after atmospheric pollution, which has an impact on the lives of city research in acoustics or town planning, Offering an audio augmented reality: a the average sound level in a restaurant is environments, image is one of the major driving forces. dwellers in Europe. through experiments in spatialization, the city that communicates with its tourists around 85 decibels. Improving the quality of However, it involves a heavy cognitive load and major big names of sound techniques, or even with information or tours translated into this experience by greater mastery of sound financial resources making experiments and their Designing new places by including issues of sound from the start of urban in smart and connected architecture for the visitor’s language pollution coupled with the development of deployment, complex and costly. However, in cities residential projects or public spaces is becoming a necessity for the service sustainable districts, a whole ecosystem is innovative urban sound propositions would like Rio de Janeiro for example, you will find almost no and well-being demanded by those living in cities and their users. For thinking about new uses. Already, with the arrival of future electrical certainly enhance tourist attendance. advertising posters in public spaces. example, when redesigning Place de la Nation and Place de la Bastille in Paris, vehicles, new challenges are arriving for consultations and sonic models were prepared before the work was begun. New outlooks sound design. Making different use of the existing What if the preponderance of the visual had hidden the Acoustic ecology, which was theorised in the seventies by R. Murray Schafer, technologies that are already in place, value and power of another tool, addressing another the first large scale research from the eighties with the promotion of ‘everyday The design of public spaces, communication In New York for example, a network of audio including part of the potential that has not of our senses? A tool that consumes less energy, sounds culture’, particularly with the works of the LAMU (Laboratoire or how a town interacts with its residents and sensors has been set up to analyse disruptions yet been exploited, would be a form of ‘logical produces less carbon dioxide, requires less scarce d’Acoustique et Musique Urbaines—Urban Acoustics and Music Laboratory) visitors, offers a wide range of possibilities: (works), traffic, incidents on the road or tech’ strategy for the potential development resources, and is less expensive, more democratic and or by CRESSON (Centre de Recherche sur l’Espace Sonore et l’environnement Thinking about designing a district demonstrations by recording and real time of a sustainable city that would be free of its more open: sound. urbain—Urban Environment and Sound Space Research Centre), or the according to everyday life (accommodation, modelling. The developing of a pre-installed dependence on intrusive technology. What if resurfacing after 2000 of the issue of sounds spaces, have not had the shops, business district, heritage, culture, network, which preserves anonymity as one day Paris could welcome its visitors with promotion and the real world repercussions that they probably deserved in etc.) and the surrounding sound pollution opposed to a network of cameras. the rediscovered song of its sparrows? actual projects in particular in terms architecture and town planning. (transport, traffic, events, etc.)

54 55 TREND 3 LOW TECH START-UP ARTICLE Bikes for everybody. Everywhere. Simply.

Louis-Marie Meyer Co-founder ouibike

Bicycles are probably the most common low tech innovation in everyday life. Bikes are everywhere, either as a daily means of transport or a way of getting around and exploring that is ecological, silent and efficient. It is also one of the rare means of transport where all the participants have the same experience, which is simultaneously sporting, fun, friendly and familial.

Bikes: a low tech solution within arm’s reach

The current crisis and the rapid rise in local travelling is only serving to reinforce a trend that has been around for a few years: Slow Tourism. Indeed, cycling makes it possible to limit your carbon footprint, favour Photo ©ouibike local destinations and visit places whilst taking the time to observe your surroundings. Ouibike: an active network Renting must be simple So, at a time when, according to popular opinion, bikes are a solution for the future (mobility after Covid, responsible tourism, electrical Ouibike, is above all a network of 300 hirers, For tourists, whether they are French or bikes for all, etc.), you must admit it is not however always easy to at the heart of the French regions. The aim foreigners, the ‘bike experience’ must be have a bike where you want and when you want. This is a shame, as of this local presence is to provide knowledge simple and efficient, end to end. Of course, bikes are an ideal tool for discovering places, at the heart of regions of the places and a selection of bikes that is Bikes where I want you should be able to hire bikes online, in whilst being in contact with nature and residents, so much so that it 1 Hiring bikes is a very concentrated business: it is often hard to appropriate to local biking. Each bike hirer is your own language, on your mobile phone is becoming the favoured accessory for many visitors. This difficulty find bikes to hire outside major tourist centres; in France, 9 out of 10 independent and the platform that they use These professionals will also deliver bikes and at any time. Of course, it should also be is particularly an issue when you are on holiday and you want to rent municipalities have no bike rental shops. is sufficiently flexible to adapt to the local to the place of your choice: your hotel, gite easy for your to cancel if something happens. bikes to discover the most beautiful regions in France. You then find constraints of each of them. or elsewhere. This possibility of having your Of course, you should not need to leave a that: 2 You cannot reserve bikes online. When the offering does exist, it bikes delivered, which is made possible by deposit with a cheque(!) for €1,500 per bike, is not easy to find online. Some bike hire shops are completely absent digital tools is important. It should make it especially for a group or a family. from the internet and for those that are online, the information is possible for tourists, in any destination to often incomplete. enjoy biking where they really need to. Bike hirers know that they are at the start of a major change in mentalities when it comes 3 You need to transport bikes yourself. Whereas, once you get to to tourists and their holidays: simplified more than 2 or 3 bikes, collecting them becomes complicated, even tourism thanks to digital technologies, more more so when the bike rental shop is far away. This is a real issue, local tourism with better guidance, more especially for groups and foreign tourists. shared tourism too, where everybody does not own their own bikes, but uses them when 4 You need to leave a significant deposit (up to €1,500 per bike). they need to.

56 57 TREND 3 LOW TECH COUNTERTREND ARTICLE

What credible alternatives are signals, calculation and communication. The C O there? consequence is less waste and pollution over U E N the life cycle and above all less detours for L T Alternatives to this technological maelstrom the data, and therefore less energy loss. And C

Connected objects, E

I

R have been around for a long time. Bioclimatic that means two major flaws of the electronics T

T

R

R design, passive houses, ecological industry can be largely reduced. The use of

A E

N D architecture. All of these approaches are chipsets has already made it possible to go the key to energy based on the use of geometry and materials from the Nokia 3310 to your smartphone. The to minimise the need for resources. The real progress come from the democratisation intelligence of an architect’s design, the of this expertise that was previously reserved Do not reject technology, but performance of materials. Getting back to to Intel, Nvidia and co. Above all, Europe and tame it: that is the real low basics is appealing. France have real assets in this field. The CEA, tech challenge transition for buildings And yet, after ten years of experience, we STMicroelectronics (France- Italy), Nokia have created IZHO, a new technological (Finland-France) and hundreds of other If technology is so widely rejected today, offering for real estate operators. We did it laboratories and European companies form and it we are tempted to get rid of it with Jean-Baptiste Raphanaud Founding partner of IZHO for three reasons. a high-performance ecosystem. We can even the low tech movement, it is also and above increasingly go without a power source. No all because technology is unbearable for us. Putting technology back at the cables, no battery. Connected objects can It has not been designed to live everyday service of occupants. get the energy they need from around them: alongside people who just want tranquillity. The debate appears to be over, and high tech is in the dock a heat source or a ray of light. For a building, That is where the real challenge lies: the accused of being responsible for the sadness of modern The first : 99% of buildings have already this makes it possible to design a micro- best technology is the one that offers users times. Alongside plastic and planes, electronics, and the Real estate as a victim of technological been built. The vast majority have no intelligence network to serve the occupant the best experience. For example, buildings entry into the digital world isn’t it this toxic progress that is one-upmanship bioclimatic or high-performance features. As rather than the hydrous of cables and became technological, but nobody worried embellishing our lives but destroying our world? for the 1% of new buildings that get built every interdependent systems. And that changes about the ergonomics of this technology. In the real estate sector, we have been confronted by the absurdity year, the town planning rules and regulations everything! IZHO answers this issue: putting the There was a time when technology made us dream, we of technology for more than a decade. When politicians encouraged often impose their dimensions. In terms of technologies in a connected building to the admired Steve Jobs posing next to the first Macintosh, buildings with high energy performance, standards appeared to materials, regulations already require high A third reason justifies our passion: service of those that operate it. If connected a promise of progress open to everybody. 20th century encourage management solutions for buildings. performance levels for all new and renovated offering simplicity. Every hotel, every co- objects are well chosen and well managed, tech? A polluting, heavy industry. Electronic and computer buildings. We can do better, that is for sure, working venue, every leisure residence or they are a remarkable tool for operational technologies will soon be humanities biggest energy The promise was simple: a high-performance building is above but the energy savings are rarely adequate commercial building needs a team. This excellence. When they are simple, they can consumers, they already represent 15-20%. They generate all a smart building, with all the necessary sensors and actuators. compared with the cost of investment. Nano team is responsible for the comfort and be used by a maintenance technician. When composite waste, which is laborious to recycle. With results Thousands of microcomputers found their way into the ceilings of and bio technologies will soon offer major the satisfaction of their guests. It is also they are reliable, their data offers the General that are sometimes fantastic, and sometimes less so. Did we hotel rooms or office buildings. Connected to kilometres of cables breakthroughs, but we need to be patient. responsible for performing the service Manager clear and objective data. Being wish for the deluge of notifications, alerts and messages to and management servers, they create the Building Management Solcold, an Israeli start-up that is developing of the venue and for the operation of the simple and reliable: that is what we expect which we are subjected? System (BMS). And in the end, nothing works. Guests complain about cooling paint using quantum physics is a building. Our experience from working with from technology in connected buildings. runaway air conditioning and the promised energy savings do not great example: research into materials is hotel managers shows that too often these Let’s make things simpler, favour low tech alternatives, let’s materialise. These systems have made construction more expensive essential but it takes time for the technology operational teams do not have the expertise When stripped of its worst failings and put to awaken our intelligence that has been put into snooze mode and create more problems than they solve. The owner must sign a to disseminate. Ultimately, optimising the to achieve their tasks. Too many service the service of those in the field, technology by technological solutions! Faced with the approaching maintenance contract then... replace the hardware after 10 years as operation of a building is at this stage the providers and too many technologies make can be a major asset in the energy transition ecological disaster, faced with the geopolitical instability the constructors no longer make spare parts after that. main lever for reducing its consumption of operational responsibility difficult to assign: of real estate assets. For hotel managers and engendered by the technological race, how can our wise resources. And this optimisation requires “The clients think its our fault, but there’s real estate operators, connected objects European spirits be in any doubt? Yes, there is a problem. We are engineers, we have taken the time computer technology. nothing we can do”. Increasingly often, offer the opportunity to reduce the burden of to understand it. We went into the field, we specialised in controlling the maintenance technician or the General procedures and to create a new management Except that, as ever in our world built on progress and the proper operation of smart buildings. Thousands of hours to The second reason is because of our Manager (GM) feels like an old mechanic dynamic. These are the two promises that breakthroughs, it is not so simple. Electronic and digital go and climb 35 storeys to find a spliced cable here, to do reverse optimism: we are not condemned to use who is powerless when confronted with a form the reason for being for IZHO: the technologies are still in their infancy. In view of the progress engineering on the on-board systems there. the same complex, unreliable and polluting modern car filled with sensors and on-board environmental transition and operational made since the transistor was invented in 1947, we can hope electronic systems forever. One of the major electronics. excellence. To keep these promises without that high-tech will overcome the defects of its youth in the trends is “chipsetting”: what once required sacrificing our values, the low tech philosophy years to come. several circuit boards now fits onto a few mm² finally puts technology in the right place in of silicon. A chipset, the heart of the system, the everyday professions of our users. performs all of the processing functions for

58 59 TREND 3 LOW TECH INTERNATIONAL ARTICLE

However, many issues are social in nature and cannot be solved with better Developing Low-tech management or technical solutions. When rebuilding tourism, post-Covid 19, it may therefore be useful to take a different approach, which emphasises localhood, Urban Tourism together quality of place and sustainability as well as dialogue and collaboration. A low-tech tourism approach, which is inclusive and sustainable can play a key role here. Professor of New Urban Tourism at Inholland University Ko Koens of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam The low-tech movement starts with the purpose of an activity. Historically, tourism has been defined from the perspective of Pre-Covid 19 urban tourism was unsustainable. Rebuilding tourism with local communities in a low-tech way can help make visitors who want an enjoyable experience. tourism better. However, we can also change this around and start from the premise of what The massive growth in popularity of urban local city users would want to gain from tourism destinations prior to the Covid tourism. Tourism can then be designed 19 pandemic was a mixed blessing for in cooperation with them to achieve such many cities. While it helped them develop an aim. This means tourism becomes an economically, excessive tourism growth integral part of a destination and can caused (parts of) cities to suffer from improve the overall quality of place and ‘overtourism’. Now that visitors are slowly life there. Tourism Flanders has been returning to cities, it is useful to think about successfully experimenting with such an ways to develop a better kind of urban approach for multiple years now, and it tourism. Using experiences from Belgium and would be useful to see how this can be made the Netherlands, this contribution provides to work in an urban setting. ideas and suggestions on this matter, thus highlighting the benefits of taking a low-tech Low-tech tourism also fits well with trends in approach. tourism like ‘Slow Tourism’ and ‘New Urban Tourism’, where ‘authentic’ local amenities After months of lockdown and much and local life in neighbourhoods are the uncertainty about when we could travel main attraction. By co-designing tourism again, it has become clear just how much experiences together with residents, they tourism and leisure experiences have get a chance to appreciate the benefits of become part of our life. Many people have tourism on their terms. At the same time, missed being able to go out and wind Photo ©Fabien Goldenberg tourists get a rich local experience as a down, to take a mini-break or even to visit neighbourhood truly welcomes them into Photo ©Fabien Goldenberg family and friends. At the same time, those As such, the pandemic has shown that The underlying problem here may be that, their midst. depending on income from tourism suffered we very much relish the enjoyment that for the past 20 years, issues with tourism greatly, including city governments whose tourism, leisure and hospitality give us, but growth have mostly been dealt with as a On this matter, it is also to point to the other and work towards social innovations. Seen through such a lens, low-tech tourism budgets, at least partially, depend on it has also highlighted the fragility of the management problem that can be solved with potential of urban living labs as low-tech Technology can certainly help here, but can embody the inherent quality of bringing tourism taxes. In contrast, residents in urban tourism eco-systems that provide increasing capacity or better administration tourism incubators. These labs, which have, low-tech techniques such as serious board people together in a way that both enjoy often-visited cities like Amsterdam were such service. In particular, an over-reliance and organisation.‘Smart’ tools, and the for example, been set up in Amsterdam, games or workshops based on empathic co- and that, in the end, makes for the most happy to reclaim what they consider ‘their’ on tourism, with insufficient focus on the potential of big data to measure impacts and Rotterdam and Haarlem (https://tourismlab. design principles have, in my experience, memorable tourism experiences. city, after years of perceived touristification. needs and desires of local users, appears manage visitor streams furthered this kind nl/), can act as transition arenas for change been found to be at least as useful, given to lead to less resilient and less sustainable of instrumental thinking and may have even as like-minded individuals from within that they emphasise the ‘human’ and cities. led to technological solutionism. and outside of tourism learn from each relational aspects of creating experiences.

60 61 TREND 3 LOW TECH INFOGRAPHIC Low Tech Tourism

TRAVEL LOCALLY

Enjoying an original experience in your town / your region - Visiting natural areas and cultural heritage nearby - DO IT YOURSELF Favouring destinations close to home Planning your journey yourself and rediscovering the pleasure of using a road map - Setting off for adventure with no predefined itinerary - Getting € € lost in the town and leaving the ECONOMICAL way open for luck and discoveries - Disconnecting yourself to better enjoy Favouring simple and authentic the tourist experience activities, relaxing, walking - hiring equipment instead of buying it - couch surfing or other innovative solutions

ECOLOGICAL

Favouring soft mobility, means of transport with a low carbon footprint, green activities - Favouring SOAKING IT ALL IN sustainable accommodation that does not use too many resources Discovering a culture and soaking in local and gastronomic customs with respect - Not just visiting emblematic places, but seeking a real encounter with local people - Using all your senses for the tourist experience and living it from the inside

62 63 TREND 4

24°C sunny 112 place du Gamification Welcome to the Louvre!Carrousel and virtual immersion

We often forget that tourism starts with a dream Gamification also makes it possible to attract a and with pleasure. Whereas often destinations younger generation of travellers to cultural and or sites do not yet know how to exploit this historical activities that would never have caught dimension to market themselves. Gamification their attention otherwise. Our destinations and virtual immersion are good ways to enhance are real playing fields, ready to host new forms the tourist experience by adding a fun, sometimes of more entertaining and more innovative even dreamlike element. Considering the way that experiences. If only to stand out from ‘serious’, esport is taking off at a global level, it is high time more traditional guided tours, which in view of the to take a close interest in the impact that video limits of gamification will still find their audience, games and all the digital games with an immersive there is no doubt! experience can have on tourism.

64 65 TREND 4 GAMIFICATION AND VIRTUAL IMMERSION EXPERT ARTICLE

From the public side, visits and tourism In this way, the tourist site can reinvent their players. This could make a digital copy experiences are often seen from a family itself as a platform for services organised of a location a festive place for meeting perspective, whereas new tourists are around its major and inalienable intellectual people, talking and rediscovery, for contact The gamification demanding other ultra-specialised property: heritage. It is the supreme and and pleasure. Visits to nature reserves communities with pre-existing social non-reproducible value and therefore could become like walking simulators horizons. The development of a game in what differentiates it in a digital world of thanks to work on cartography and 3D any condition enhances these recreational knowledge. The political policy based on modelling. These digital forests and plains of tourism communities and incites players to move the tourist heritage will determine France’s would preserve real world fauna and flora. over to new territories. The multiplication place in the competition for world tourism This approach has already been applied for of fun visits in small pre-formed groups, for decades to come. It would be wrong to sometime, as in the caves at Lascaux, which Video games creator, CEO of Game in Society and game design and video games which last over time, suggests a range of assume that this heritage will in itself offer are artefacts, and where physical simulations Olivier Mauco specialist at Sciences Po Paris experiences for groups. So local authorities sufficient appeal when it should be the are offered to visitors. are starting to rethink their tourist offering starting point for colonising digital worlds, in terms of sessions for these audiences and a massive presence without concessions in Conclusion: tourism, are moving towards a platform with different the 2nd world that is dominated entirely by gamification and sovereignty Since it opened in 2013, Los Santos county has welcomed more than 20 million tourists who come in search of traditional, types of content. The question of scale is entertainment. nautical and extreme sports, entertainment and high quality restaurants, but also high-speed chases, motor stunts, hold-ups therefore a determining factor: how can you The rules of social distancing have and alien hunting. This parody of Los Angeles in the video game GTA V generates billions in revenues and has become the first define the number and types of experience Extending the territory accelerated thoughts on how places are game to exist on three generations of console. The next competitor for Paris is perhaps already a blockbuster from the world in a town? In this regard, the new guides will frequented, by inexorably condemning an of gaming. help to reorganise these offerings. Over the course of a summer Pokemon interruption to the flow on more rare sites. In Go completely changed our relationship view of the drying up of mass tourism, only (Re)discovered with the health crisis, games are a source of positive emotions, learning and sociability. With the digitisation of the world, all or The digital and intellectual with our areas, inviting us to discover and increasing the high quality offering will make part of it can become a playing field. That is the aim of gamification: not only making something fun when it is not by nature, but also allowing continuum enter new places, some of which were even it possible to preserve the economic balance. it to benefit from the techniques of design, writing, digitisation, direction and production issued from the worlds of gaming: board games, prohibited. The development of mixed reality Here, gamification offers an opportunity to card games, table games, role playing, video games and mobile phone games. Combining tourism and gamification is moving from being a Tourism is a location based activity, based technologies, in particular the progressive rethink the value of the average basket by background trend to a strategic essential that is tending to take off with the structural changes in our relationship with space and time. on the user’s attendance. The initial business scanning of towns and cities, facilitates the adding services that can be paid for. This model is based on the actual territory of implementation of a digital overlay that adds appropriation of the real world by games Fun: the last reason to travel? the location, the only and unique source of data to the buildings. The first experiments must not make us forget the importance of income. The increasing connectivity and with the inlaying of 3D prefigure the the real issues of digital sovereignty. The Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb foreshadows a major strategic change: portability of machines makes ‘here and now’ convergence between physical and digital tension between the administrative powers people will travel just for the fun and not for work, responding to the experiences possible thanks to evermore space: gamified interfaces to move around, behind the territories and the privatisation of triple crisis that we are facing: time, a key resource for the attention rich and smoother running content provided complex narrations and dialogues with the digital worlds may reconfigure the notion economy that is captured by the digital giants; energy, which is that they are designed to be complementary, artificial intelligences (AI) representing of public property and transform culture and consumed massively by the mass transport solutions of the 20th during, before and after the visit, the mix former celebrities, reconstructions of old heritage into tradable goods. Although there century (planes and cars) is an ecological problem, alterity, or how of reality in situ, which adds a level design places like ruins, but also games that involve is no longer a question of opposing it, it would we relate to others has been greatly changed by the health, social dimension for current scenographers, up to an ever greater extent sight, sound, be strategic to consider the consequences of and political crisis. These developments greatly effect mobility in to mobile games to extend the experience your body and your sense of touch, and this unavoidable trend in the transformation a professional context: what can be done at a distance no longer The fun and communal experience of visiting beyond the walls (like the Prisme 7 video the reorganisation of spaces and modes of of one of the key sectors for France. needs to be done in person, which means the end to business together game that offers an experience outside the attendance according to the rules of ‘level travel and impacts any local ecosystem. However, the gamification walls of the Pompidou Centre). design’: space, challenges, tension and of work, which has been done for over a decade, is developing an Regions can offer an ideal setting for writing fun adventures. Real progression. ever increasing need for entertaining experiences such as a way of life role playing games made no mistake taking castles and medieval Like a video game that develops intellectual learning about and consuming the world. Initiatives offering the places to create their ambiance. Immersive theatre experiences have property strategies that can be adapted This gradual digitisation of the real world chance to discover things in a fun way are multiplying both in situ and been available for some time in palaces in Venice and they are now to most formats (films, series, amusement also offers the opportunity to those who online; fun is becoming an evermore dominant language for dialogue being combined with escape games to offer themed visits that bring parks, books, museums, etc.), tourist sites cannot be in a place to enjoy digital worlds. between the new generations. places back to life and combine heritage sites with the intangible. need to draw on the continuum of media for Virtual visits are going through a first age Guided tours are getting a makeover to tell stories and bring places experiences and think beyond the physical with little interaction, which is sometimes to life, and not just to see remains from the past (like Ubisoft and the space to establish themselves in imaginary disappointing, whilst massive multi-player start-up Iconem have done at the Arab Institute in Paris). spaces. The visit will be just one stage in a games get people’s attention thanks to broader process of preparation, discovery, their interactivity, rules and quests, but also pleasure, and the extension of a strong brand. because they also have a social element for

66 67 TREND 4 GAMIFICATION AND VIRTUAL IMMERSION START-UP ARTICLE 1

Breathe out, breathe in...

Here we are offering a breath of fresh air. Extraordinary Fresh air to give you a dose of relaxation. A fresh way to promote reality to go there journeys from better! Let’s create the relationship

Tourism is above all about a relationship. A relationship that we build with the places your living room! we go through, the people we meet and the dishes we taste. A story of emotions. Immersion is not just about sensory devices. When we read a good book, we are immersed ExtraS at Virtuality 2019 - Photo ©Urban Expé Nathalie Paquet Founder and CEO of Urban Expé because we are reading a ‘good’ story! The devices are there for the content and The physical involvement and sharing are Let’s play with reality the experience that we wish to deliver as a rich in emotions and memories. And how supplement or in substitution. It is all about Why does a holiday so often mean travel? We look to get away to a destination to better disconnect. With the current about if this moment of tourist discovery If there is a risk, it is that reality could be the story: before, during, after, we are crisis, real and physical borders have been reconfigured and the scope of our expectations has been transformed. was also a daily sports session? Our fractured corrupted. But, if access is multiplied in this immersed in the story of our journey and our leisure time offers the opportunity to free way, we open new horizons to an audience discoveries. Then there are the mechanics This offers us the opportunity to question our rapport with tourism and our need for escapism. What if there was promise our bodies (sport) and our minds (tourism). who did not think they were interested. of involvement. Gamification is one of the in instantaneous tourism capsules? This is not just a simulation of movement, you And corruption can also be called ‘playing pillars. As children, we discover the world by participate in the adventure! with reality’, which may be a source of playing. In the same way, gamification allows adding depth to understand better: acting us to discover details, to take a different path, Immersion in your living room Doses of instantaneous escapism Accept the virtual to better on materials, building, seeing things from a to motivate ourselves to go further. Like a discover the real different time scale, distance, height, etc. cooking recipe, a good story is a matter of the We would never talk about providing a replacement. But an additional And how about if we chose virtual experience capsules? We are at ingredients, which are added in just the right offering is being sketched out. the very start, so often spectacular things are required to get people The innovation comes from the interstices, quantities! You just need to dare... and there There are many ways for us to discover destinations with the sense of on-board mentally. What if we were to physically embark on tourist the connections between separate and are many recipes to be invented! bring there: 360° walks, treasure hunts, virtual reality tours or even discoveries of a new kind? yet complementary worlds: here we are objects in augmented reality that appear directly in your living room! at the heart of the adventure thanks to the At Urban Expé, we design immersive and interactive experiences to combination of sport, video games, esport Many discoveries offer memorable entertainment that involves the public physically, and tourism. The French Region Occitanie putting them at the heart of the adventure. We offer a serious means organises online esport tournaments with We switch from one world to another. We avoid the frictions of for promoting a destination and for escapism in the home or in other town stages that provide a decor for the travel that can, of course, be a source of spontaneous discoveries. places to show the extent of the tourist offer quickly and easily. players. We can “visit” Notre-Dame in Paris Here, there are other sources of surprises! We can visit places that in Assassin’s Creed. are inaccessible because of the financial cost or because access is So jump on your exercise bike and let’s head off prohibited or restricted. We push back the limits of what is possible for adventure! With our solution, ExtraS, you can go through by flying like a bird with incredible views. mountains, the seaside, cultural places, Travel means movement: we advance to make discoveries. At Urban villages and towns. And as some people have We find an answer, in part, to the rejection of over-tourism and for the Expé, we are convinced that this is an essential factor in discovering a told us: “It’s fascinating, you don’t know preservation of the environment, without necessarily forgetting the destination, even from your lounge. We offer escapism without travel, where you are any more!”, “I could do that CO2 emitted by our dear machines and their components, which are in staycation mode, for ExtraS adventures! every day!”. not so much “in the clouds” as words might suggest. Let’s move to go forward and play to exercise. Participants are taken into an immersive adventure in real time: tactile interfaces, sounds, light and video translate their actions and movements in the game. Photo ©Urban Expé

68 69 TREND 4 GAMIFICATION AND VIRTUAL IMMERSION START-UP ARTICLE 2

A game and History, nothing more Environmentally friendly virtual tourism

Unlike traditional visits to the more famous Parisian urban Say you are in Paris for the weekend with friends or as a family. It Assassin’s Creed tells the monuments, such as Notre-Dame, the Eiffel Tower or even the is a beautiful day and you have planned a little walk in the Tuileries Louvre Museum, the Assassin’s Creed City Tour experiences reveal Gardens. Instinctively, you head to take subway line 1, without really unheard of historical anecdotes. From the Basilica of Saint-Clotilde, thinking about it. Everybody takes the subway in Paris. But when you going through the Place du Palais Bourbon, the National Assembly or get there, why not turn this day out into a big urban treasure hunt? history of Paris in even the Tuileries Gardens, each experience is designed to reveal the You do not need a car or a taxi, forget about the pollution: it is above cultural and architectural heritage of the districts of Paris. all an outdoor pedestrian recreational activity that will encourage everybody to abandon more heavy means of transport.

augmented reality Above all, we want to create interactions between human beings and virtual reality in the city through a scenario Strolling down the streets on foot or on a bike, a scooter or inspired by a significant historical fact, like Louis XVI’s Iron even roller blades, in favour of respecting the environment, Cabinet, by offering occasional challenges, games mechanics that is another reason behind this project. The Tour is really Maxime Gattano Communication Manager, Hootside based on monuments, symbols or facades for a shared aim: all about being in the outdoors, playing and enjoying a fun having fun with the history of the city and Assassin’s Creed. tourist experience, using your braincells and improving your general knowledge. Charlotte Landry Quentin Warnant, Creative Director, Hootside From the Gallic village of the Parisii to the metropolis of the 21st century, more than 2,000 years of history have been Co-founder of Hootside lived on the banks of the Seine. Travelling through time is the promise of augmented reality that, in the form of games and oriented routes, invites Parisians and visitors from all horizons to discover the capital and have fun thanks to the famous video game Assassin’s Creed.

Action, reaction for French sanitary measures in place because of the A route centred on experiencing tourism crisis. Paris. What a pleasure it is to stroll around such Over the last two years, the French capital The city: an open playing field a beautiful city! 481 million journeys have been has welcomed 50.1 million tourists. Visits to made on foot in Paris since the start of the year. Augmented reality outside, museums and monuments (72.1%), walking Ubisoft and Hootside are developing the Not to mention all the journeys on Vélib’ public inside, everywhere in the city (68.9%) and, finally, shopping first virtual visit of Paris in the form of an hire bikes, around 8,000,000 of which are Turn the city (40.7%) are tourists’ 3 main activities during augmented reality video game: an immersive estimated to have been made since the start of Paris is not the only place for Assassin’s their stay. (Source: Repères de l’activité urban route with the famous game Assassin’s the year, not bad. into your Creed’s immersive routes. Every town in touristique à Paris Île-De-France - Paris Creed. An experience on your smartphone, playing field France is filled with secrets and mysteries, Région Comité Régional Tourisme). where the public can discover unusual Travelling around the streets and districts of which is already inspiring the studio from anecdotes about the city at different epochs, Paris we needed to highlight the routes for Lille to create future augmented reality In an unusual health context, tourism and such as the regime under Louis XVI, the first the visits using the urban territory as an area routes. culture have been hit by the progressive and route that will be released in the summer of of expression that is both fun and historical. A temporary closure of all the cultural sites in 2020 in a favourable context to take a leap series of guided routes with a surprise effect, From Bordeaux to Lyon, not to mention France. Museums were particularly affected into the past. What is the aim of the game? referencing historic, location specific landmarks, Lille, augmented reality works in any by these measures. Lockdown greatly Helping the Assassins’ Guild, and finding will allow visitors to discover the most unusual environment and fits perfectly into any restricted our movements for going out in the combination for Louis XVI’s secret iron anecdotes about the capital with Assassin’s tourist backdrop. There is already an the city, getting some air and strolling freely cabinet. The first part of a unique series with Creed. There are 12 drop off points on the first using international dimension in view for these around the streets. Now more than ever, it an augmented reality route that marks the route, Louis XVI’s Iron Cabinet, where 3D brings augmented 100% augmented reality tours at Hootside is time to get outside. Hootside has grasped arrival of a green tourist summer under the to life the environment and characters from reality so we can reinvent the history of the world’s the opportunity and has taken the initiative banner of leisure and culture. the past: historical flashbacks that invite users great cities. of using augmented reality and games, our to interact with the decor from the past. It is a core trade, to relaunch the appeal of all of voyage through time using augmented reality the national cultural heritage, whilst keeping that will inspire curiosity in the young and old, on in mind having fun, whilst adhering to the different routes, in the heart of Paris.

70 71 TREND 4 GAMIFICATION AND VIRTUAL IMMERSION COUNTERTREND ARTICLE

Reinventing travel In this way, the application makes it possible In this revolution in the distribution and to find a travel guide on a chosen theme access to reliable professional information In a world where 80% of travellers use a that is ready to use in just a few moments. that is of high quality and can be used Gamification as professional travel guide to prepare and Each guide also includes, amongst other instantly we did not however forget about plan their trips (Source: Escapad Survey things, an itinerary for visits over one or gamification. And this is exactly where the 2019 – Paper or PDF format travel guide), more days with full and detailed descriptive complementary nature of the different ‘traditional’ or ‘old fashioned’ travelling sheets for each place that the creator of the modes of travelling comes into play. Escapad an ad hoc travelling remains the norm. Although the sector has guide suggests for the users to visit. And to offers travellers guides for inside museums, seen a lot of planning tools that are intended stick as closely as possible to the travellers’ monuments and public spaces (parks, to simplify what can sometimes be a long habits, the application makes it possible to squares, cemeteries, etc.) created by the E C O and complex task, access to reliable and combine several guides, for one or more professionals that manage them—a modern L U C high quality content is still difficult and it is destinations, and to modify them to create version of the traditional, physical audio N I

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N professionals to ensure the quality of the In this way, gamification becomes a natural Lambert Bouley CEO & co-founder of Escapad Escapad has chosen to take on this problem content, not only to make sure that users part of the wider context of the trip, by bringing the traditional travel guide into have a high level of confidence in the without entering into competition with the the modern, digital era. So, Escapad uses a platform, but also and above all to maintain more traditional vision of travelling. mobile application to combine all the digital the trust of its partners. This means that a Travelling includes many realities: for some total immersion in a new culture, for fans of cultural activities a marathon of guides created by tourism and cultural museum or a tourist company does not risk museums, for the more adventurous a trek into nature, etc. So gamification is a way to travel that is part of a far greater professionals so people can visit towns, finding itself in the application alongside a experience from which everybody can draw inspiration. museums and monuments independently. dubious author that could taint their image.

Limits of gamification

These different ways of travelling and envisaging discovery, and Most gamification experiences are vectors for socialisation and in particular gamification, are not however incompatible with playing them as a group makes them more fun. Enjoying a gamification each other, particularly due to the limits that each style of visiting experience without being able to share it with your travelling imposes in terms of the duration, the geographical scope and social companions takes away a lot of the fun promised by its creators. In interactions. this way it is hard to combine gamification and solo travel and solo female travel, which are increasing trends for Millennials, of which Most gamification experiences cover a short time period of less than more than 25% were fans in 2018 (Source: Resonance Consultancy). a day and, in most cases, for no more than a few hours. It is hard to imagine planning a VR experience over a full day or an escape game These limits for gamification do not take anything away from the over a weekend for example. Due to this short duration, gamification experience and on the contrary make it easy to include into a longer is easy to integrate with a more traditional trip, like an experience that stay: a fun visit to a museum as a break from a cultural day, a morning we could position somewhere between a guided tour of a monument spent on an immersive treasure hunt in the huge park in a city where or a moment of relaxation in a park. you are spending the weekend, a virtual reality monument to discover the city as it was in the 18th century, etc. Gamification experiences also often take place in a restricted geographical area, mostly in cities, but rarely at the level of a region, a country or even a natural environment. The game Pokemon GO is an example of this limitation: it was built on the density of urban points of interest, so its use in a rural setting, in a forest or the mountains is very limited. Therefore, going outside towns greatly reduces the possibilities for gamification.

72 73 TREND 4 GAMIFICATION AND VIRTUAL IMMERSION INTERNATIONAL ARTICLE

3/ Do you think that the gamified tourist 4/ Can the image of tourist destinations given experience can give rise to a new kind of by video games influence how tourists behave Gamification and virtual tourism? Indeed, according to an international and help a destination to stand out? study, (Meeting the needs of the Millennials and Generation Z: gamification in tourism Video games, like movies and TV series feed into the imaginations through geocaching), gamification can appeal of future tourists. The advantage of video games is that they make it immersion of the tourist to a new generation of tourists who are harder possible to travel through cities in Cambodia, or Venice or the great to attract. plains in America at different time periods. The Tomb Raider saga (11 games with a total of 63 million sales around the world, a franchise experience: An encounter Geocaching has been around since the year 2000 and really took off produced by Eidos Interactive (1996 - 2009) and Square Enix since with the applications Pokemon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite or 2010) or even Assassin’s Creed (23 games and more than 140 million even Jurassic World inviting users to go around their towns looking for sales in total worldwide, a franchise developed by Ubisoft) have had ‘collectables’. It is interesting to see that there has been an increase a great influence on young tourists when they choose a destination. with Alexandre Sabouret in geocaching users during big tourist periods. Users are more likely The next opus in the Assassin’s Creed saga will popularise Viking to go around towns on foot and to move away from the busiest sites culture: there’s a good chance that Scandinavian countries will see an to have rare collectables. Cultural sites and other places that want to increase in their popularity when the game comes out. attract a new generation of tourists could benefit a great deal from Associate lecturer at CNAM - “Digital Tourism” joining these applications. 5/ After the health crisis, we have an even Alexandre Sabouret CEO of SYKO studio greater need for social bonds. So, how is it possible to gamify without denaturing the authenticity of the tourist experience? There 1 From an international perspective, what place Geocaching combines a treasure hunt in the real world with new is also a lot of talk of hybrid solutions, what do do gamification and virtual immersion have in technologies. Using a GPS device or a smartphone and a series of you think about them? tourism today? clues, participants called ‘geocachers’ try to find boxes, ‘geocaches’, that are hidden in cities. More than 5 million people around the world Geocaching, which I spoke about earlier, offers a hybrid solution Gamification is a fashionable word for making different aspects of a have already tried geocaching and the website geocaching.com lists between the virtual and the real. The principle of visiting a town or company more fun and appealing using video games: more than 2 million caches in 125 countries. region and combining a game with the visit is very popular. There are many Augmented Reality applications that offer the possibility of office tools (e.g. dash board, leader board, score, etc.) In answer to the question “what are the differences between western going back in time with your smartphone to relive historical events marketing techniques with the ‘nudge’ (fun theory) countries and Asian countries” with regard to the gamification or even to discover monuments that are no longer there. These tools HR policies (badges, rewards, etc.) of tourism, I would say that essentially, there are none. Whether will increase as they are offerings that are within the reach of tourists. seminars with more games sessions (e.g. gamification agencies) it is tours for tourists augmented with games or treasure hunts, And reliving a battle like Gettysburg (Gettysburg Battle - U.S.A 1863 – games applications for the tourist industry are all fairly similar. The American Civil War between the Unionist States and the Confederation) Visiting and discovering a place is no longer enough: many tourists difference is more in the form (they are often a bit more ‘flashy’ for or Waterloo (Battle of Waterloo - Belgium 1815: which marked the want to “live through” a real experience, “feel” an emotion during Asian countries) and in the acceptance by society of video games as defeat of Napoleon) simply with a telephone will obviously appeal to their stay and “have a memorable time”. The gamification of tourist an activity. It’s a bit of a cliché, but there are a great deal of video tourists who do not want traditional tours. Blended Learning, which offerings with treasure hunts, quizzes or escape game, mission game games used for marketing purposes in Asia. With the arrival of the combines online and face-to-face training has been around for over a or virtual game venues all over the world is part of this new trend. Chinese giant Tencent in mobile games, we can foresee that this decade. With the coronavirus crisis we hear a lot of talk about Blended company will enter the field of tourism to offer gamification solutions Management where companies are redefining the limits of working 2 You work abroad a great deal, can you tell us in the years to come. from home and working on the company site. So there is a good chance how the mechanisms of tourist gamification vary that in coming years we will see Blended Tourism offers emerge. according to countries or cultures? Cordless virtual reality headsets at an affordable price of around €500 should help to popularise this tool. What’s more, hand recognition It is difficult to make generalisations. Smartphones and the possibility makes it possible to get beyond controllers and to interact directly in of having Wi-Fi free of charge in foreign cities have made it possible the virtual world in which you are plunged. So sit back comfortably in to develop many game-based services for tourists in recent years. your armchair and tell me which destination you would like to visit…? There are differences in how these games are marketed depending on the countries and in how games are accepted by society. However, ‘geocaching’ has now become an essential feature in the gamification of tourism.

74 75 TREND 4 GAMIFICATION AND VIRTUAL IMMERSION INFOGRAPHIC The gamification of tourist experiences: scale and effect

THE UNAVOIDABLE POKEMON GO: A GLOBAL PHENOMENON

Present in 153 COUNTRIES

OVER 1 BILLION DOWNLOADS in total around the world until today

A FEDERATING TOURIST EXPERIENCE: 89,000 VISITORS went to the Tottori sand dunes over 3 days as part of the Pokemon Go Safari Zone event with an economic impact of 1.8 billion Yen ( JPY) Source: Gamification in Tourism: Pokemon Go and Beyond – UNWTO 11 February 2020

TYPES OF PLAYERS THE GAMIFICATION OF TOURIST EXPERIENCES: In the weeks following the launch of the game: THE RESULTS

22% of players were aged 13 to 17 Geocaching The amount of economic benefits from geocaching in the Monroe region of Canada is estimated to be: 46% of players were aged 18 to 29 $887 MILLION

63% of players were WOMEN 14,000 JOBS

Today: Source: Meeting the needs of the Millennials and Generation Z: gamification in tourism through geocaching - Heather Skinner, 47% of players are MEN David Sarpong, Gareth R.T. White - Journal of Tourism Futures - 9 March 2018

30% of players are aged 30 to 49

Based on figures from October 2016, the number of players has stabilised at around 15.4 million active players per week (Pokemon Go Hub, 2016). Source: Meeting the needs of the Millennials and Generation Z: gamification in tourism through geocaching - Heather Skinner, David Sarpong, Gareth R.T. White - Journal of Tourism Futures - 9 March 2018

76 77 TENDANCETREND 53 Where can you test quickly and well? Cities, hotbeds for innovation!

Although the health crisis has undoubtedly It is important to remember that managing a start- increased the interest in rural areas with low up, a fragile entity, is like always racing against population density, towns and cities are still the the clock. The ones that are successful are not best places for experimentation and innovation. necessarily the biggest perfectionists. They are Why? At the time of the climate emergency, it has the ones that are the fastest and the most agile, in become essential to try out new solutions for new an evermore unstable context. Towns offer all the tourist, cultural and recreational practices (new conditions that hurried entrepreneurs need to test types of catering, accommodation, etc.), and to get their concepts, to see them fail, to start again and results quickly. Slow and uncertain feedback is no finally to succeed. longer sufficient. We have to act fast. Whilst town centres are at the heart of these This is exactly what urban areas make possible, developments, industrial wastelands, which are for 3 reasons: 1 the density of the offer and the in constant mutation, are also a great place for network of players allows innovative solutions to innovation, where creativity is the key word for a deploy prototypes or to find partners more quickly; new generation seeking recognition. Endowed with 2 the size and the regularity of tourist flows makes large spaces and subject to less real estate pressure, it possible to get a faster return on investment; wastelands are still essential release valves offering 3 the 24-hour operation of some urban services greater freedom of expression for those that aspire offers a broader spectrum for experimentation. So, to create new codes and new models. the density of the offering and the protagonists, the size and the regularity of demand and a greater time scale, represent a winning hand for urban spaces.

78 78 79 TREND 5 CITIES, HOTBEDS FOR INNOVATION! EXPERT ARTICLE

Events: creators of innovation Tourists and visitors, the Tourists as experimenters due to their gregarious nature pollinators of new practices For the same reason, the events laboratory Because, tourists and visitors do not leave is also a great field for experimentation. It the experiences they have had empty will get the audience to test its logistical handed, they have collected knowledge, and pollinators of innovative innovations, new solutions for managing practices and discoveries. Yesterday, they queues, automatic cloakrooms, new talked about foods from their journey or ideas for catering, dynamic or on-board new pictorial ‘innovations’, as demonstrated signposting, etc. Sometimes, and the by the exchanges between Flemish and behaviours Covid-19 crisis ‘will have helped’, a whole Dutch artists during the Renaissance; event can be transformed when it cannot today they return from Amsterdam with Going through this urban laboratory, be held; to cite a famous example: the the desire to move around town by bike, or tourists will test the innovations in the Laval Virtual trade fair in April 2020, from the countryside with the idea of urban infrastructure that are offered to them to Marketing & Innovation Director at Unimev - Editor of L”Innovatoire and lecturer at which offered new digital possibilities to farms to get food. They will return with a guide their experience. They will use their Anthony Fauré Sciences Po Paris - Innovation and Management School its audiences. We leave it to e-visitors to new relationship with how they consume smartphone to follow an augmented reality validate their experience or otherwise. textiles if they went to the Impact Trade route that tells the history of a building Fair dedicated to responsible fashion. or a district, they will use the new green Beyond the logistical aspect, events can Having been in contact with the pollinated Innovation, be it technical, technological or a service, mobility solutions or other tourist concierge also be intelligence laboratories due to innovations, they will become pollinators of is a key that opens a door that was previously closed. It services, they will go through the green their exploratory content: a new inspiring new uses when they return home; a living is a starting point for new uses and it is also and above space that hosts events in the evening, conference programme, zones for trends incubator for a project and with a desire to all a conclusion, the outcome of a process of trial and they will make a judgement on the quality and inspiration, challenges for start- change the world. What great potential for error, and an analysis of the expectations and needs of of social distancing in the transportation, ups, the list is long. More innovative the dissemination of positive energy! users-citizens. Grasping arising issues. cafes, cultural and event venues, and with and experimental yet, some events aim regard to the innovations that they will to create their innovations in real time All too often, areas and events only seek to To arise and grow innovation needs an environment always scatter to fight against Covid-19 and with their attendees. for example, the attract visitors for what they can contribute that encourages observation, the accumulation of its effects. hackathon during the Paris Boat Show in (financially or in media terms). They can variables, errors and then success. Fundamentally, December 2018: a selection of visitors and must go further and have the intention a laboratory combines the ingredients that make a If there are a lot of infrastructure and exhibitors were asked to work in small of observing how they behave and involve creation possible so that it will then disseminate into innovations, there are just as many groups over 2 days to create the maritime them more; but above all leave them with the society and become the norm. The whole challenge innovations in the tourism content and the leisure base of the future. Prizes were desire and knowledge to build the future at resides in finding the ideal place that will concentrate, reasons why tourists make a trip. Such as, awarded for the most innovative project by home. To not just make them an ‘ambassador’ in a given geographical and temporal scope, all the monuments from yesteryear like the Grand the French Minister for Transport Elisabeth serving themselves but on the contrary they ingredients required to build innovation. Palais and the Eiffel Tower, which before Borne. When the individual is no longer just should be at their service, helping to spread Cities, the urban laboratory of which tourists are being tourist assets were industrial feats observed but is involved in the collective the values and knowledge that the tourists In the environment of research centres, technology parks and the perfect external ingredient from the last century. Or let’s mention the experiment. A step has been taken. and visitors will take everywhere with them, other specific incubators, I find that two areas are particularly new creative and cultural districts that wherever they may go. Was it not the very adapted to developing new uses: urban laboratories and event Tourists, this human ingredient that comes in such variety (origin, social class, represent territorial revitalisation and are Finally, both cities and events have the origin of tourism to go and discover other laboratories. Why? Because they have a useful ingredient for practice and opinion), are a precious element for those who are building the becoming the reasons for strong tourist external ingredient (the tourist or visitor) peoples and to return from the journey innovation: tourists (the people in an area) and visitors (the city. Unlike residents who ‘are’ the city, they discover a new environment for appeal: Ground Control in Paris or the Mob to test and build their services, logistics transformed and educated? people at an event). They are all too often considered as the first time and test the solutions on offer. Where a resident is able to find the Hotel on Ile de Nantes, the Darwin Project and content: the assets that will make them simple consumers, but they are much more than that: Firstly, station that they know well unaided, tourists will pay attention to signposts and in Bordeaux or the different Gastronomic appealing in the future. Let them make they are the indicators of how an area is experienced, information points. Whilst a resident will know the cultural and commercial offer Cities. Or when tourists, merely by the most of it... but they must not forget then the builders of this same experience if they are by heart, a tourist will wait for digital or human guidance. Their new eyes are an being present, confirm an innovative and that this same individual, when they leave stimulated; finally, even more strategically, they are unvarnished indicator of how an area is experienced, from the upstream phase ambitious strategy for the appeal of culture the area or the event becomes a resident the pollinators of innovative practices. (when they get information about a destination at home) to the downstream and events. Observing their behaviour in the of their own area and daily life. They also phase (when they get back). Whereas a resident adapts to what is missing and urban laboratory then becomes essential benefited from this experience to develop no longer notices, tourists cannot get by and may bring out needs and new for anybody who wants to carefully examine and grow. They are no longer the same as territorial solutions. how their city and region are experienced they have become a human laboratory, the or to identify needs for practical innovation. hidden aspect of innovation.

80 81 TREND 5 CITIES, HOTBEDS FOR INNOVATION! FIELD ARTICLE

During the summer period, the canopy refreshes the climate, like parks. The stored rainwater feeds the trees and amplifies Making Greater Paris green: the cooling effect. bringing fresh air from the countryside to the city

Marcos Da Silva and Andrej Bernik Fieldwork architecture

Summer temperatures are breaking records. What does this mean for urban tourism? Tierce Forêt © Fieldwork architecture

The mercury climbs to 41°C. Your throat is dry, the air is hot, there is no shade to be found. The black tarmac reflects heat into your face. It is impossible to explore the capital under these climatic conditions. Heatwaves, are an occasional phenomenon, An unexpected urban stroll in but one that is increasingly common in Paris, and other major cities, and will only get worse in coming years. This has its an island of coolness consequences for urban tourism. Cancellations, delays or even changes of destination are disrupting the sector. A few steps from the Saint-Denis Canal, in of trees, chosen for their great capacity Why is it warmer in the town Aubervilliers, a pilot, test project is already for transpiration have been planted on than in the countryside? in place. In a quickly changing area, the ground that is covered with a new draining team of architects from the Fieldwork material, with a great water retention During hot days, solar energy builds up in firm is finding a way to reconcile the town capacity. The trees have not been planted the impervious and dark materials from Creating the town and tourism and nature. Working against habits in in isolation, as is traditionally the case in which cities are made. It is evacuated poorly construction, rainwater and vegetation towns, but all together, like in a forest. This system. The place could become a stop off during the night when the atmosphere cools. The building of towns, with the are the first components of the design, unusual method of planting in an urban on an urban walk to the north of the capital, This means that this energy is returned to waterproofing of the ground, is a vector they are not just treated at the end of the environment aims to create an independent the nearby canal already offers a route for the air and reheats the urban environment. that aggravates the environmental issues, process. More than that, the project aims and sustainable forest ecosystem, whilst biking where street art is exhibited. On hot This is what we call the “urban heat island”. particularly in the summer. Added to that is Urbanised areas are all too often dry and to demonstrate that new urban landscaping preserving the urban nature of the site. The days, the site could also act as a refuge, Conversely, in the countryside, the sun’s rays automotive pollution and the combination sterile environments, especially in the close can have a positive effect on the climate in floor covering and the furniture allow users for customers in hotels in the district. The evaporate water in the earth. The heat is not makes cities unbearable. suburbs. This is where a great number of the town. to claim the area like a public square. construction of a new metro station nearby imprisoned in the ground. The sun also makes hotels are located. How can we make these justifies the reclassification of the car park trees transpire, which further lowers the Recent town planning, in particular the spaces more pleasant for travellers? Can the The innovation in the project comes from a It is the “Boundary of a Third Forest”, a hybrid as a pedestrian area. temperature of the surrounding air. Grand Paris Project, promotes a more dense urban layout of these districts make them combination of several original approaches public space, both a park and a square. This public transport network, which is a good more appealing for tourism? A public square to cooling the air. Here, vegetation is not urban space is the redesigning of the former In the shade of the trees, the humidity from thing. Less space is given over to cars. At with trees next to a hotel room would be an considered as a simple decorative feature, car park for the Alteralia Association into a the ground rises to the surface and cools the same time, there is a need for planting asset. The refreshing effect of such a space but as an infrastructure for fighting against tree-lined area, which is above all dedicated the environment. The green wall softens the and to bring water back into the city for could even reduce the systematic use of high temperatures. To do this, native species to pedestrians. The site is surrounded by densely constructed urban landscape. The the well-being of pedestrians. The appeal artificial air conditioning. At the same time, a hotel, a residence for young workers, noise of the town is diminished and mixes of a city, including for tourism, depends on improving the tourist offer on the edge of residential blocks and cultural facilities: with the sounds of birds. People feel good in mobility, but also on urban comfort. the city would stimulate innovation that all of which now benefit from this cooling this little forest inside the town. would also benefit the local population.

82 83 TREND 5 CITIES, HOTBEDS FOR INNOVATION! START-UP ARTICLE Trends in catering for tourists

Charlotte Thienpont Co-founder of Prune

During a time of a health crisis, how can you establish reliable and high quality catering for tourist accommodation venues? Prune: an appropriate What about quality? Paris is a city that is visited by travellers from around the whole world every year, for business and for pleasure. It is a solution for post-Covid-19 modern city that serves as a testing ground for many innovations and trends under construction. Catering is part of French catering In spite of these difficulties, old or new, cultural heritage and, now more than ever, it must also adapt to new modes of consumption and integrate innovation. At no professional wants to sacrifice their Prune, we therefore think that there is a need to adapt and to find solutions for sustainable catering that is gourmet, but For several months, we have been positioning. Consumers are looking for high- above all instantaneous to meet a traveller’s needs. We have therefore created a high-quality turnkey catering solution that experiencing an exceptional situation in quality catering, with taste and freshness. Now is easy to implement for places that play host to tourists. France due to the Covid-19 epidemic. The more than ever, we can see a real need for hospitality sector has been particularly hard transparency and an increasing demand with A dual observation hit by the shutdown of tourist activity, and regard to the origin of products. Tourism is currently going though a major its organisation is now greatly challenged. In crisis. At Prune, we want to work together, We began with two observations. Firstly: accommodation this context, we have therefore monitored Prune: an appropriate solution to make progress and to provide a solution professionals find it hard to manage a kitchen on the premises. this situation with our clients, and we have that meets the current needs of hotels and Indeed, with the issues of recruitment and managing staff, identified the major difficulties encountered Based on these different observations, we catering. This also means using the situation procuring raw materials, stock management, and organising the and found solutions to resolve them. have chosen to enhance our positioning to to change things for the better, innovating kitchen, it is a complicated profession, which is quite different from offer our clients a solution that meets their for the future of tourism! We have chosen accommodation. This is why many in the industry made the choice Managing a kitchen on the needs. We have developed a range of ready the path of sustainability, simplicity and some time ago not to manage a restaurant in-house. premises? to eat dishes in jars, which are certified reliability, without sacrificing quality. 100% organic, and that can be reheated The second observation is the need of the end-consumer: recreational As explained above, managing a kitchen very easily in a microwave. The hermetically- . and business travellers have increasingly high expectations and are is a major constraint for accommodation. sealed jar makes it possible to avoid any in search of high-quality services on the premises. When it comes During a health crisis, to ensure the safety contact before the contents are eaten and to catering, they would like to have a simple, healthy but appealing of the staff and customers, the rules to be the approach can easily be optimised for solution, without waiting. Also, customers require transparency, implemented are even more strict. self-service. Thanks to low temperature and sustainable produce that is good for their health. With business cooking directly in the jar, we preserve the travellers, you also have to resolve the issue of time, often guests Zero contact service fresh taste, but also ensure a conservation do not have much time to spare. This means they will choose the time limit of several weeks. This makes it closest and quickest dining solution. It is in this context and by To keep customers and staff safe, it is easier to manage stocks and orders. The sharing these same values that Prune developed its range of dishes recommended to take the necessary aim is to facilitate management for the that are ready to eat and served in jars. precautions to reduce contact to a minimum. professional, whilst providing restaurant For professionals in accommodation, this quality meals. means avoiding touching products and managing spaces differently (the breakfast room, relaxation areas, etc.).

84 85 TREND 5 CITIES, HOTBEDS FOR INNOVATION! COUNTERTREND ARTICLE

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N R E from Ivry, Paris, the countryside or foreign tourists, from every social class and generation, were moved, as each in their and urban memories own way, with their own references, saw something of themselves in the works. This work was like a new kind of art gallery, which is not reserved to the initiated, and that Virginie Loisel Artistic Director of the Double Face Association is accessible to the general public, whilst remaining demanding and ambitious. The artistic event also happened with a spirit of independence from institutions and offered a For more than fifteen years, the Double Face Association has been working on building artistic pathways in the urban renovation free, multifaceted experience, off the beaten of deprived areas, anchored in the close suburbs. Sometimes inscribed to resonate with the constructions, the ruins and the tracks. The artistic wasteland and its resident construction sites, these actions on wastelands call on the memory of the place and how it has changed as a transition of its artists played the role of cultural mediators Le Voyage de Gagarine. “Chez Josette” - François Bonnery and Serge Bacheré ©Patrick Dubois history. These temporary offerings pay homage to the residents’ lives, the memories they convey, and their discussions with the and felt great satisfaction in building this artists who prepare new forms of relationships with the artistic work. The event is open to the public for a short period (from proximity between art, collective history and a weekend to a few weeks), it is an opportunity for visitors to discover an offbeat artistic experience in an emblematic setting This time it was not in a desolate building, but “Le Voyage de Gagarine” therefore the visitors, with a very particular attention outside the city walls of Paris. directly in the streets that twenty 4 m² cubes made it possible to create a collective of to the emotional residents who had know were installed, each of which was created by residents that could be involved and tell the area. During the opening to the public, The Parisian region is transforming and reinventing itself The projects a group of participating residents. The whole the collective story of Ivry-sur-Seine. This the construction of the works was presented around Paris, which seems increasingly small. Places, district was a wasteland, with diggers, cranes town in the Val-de-Marne, the worksite by one or more guides, with a map, as the housing blocks are gradually vanishing to be replaced by In 2019, Double Face was tasked by Grand-Paris-Aménagement - EPA ORSA and derelict land, with a few buildings that for the future Gagarine-Truillot district is visit progressed. Actors from the Kokoya new districts that meet the new standards better. The (Public Establishment for the Landscaping of Orly-Rungis-Seine-Amont) to had just risen from the ground cohabiting filled with wastelands, some of which have company also performed an roving show on French National Programme for Urban Renewal (PNRU- occupy a site under transformation in Ivry-sur-Seine, with the demolition of an with the cubes grouped in sets of 5 or 6 in been inhabited by artists’ workshops for “The ghosts of Gagarine” in the apartments 2003-2013 then 2014-2024) has been transforming emblematic building in the communist town: La cité Gagarine. The suggested different places on a signposted route. The over fifteen years. The large number of and the corridors. neighbourhoods that have problems for nearly 20 years. assignment was to create an artistic project that would bring together the public were provided with a map and left to artists in Ivry made it possible to create an Large agglomerations are becoming testing grounds for residents and stakeholders in the district with a final homage to the building. wander from one cube to another, with fun or eclectic collective with a range of different The opening of these temporary wastelands town planning policies and must meet the challenges of “Le Voyage de Gagarine”, was created between March and October 2019 contemplative offerings, some of which had a personalities, ages and experiences. At the to the public allows each participant, artists development, for example in Ile-de-France where more than with 150 residents of Ivry, including 50 artists. This building with its 384 documentary value. end of the process, paintings, sculptures, or otherwise, to express their obsessions 150 sensitive urban areas will play a key role in the context of homes lived through the big times of social housing and the working class past installations, sound creations, videos and with what they find in situ, everybody the Grand Paris Project. of the town, alone it was a concentration of many stories and bore memories The creative process films all marked the journey with a very great connects with their imaginations and tells a The suburbs are subject to much speculation, but also for that were very much present with a major intangible heritage. The artists’ range of tones, forms and meanings. universal story. These temporary artistic and artists they are a sensitive space to explore, to query, to value collective that was involved in this adventure was initially almost intimidated, The artistic projects implemented since the cultural events are part of a social project. and to experiment with. If a whole district is transformed burdened with the heavy responsibility of paying homage to 50 years of creation of Double Face are mostly part of The event and hosting the They take over offbeat places where artistic in an urban renovation operation, it seems important to communal life, then, little by little, felt inspired by the place. the policy of the towns. These actions arise public exploration and meditation assume another convey the memory of the place and its inhabitants before from a request from our partners or at our meaning, and make them accessible to it disappears. A few years earlier, in 2009 and 2010, the “Mondes d’apparts” project initiative and bring together the residents. Whether it is a building included in a large everybody. They are part of a transitional These traces of the past, fault lines and sensitive objects that was rather successful, it was dedicated to the last few months of a building These residents work together at the heart social housing development, a high school, town planning project, which becomes a are to be found in the homes that have become a wasteland, taken over by artists and residents in a district under renovation, Garges-lès- of an artistic movement that resonates with or directly in the street, these artistic actions real tool for landscaping areas, like that of these walled neighbourhoods, these derelict lands and Gonesse, Les Doucettes. This wasteland known as the ‘temporary museum’, their lives. Double Face provides a basis, offer a chance to visit unusual places that are connecting an urban project to a collective closed streets, and this rubble are together signs that allow brought together the stakeholders in the district and the surrounding towns. a vessel, a form or an idea and the project not normally accessible to the public. During homage that will leave a mark on the future everybody to express their own chaos. The projects run by A set of apartments created a route that evoked real or imaginary stories is built collectively, slowly, through the “Le Voyage de Gagarine”, nearly 4,000 district. Double Face attempt to temporarily reconstruct a space for about the neighbourhood. The public was moved and the media came, the meetings and the desires, the resonances visitors walked through the corridors of thought, an imaginary reconstruction of the empty spaces artistic installations with their contemporary form were clear to everybody, and the claims. apartments with great curiosity and visited and to address the secret intimacy of a ghostly resident. accessible, fair, sensitive and stimulating. Three years later, in 2013, a new the artist’s free installations (breaking down project would see the light of day in the Sablons district under renovation in walls, covering the paintwork, emptying Sarcelles: “Métamorphoses”. or filling spaces). This building in itself

86 87 TREND 5 CITIES, HOTBEDS FOR INNOVATION! INTERNATIONAL ARTICLE

Cities are open laboratories Goodbye Yesterday Hello Tomorrow Purpose More consumption = jobs Better city for inhabitants for innovation, more than Objective Grow visitor numbers Sustainable visitor economy/social impact Playing field Tourism industry +Cross sector/Out of the box ever Offering “Consume the city!” “Come share our city life” Customers We serve tourists We serve people

Function We market the place We manage the place Flavie de Bueil-Baudot COO - European Cities Marketing Events Event bidding Eventing the city

Service offering Tourist information Travel inspiration (SoMe) The future belongs to cities that can attract the brightest and the best people, and encourage them to thrive. Today, cities compete nationally and internationally to attract businesses, skilled work force, and of course visitors. This leads them to Visitor behaviour See the sights Live like a local innovate, more than ever. Core skills Marketing (Co-)Innovation & facilitation A new paradigm where rapid change is the only constant … MICE More meetings More than meetings

Today’s world of urban travel and tourism is not what it once was. communities and their cultural scene for global audiences. It is no Source : ECM Strategy 2019-2022 – “Tomorrow Today” Since the beginning of the millennium, digitalization and globalisation longer just about the hotel bednights that the meetings generate. of travel has forever altered the patterns and the practice of urban It is about hosting the meetings with purpose and legacy. It is about Finally, to top it all, the outbreak of Covid-19 worldwide strongly tourism, whether for business or leisure. New technology has connecting the destination to the world. encourages our industry to deal with new challenges and radically changed the behaviour of consumers and empowered emergencies. In this unprecedented situation sustainability, them with a world of insights, resources, tools and experiences … and where DMOs have a huge role to play. collaboration and innovation become even more crucial. that outmatches any classic tourist information centre and radically expands the concepts of the traditional business conference. Climate change, society transformation, unprecedented sanitary People are also searching more and more for interactional learning ECM believes that the need for strategic destination management crises, industry, economic progress: today the world has put on a practices and not only for classical information transmission. is greater than ever before. Across the ECM community, we see a burst of speed in changes. And all of this has been stopped, vanished bright new paradigm where the modern Destination Marketing & in a few weeks, through the Covid-19 pandemic. For most travellers, tourism information is no longer a service Management Organisation (DMMO) can play a paramount role as in the current situation. Thanks to webinars, Zoom conversations, delivered in a physical bureau, but a resource anyone can access facilitator and (co-)innovator in the multidimensional cityscape of As a result, this crisis is now the opportunity once again to unlock articles the resource center other pertinent tools, ECM revealed anytime and everywhere just by swiping their finger across their art and culture, education, science and research, creative industries, barriers, initiate innovation and solutions: we need to collaborate itself to be a unique and essential source of information for DMMOs smartphone. The modern traveller is mobile, and empowered hospitality and local communities. and take actions. Here, in this complex scenario, we are living on different topics: strategies for sustainable recovery, the future of with navigation tools, digital references and resources that were However, the new world of urban travel and tourism is a setting with through the greatest sustainability revolution ever: economic, the experience economy, marketing strategies for recovery, travel unthinkable just a decade ago. a much more complex role for cities and the modern DMMO. social, environmental and of course a travel revolution. influencers’ key role during the crisis, tourism innovation, etc.

Similarly, today’s international conferences and events are powered During this unprecedented situation, ECM empowered the by communication and network technologies, that drastically conversation with “A New Tomorrow”, a series of digital expand the boundaries and resources of the meeting beyond its time communications to discuss the future challenges faced by DMMOs and place. In the bigger picture, international meetings and events have become instrumental for destinations – cities and nations – to manifest their business clusters, their science and research

88 89 TREND 5 CITIES, HOTBEDS FOR INNOVATION! ATOUTARTICLE FRANCE 1

Leaving growth behind… You can also discover trends with clientele and

For many of Europe’s Convention Bureaux, “the more meetings and developments in urban destinations in particular congresses, the better” has become rather outdated in the new era of global climate change. Instead, the most successful congress through the publications of Atout France and event cities now set out to meet the strong market demand for sustainable solutions, and tender for meetings, congresses and events with leverage, legacy and triple bottom-line for the city’s commercial, educational, scientific and cultural communities. IMAGE ET ATTRACTIVITÉ INTERNATIONALES DE LA FRANCE POUR LES 18-35 ANS Published on 7 June 2019 In this process, new industry initiatives can help accelerate the transformation. A good example is the Global Destination Sustainability Index whose mission is to engage, inspire and enable destinations to become more sustainable places to visit, meet and thrive in. This is an index of global destinations that event LE TOURISME DANS LES VILLES MOYENNES organisers can use to assess event destinations and gain information that helps them make their events and meetings more sustainable Réalités et potentiels - Published on 13 November 2018 and impactful. Perhaps in cities, the biggest shift is a mental one: to leave the one- dimensional growth-imperative behind. Cities of tomorrow must help ensure sustainable growth and a well-balanced visitor economy VALORISER LA NATURE EN VILLE to make a positive impact on the city; socially, environmentally, Vecteur de bien-être et d’innovation touristique - Published on 15 July 2014 culturally and democratically. It is up to DMMOs to demonstrate that the visitor economy can benefit the destinations’ social inclusion, cultural repertoire and relations, knowledge societies and local communities. In the new role, the Visitor and Convention Bureaux is LE DÉVELOPPEMENT TOURISTIQUE ET L’INTERNATIONALISATION DES DESTINATIONS instrumental for strategic city management. Principes stratégiques et outils d’action - Published on 23 October 2018 Those days, through the Covid-19 crisis, destinations are all hit, no matter of size, geographical location, attractiveness… their reputation as safe places are highly challenged. The impact is economic and social, affecting the livelihoods of tourism and LES CLIENTÈLES ALLEMANDES ET NÉERLANDAISES DU TOURISME À VELO EN FRANCE transport workers and suppliers, as well as their families and whole Published on 15 May 2018 communities.

We are working towards #anewtomorrow that will be different from what we came from and which will require us to rebuild, reshape and reimagine cities, tourism and the role and responsibilities of DMMOs DES PARCS AUX SITES DE LOISIRS as innovators. This crisis will teach us how to do things differently, Clés du succès et potentiels de développement - Published on 13 April 2018 think collectively and rely on each other to keep our cities innovative and vibrant places. After all, city tourism is the most dominant and dynamic aspect of European tourism, European cities are highly resilient, and despite political shocks and terrorist attacks, they TOURISME DE PROXIMITÉ have remained the most attractive spots for visitors from all over Mythes et opportunités - Published on 11 October 2015 the world.

STRATÉGIE ÉVÉNEMENTIELLE DES COLLECTIVITÉS ET DES DESTINATIONS Guide pour la mise en tourisme des événements - Published on 23 November 2011

90 91 TREND 5 CITIES, HOTBEDS FOR INNOVATION! INFOGRAPHIE

92 93 TENDANCETREND 5 CITIES,5 LES HOTBEDSVILLES : LABORATOIRES FOR INNOVATION! D’INNOVATIONS TOURISTIQUES ARTICLE 1 Small interventions in public spaces: visitors benefit too!

Pascale Leroi Economist-Town planner at the Institut Paris Région

Setting out to discover a town, a village, a seaside resort, etc. always means strolling through public spaces. The quality of these squares, streets and quays creates a visitor’s initial impression from when they first set foot in an area. These spaces are also where people come to rest, to have fun, to eat, and to meet other people.

Develop lightly

The architectural heritage, vegetation and landscaping are certainly major criteria for the quality of life in towns and give them their charm in the eyes of visitors. However, the pleasure of a visit also 10 environments to transform the public space depends on the satisfaction that people feel in the public space by finding amenities from different areas such as business, art, mobility, Towns, and not just big metropolises, can be transformed by light functionality or sensoriality. interventions, inspired by tactical urbanism or urban acupuncture. Far from major renovation projects, this means offering new uses or Sometimes, this comes down to little things, a bench that is well imagining small improvements that meet a specific need or desire. positioned under a tree, a fountain, toilets, a small food truck at the In this way, the Institute Paris Region has identified more than 300 corner of the street, a mural, the smell of a garden or cheerful and user-friendly objects, listed in 10 categories that can be used and efficient signposting. This is fortunate as there is a trend towards light combined to make public spaces more pleasant for residents and development. visitors. These interventions aim for example to encourage people to go walking or for bike rides, to increase the space for nature in the city, to increase physical well-being, to distract the mind and your eyes, or simply to make visiting easier.

You can see this range of suggestions on the infographic on the preceding 2 pages or in the Inspiration book offered by the Institut Paris Region.

Sources: Transfigurer l’espace public avec des objets de convivialité, Note rapide Économie, No. 850, L’Institut Paris Region, June 2020 Carnet d’inspiration pour des espaces publics conviviaux, L’Institut Paris Region, June 2019

94 95 TENDANCE 5 LES VILLES : LABORATOIRES D’INNOVATIONS TOURISTIQUES

LET’S INVENT TOMORROW’S TOURISM!

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATIONS: Alix d’Anselme

CHIEF EDITOR: Loïc Dosseur, Managing Director, Paris&Co

July 2020 Edition.

Article L-122-4: Any complete or partial representation or reproduction without the approval of the author or its successors in title is illegal. The same applies to any translation, adaptations or modifications, processing or reproductions by any art or process whatsoever.

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