Turning on the Lights
Client: The Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Sector Research
Visitor Economy
Smart Tourism
Digital Innovation
Next Generation Networks
5G
AR/VR
Smart Cities
Smart Destination Management
Feb 2019 to Nov 2019
We carried out national sector-based research into the UK Tourism Sector’s appetite and readiness for digital innovation, enabled by 5G networks.
The research findings highlighted a general lack of digital capacity across the sector but also a significant interest in developing Augmented and Virtual Reality experiences for visitors. Our recommendations focussed on the need for greater area-based collaboration between organisations working in the visitor economy, including the development of Tourism Innovation Zones as a mechanism for aggregating demand, coordinating investment and enabling smarter approaches to destination management.
The research was undertaken in partnership with Destination Bristol, the local Destination Management Organisation and Visit Greenwich with support from the Digital Catapult. It formed part of the £5M 5G Smart Tourism project, led by the West of England Combined Authority.
The Challenge
What we did
The Outcome
Next generation networking technologies, such as 5G, bring significant innovation potential. They could be game-changing for industries like the UK Tourism Sector and Creative Industries - but realising the benefits requires in-depth understanding of the specific barriers and opportunities that different sectors face.
Research with 110 organisations involved with different aspects of the visitor economy across the UK
Design, promotion and analysis of on-line survey
Workshops with stakeholders in Bristol, Bath and Greenwich
Collaboration with Destination Bristol, Visit Greenwich, Limina Immersive, the Roman Baths, Ravensbourne University, University of Bristol and the Digital Catapult.
We produced the Turning on the Lights report as an output from the research. This was presented to the Smart Tourism Board and DCMS as well as Tourism sector bodies. The report and recommendations were well received but in the intervening period, the pandemic has had a significant detrimental impact on Tourism. As the situation starts to unlock, we are seeing a resurgence of interest in the ideas set out in the report, in particular, the need for private 5G networks to accelerate shared innovation across the tourism, hospitality and creative industry sectors.
