It’s all on your palm - Out of the Box 24

By Renton de Alwis

Info-communication technology has brought the world of knowledge exploration to the top of our palms today. It has empowered the user to be much more informed and be more sensitive to the environments of the places they visit. It indeed is a double-edged sword and need be used by both generator of content and the receiver in a responsible manner. I sought to explore its potential for creating awareness of tourism offers and the sharing of travel experiences, in this column I wrote for the ‘Daily Financial Times, Sri Lanka’ in September, 2010.

It’s true that it’s written on your palm. In the old days, it was the palm-reader or the palmist that told you, on reading those unique lines, what the future holds for you. Part fun - part science - part creativity, the claim goes. Today, it’s that device on your palm that brings you the news as it happens, the time, the weather, market information, giving you directions to get to places, even bringing you vivid images of them, linking you with friends, with people you are yet to see or get to know, from anywhere in the world. You can move them, flip them, save them for recall or even dump them, when you don’t need them.

Not all of us in Sri Lanka have them yet, but our customers are fast getting into the act. Soon, it will catch up with us. It is high-tech and high-touch, both at the same time.

Gone are the days when one had to carry loads of information in brochures or guide-books. Today there is increasing use of hand-held devices at heritage sites, museums and other places where unique experiences unfold. When learning is an important part of the sensory experience, the functionality of the device becomes more meaningful.

Until a few years ago, these were limited to museums and were bulky devices with equally bulky ear-phones worn on your head. But today, they are smaller and the amount of information stored is significant. Most have moved to create intense sensory experiences taking travellers back in time, place and space with dramatic sound bites, music and even visual material used in its creation. A visit to a site today can become a total emersion sensory experience. Some more enlightened tour operators and tour guides are actively encouraging travellers to use applications such as tracking their location on Geo-sat imagery and using e-guides for the destination. They consider the tool as a complementary device to enrich the experience, rather than being in competition with the services they provide.

The devices range from proprietary sets given on loan at sites to dial-up facilities on your own mobile phone, i-phone or other interactive palm-top. Just the other day, I learnt that it was possible to use applications to access the Bible, the Koran or the Bhagwath Githa. The religious experience that was once limited to a place of worship, is now travelling with you, held lightly on your palm. On call 24 x 7 as they say. Predictions are that these will become even more experiential, meeting demand as they develop.

Most of it is open-source and is content developed not by experts but by people the likes of you, experience seeking travellers. I read about a travel company that gave the funds, a timeline and asked an independent writer couple, to determine where they wanted to go, what they wanted to do and bring stories of the experiences they had, back to the company. This was how they began their experiential travel business. I must repeat; it is high-tech, yet high touch.

Thereafter, they got their customers to tell their own stories of the experiences they had. These were on blogs and complete freedom was given to each of the customers to design their own dream experience. The only condition was that they had to be responsible and reasonable. It is interactivity at its best, made possible through the new info-communication tools we now posses. They come in all forms and sorts and evolve day by day.

According to several studies on tourism futures, there are more and more hand held devices coming in now, to make the travel experience richer and better. Destinations are encouraging travellers to write their stories about what unfolded for them while on holiday. Singapore, Malaysia and our own Sri Lanka Tourism, have called on travellers to blog-in their stories. Destination promoters have developed tag-lines that describe their destinations with close emotional ties with customers. ‘Your Singapore’ and ‘Touch your heart’ for Taiwan, are two current examples.

On another plain there is travel distribution happening on mobile devices. A threesome group of Greek university professors cite tourism as the first industry to use information technology in its applications. Dating back to the 1960’s tourism was using Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) and Global Distribution Systems (GDS), facilitating travel agents to book airline seats and packaged tours. Today, that has advanced to accessing on-line auctions of airline seats and hotel rooms, which are perishable.

We in Sri Lanka are now on the fast-track on info-communications development. The latest in technology is with us and the coverage is expanding. The speeds are growing. Our tourism can be a beneficiary, not only through providing connectivity. We need to be creative in its use and make our experiential offers be even better. It’s not all about palmtops and technology. We need to get the rest of it right.

It’s about getting the right balance in being high-tech, while retaining our high-touch.  

 

    

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