Gamification in Tourism — Benefits & Use Cases

Published in

AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine

5 min readOct 8, 2020

The tourism industry has been one of the hardest-hit sectors by the COVID-19 crisis. Not only are people restricted in the places they can visit, but they are also not motivated to get back out there and start exploring. Therefore, to avoid shutting down completely, many museums and other sites have developed travel and tourism games to peak people’s interests and motivate them to start coming back. Today we will take a closer look at gamification in tourism and how it could be a viable solution to gaining new visitors and retain existing ones.

What is Gamification Tourism?

Gamification in tourism uses gaming methods to digitally engage with consumers and motivate them to achieve specific goals or objectives. This significantly increases the overall experience since it makes the entire visit to a particular site a lot more fun, engaging, and interactive. Since pretty much everybody has a smartphone or tablet nowadays, it is easy to start engaging with visitors via:

Challenges — Ask people to solve a puzzle or visit certain areas of the site and submit a photo to complete that aspect of the assignment.
Score — When you assign a certain task the user needs to complete, it stimulates them to collect points along the way. They also know how well they are advancing towards the end goal.
Leaderboards — People love to compete with their friends and are motivated to score higher, which adds even more fun to the experience.
Rewards — These can be virtual or real ones. If the user accumulates certain points, they can unlock new levels or be awarded badges and titles.

These are just some of the ways gamification services can help tourist sites attract new visitors. Now, let’s take a look at all of the benefits gamification can offer.

More Engaged Visitors

We touched on this a little bit already, but we mustn’t underestimate the immersion level that games can offer. This way, they will be able to enjoy the full experience of being at a particular venue or site and, by doing so, you will make this trip an unforgettable experience. Since people are so hesitant to start exploring new places, you need to provide them with some incentive, and by giving them an experience they will never forget will go a long way towards encouraging them to visit new places. Keep in mind that gamification can be used to make the trip more fun, but it can serve many educational purposes as well. Serious game development helps visitors or students learn more material and retain it through gamification mechanics.

Increased Visitor Loyalty

When somebody is truly satisfied with their experience, they are much more likely to come back. This could be accomplished in many ways. For example, parents want to take their children to the museum, but they are worried that the kids will be bored and want to go home soon after arrival. If the museum offers interactive games that keep the children motivated and make the entire trip more fun, and take some of the stress off the shoulders of the parents, then they are much more likely to visit this museum as well and recommend it to their friends.

Improved Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism

As we mentioned before, tourism and hospitality have been the biggest ones impacted by all of the lockdown restrictions. They are using all kinds of marketing methods to motivate people to start traveling. We already talked quite a bit about gamification in tourism, so let’s focus on the hospitality sector. Gamifying reward programs help brands increase customer loyalty via better engagement and by making them overall stay a pleasant one thanks to gamification. While this is not a new concept for the hospitality sector, incorporating digital tools and social media requires a new and innovative approach.

Start Using Gamification to Motivate Potential Visitors

If you are looking to increase the attendance of a particular venue or improve the effectiveness of your travel digital marketing a boost, consider using gamification. This new approach helps you build stranger, longer-lasting relationships with your customers. Nowadays, people are looking for new experiences, and brands who can deliver on this are sure to win the business of their clients. The traditional advertising methods will not be effective in helping you get through this crisis, which is why you need to try a new and innovative approach. Start gamifying the user experience today and see for yourself the difference it can make.

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