Good ICT practices for a sustainable and Competitive Tourism Economy I-Speed kick-off, Venice 18th February 2010 Kjetil Storeheier Norheim, Advisor Travel & Tourism Hedmark County Council

Tourism in Hedmark

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Norway’s largest ski resort, Trysil The easiest accessible wilderness areas in Northern Europe, 1 hour from Gardermoen Airport Nature- and culture based tourism in focus Vast, scarcely populated region (density 7 people per square km), large areas of unspoilt nature experiences International sports- and cultural events (WRC Rally Norway, Speed Skating championships in Hamar, the Birkebeineren events (ski, MTB,running), numerous festivals…) Tourism in Hedmark grew by 8% in 2009, compared to a national decline by 2% in 2009 Internet tourism portal: www.villmarksriket.com

Definition Sustainable Tourism • Norway’s national tourist strategy ”Valuable experiences” (2007), defines sustainable tourism through the following three dimensions and 10 principles:

1. Preservation of Nature, Culture & Environment Principles • •

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Cultural wealth – respect and develop local traditions Physical & visual integrity of the landscape – preserve and develop landscape qualities Biological diversity – support preservation of nature, fauna and habitats Clean environment & resource efficiency – minimize impact on air, water and earth, minimize exploitation of non-renewable resources

2. Strengthen social values Principles •

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Local quality of life & social values – preserve & strengthen quality of life in the local community/ destination Local control & commitment – commit and enforce the local community regarding planning, decisionmaking and development of tourism Job quality for tourism employees – strengthen quality of jobs Customer satisfaction and safety, quality of experience

3. Financial sustainability Principles •

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Financially sustainable & competitive destinations through local value creation Financially sustainable & competitive tourism businesses

ICT and sustainable tourism • ICT is an important factor in achieving sustainability within tourism: – Control systems for energy efficiency, water consumption etc (environmental sustainability) – Low cost, up to date distribution of company/area/region information/marketing through the internet (financial sustainability) – Easy accessible online booking services 24/7 (financial sustainability) – … just to mention a few examples…

• Hedmark’s regional tourism organization, Hedmark Reiseliv, focus on new ways to distribute information to tourists en route in Hedmark. In January 2010, Hedmark Reiseliv launched a new mobile service combined with a discount card…

Good ICT Practice, Hedmark case: The Villmarksriket Hedmark ”Gold card” and SMS service

SPECIAL OFFERS AND DISCOUNTS The Gold card gives you discounts on selected private and public tourism services in Villmarksriket Hedmark, such as accommodation, restaurants, activities, museums and shops. For more information, access to discount coupons and an opportunity to win nice prizes, please send SMS Hedmark to 2345.

Hedmark Tourism SMS service • Some aims of the service: – Easy access to up-to-date information about offers and discounts in the region for the tourist – Dynamic mobile info/marketing channel for tourist businesses in the region, easy to maintain, low cost – Reduce the need for printed brochures in regional marketing – Gathering of data through the SMS service that through analysis may give us a better understanding of how tourists move around in the region – Make Hedmark more attractive as a destination

• The Villmarksriket Hedmark ”Gold card” is distributed at tourism offices around Hedmark and at other tourism related locations, such as shops and tourism attractions. Also distributed at travel fairs. The Gold card is free of charge

Example of the SMS service, step 1 To receive information about current offers and discounts, you must send an SMS to the sms service. Its easy - send the keyword Hedmark to the SMS servicenumber: 2345.

Example of the SMS service, step 2 You receive a reply SMS from the service. The SMS contains short info and a url link to a mobile webpage.

Example of the SMS service, step 3 The url opens a webpage on the mobile with following info: • Welcome and short info text • Links to sort offers in the categories accomodation, museums, dining and activities. • Below the welcome text, the list of offers and discounts starts

Example SMS offer/discount the

Short text about company

Short text how to receive the discount/offer. Map link

Info about the selected offer •

Magnor Glassverk is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Hedmark, with around 200 000 visitors every year.

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The glassworks was founded in 1896 – 114 years ago!

Example SMS offer/discount When you decide that you want to receive the discount SMS to use at Magnor Glassworks, send offer1 to SMS-number 2345

Example SMS offer/discount •

You receive an SMS from Villmarksriket Hedmarks SMS service.

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This SMS must be shown at the factory outlet at Magnor Glassworks to receive the 10% discount.

Maplink •

All offers have a maplink url which opens up a map showing the location of the selected tourist company .

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This maplink works on most of todays modern mobile phones. On the iPhone it works very well with the integrated Google map application.

Google map The Google map on the iPhone makes it easy to get the driving directions from where you are to the tourist attraction.

Some benefits (summarized)… • The SMS service can show us where the tourist is located when sending the SMS. This can be analyzed, and we will hopefully learn more about how tourists move around in the region. • Dynamic, always up-to-date distribution of discounts and offers to tourists that are in the region • Fully electronic distribution, no printed brochures – no environmental impact • Sales generating service