Tourism in Brussels: an immersive journey with 4.0 technology
The digital transition is underway. The Brussels tourism and events sector is right at the forefront, ready with all the necessary technologies to combine innovation and sustainability. Welcome to Brussels 4.0, where you can go on a staycation from your sofa and the major cultural events are… in the metaverse.
For its 5th anniversary, the hub.brussels hospitality cluster – working to support companies involved in the promotion of our capital – invited professionals from the Tourism, Events and Culture sectors to an evening on the topic of digitisation, in collaboration with visit.brussels.
The goal was to encourage digital transformation and to facilitate cross-sectoral collaborations. Mission accomplished?
Towards sustainable and responsible tourism
“The strength of a tourist destination is to position itself in order to respond to global concerns,” said Elisabeth Van Ingelgem, Strategy Director of visit.brussels, at the annual cluster hospitality event held on 19 October. “The digital world should go hand in hand with sustainable development. People in tourism have a major role to play in this regard.”
“We hold all the cards to bring about positive impact tourism. If we want tourists to make a conscious choice, shouldn’t we set an example?” added guest of honour Nicholas Hall, the founder of the Digital Tourism Think Tank group and considered one of the world’s leading experts on digital trends and transformation. “Opportunities can be found in big data, which allows for maximum customisation of the tourist experience, but also in user-focused innovation.”
And Isabelle Grippa, CEO of hub.brussels, concluded, ” From artificial intelligence to virtual reality and data management, the hospitality industry is going to be transformed more than ever thanks to innovative digital solutions that can better meet tourists’ new expectations,” before inviting the audience to discover some very practical solutions in the large hall at the Blue Point Venue.
Improving the real with the virtual
Professionals from the Brussels hospitality sector strolled from one stand to another to discover the latest advances in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, blockchain, NFT, data analytics, 3D, holograms, chatbots and live streaming. The opportunities provided by all these technologies at the service of hospitality seem to have no limits…
“Nowadays, we can give tourists so much more to see than just photos or videos!” enthuses Victor Lecomte, Web 3.0 Manager at Tapptic, a start-up specialising in immersive solutions. “With the metaverse, you can create portals to take tourists to a different universe. Imagine, for example, a digital twin of Brussels… A playground open to everyone, still untouched and which would give free rein to the imagination and the most amazing projects.”
“Digital technologies are so much more than just a gadget,” adds Amaury Dalleur, an enthusiastic defender of blockchain technologies. “They can be used in a very simple way to measure and optimise tourist flows and thus avoid overtourism by unclogging the most touristy places.”
Digitisation can even support an entire sector: “The hotel sector is currently the one with the highest turnover. 30% of the teams change over a year. This means that hotel and restaurant managers spend a long time looking for the right person to work at the front desk, in the dining room, in the kitchen, etc., which impacts both their professionalism and their profitability.” With its all-in-one digital recruitment solution, Beehire provides hoteliers with the opportunity to pre-qualify CVs received, in an automated way, while highlighting the working environment and the company culture through testimonials. “A lot of hospitality companies are still managing 300 or even 400 employees with an Excel file! Thanks to algorithms & machine learning, digitisation allows us to centralise needs while focusing more on the human aspect,” explains founder Joey Cariano.
Innovative technological tools
These innovative technologies build bridges between technological players and hospitality professionals and lead to new collaborations.
“Such networking events also allow us to work in a “win-win” mode with other companies, sharing our resources. Such is the case with OneBonsai, for example, which made its studio available for one of our projects,” explains Victor Lecomte.
Numerous leading figures were present that evening to present their innovative and complementary technological solutions:
- Tapio, a collaborative digital platform allowing companies and events to better visualise and manage their carbon footprint
- B12 Consulting, an IT company with expertise in custom software development and artificial intelligence.
- TOURBIT, a European COSME project which aims to boost the digitisation of the tourism sector by means of various free tools, including the DRI, a test for SMEs in the tourism sector to self-assess their digital maturity.
- Naki Power, a shared portable battery solution based on the principle of the circular economy.
- Culturius, a web platform entirely devoted to the creative, arts and cultural sectors in Europe.
- Never Touch The Red Button, a creative audiovisual studio that helps companies, NGOs and institutions to communicate better on sometimes complex issues and services.
- Cryptosquare, a community of people interested in the web3 ecosystem and blockchain.
- Neareo, providing various different web solutions to improve the customer experience and interactive applications that generate engagement and sales.
- OneBonsai, a virtual reality and augmented reality design and development company.
- Lounge Up, an all-in-one platform for managing customer relations and hotel operations.
- BLUE POINT Green Key studio: one of the largest permanent green key studios in the Brussels Region. It boasts a 70 m² stage and a state-of-the-art infrastructure for recording and live streaming content.
Do you want to work with one of these solutions? Get in touch with the hub.brussels hospitality cluster!
