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Digital storytelling is the fundamental underpinning of the social web. Whether through lengthy musings in a regular blog or a quick social media update, we are all storytellers when we post personal details about our everyday events and stories.

We are also drawn to other human stories. It’s why digital marketing is so effective; it can imbue the product or service with the essence of a related story to connect at an emotional rather than a logical level.

Places can also evoke strong emotional feelings. The chill of a shaded graveyard, the vibrancy of an outdoor market, the ghostly presence of bygone inhabitants in older buildings: the physicality of places plays to all of the senses so that you can literally react to the ambience.

The ability to use digital storytelling to elevate the natural curiosity we have in such places is what provides the magic, and therefore the power to influence. This is something myself and fellow researchers Richard Hull, Kirsten Cater and Constance Fleuriot were exploring almost two decades ago in our ‘Magic moments in situated mediascapes’ paper, which looked at how the distinctive feature of mediascapes is their link to the physical environments.

The findings are still very relevant today, although opportunities to harness the power of place-based digital storytelling are significantly greater now due to advancements in technology. This was one of the driving forces behind Calvium’s Place Experience Platform (PEP), which we launched to support placemaking professionals to enhance people’s experiences of the places they manage.

PEP makes it easy for our clients to create stories themselves or look to Calvium to curate content for them. This article will provide insight on how place-based digital storytelling has the power to entertain, inform and inspire positive change in today’s digital-first world.

Entertain

Classic audio tours have been a popular staple in a visit to a cultural site ever since the original Alcatraz audio tour established the genre in the 1980s. Revealing the lived reality from different perspectives – prisoner or jailer, master or servant, victor or vanquished – is an incredibly effective way for people to connect with a place’s culture and history on a human level. Not only does it bring theatre to a place, it helps to create empathy and intrigue while doing so.

Back in 2004, I was involved in the world’s first geolocated drama, Riot! 1831, which used Bristol’s Queen Square as a storyboard through which events and stories could react to movement to unfold the dramatic historic events at the place they happened.

This is a very early example of storytelling through digital placemaking, although the term hadn’t actually been coined at that point – nor the iPhone launched. It was Riot!, however, that prompted us to publish experience design guidelines and workshops that would support the understanding and evolution of digital placemaking over the years. In fact, it was one of those workshops that influenced the University of Exeter’s Professor Fabrizio Nevola to develop a successful blueprint for creating immersive time travel experiences, and which led to a long-lasting, and ongoing, partnership between Calvium and the University of Exeter.

Supported by our PEP, Hidden Cities is the fruit of that blueprint. The suite of apps take users on guided tours of seven different European cities, with fictional characters creating an immersive experience that allows visitors to view each place through the lens of the past. By linking the places visited to stories from the character’s own life and times, people’s relationships with each European city are enhanced.

Elements of gamification can also extend to classic trails to provide a different incentive to visit places, which is something we have recently incorporated into PEP.

Pokemon Go and its nine million daily active users are testament to the power of place-based incentivisation. Whether for a challenge, scavenger hunt or catching a Pikachu, ensuring the story location is meaningful so the effort to get there is worth the payback is key to achieving maximum impact.

If you’re interested in exploring in greater depth what placemakers can learn from Pokemon Go, download our free whitepaper here.

Inform

Place-based storytelling has a unique role to play in providing information about a place. Not in the way that the likes of Google do by giving a catalogue of information, but by telling the story of a place, its origin and history. Just as blue plaques highlight a notable fact, digital storytelling can provide context and depth to bring it to life, helping to establish cultural norms and values from the past and present.

The Carnaby Echoes app we created for Shaftesbury Plc shows this in action. As visitors walk around London’s Carnaby Street, a host of commemorative plaques at key historic locations reveal the hidden stories behind 10 decades of local music history. The app enables people to be immersed in the sounds, stories and characters that relate to each plaque, providing visitors with a greater connection to the area as they are guided around the area.

In addition to the gamification elements, we have extended the informative capabilities of the PEP as well.

Another important feature of PEP is that it can enable both armchair and onsite mode, which means people can access trails and experiences whether they are at a place in-person or at home. This can help to reduce anxiety as trails give assurance and help with planning – whether on the day when at the destination or when thinking about visiting somewhere in advance.

Positive change for people, place and planet

Having been at the heart of place-based digital storytelling from its very early days to the present day, I see its immense potential to inspire positive change for people, place and planet – especially with the way technology is heading.

For people

As I mentioned at the start of this article, we are drawn to other human stories. Having a greater understanding of the culture and history of different neighbourhoods and cultural mixes can help to enable more empathy for people and places, and so we must be thinking about how digital technologies can be used to achieve this.

The iDetroit app we created for Marcus Lion’s Human Atlas of an American City project highlights one of the ways in which digital can enrich place-based storytelling experiences. The app brought the stories of 100 underrepresented or misrepresented Detroit citizens to life through an immersive digital experience, enabling the user to hear the voices and stories of each individual and therefore connect with them on a much deeper level.

For places

Just like film tourism, which can significantly improve a destination’s visibility and attract potential tourists to places, place-based storytelling has a central role to play in boosting local tourism and economic recovery. In addition to supporting the economies of less visited areas by encouraging visitors to move around the location in a guided way, place-based storytelling creates memorable experiences that make people want to go back to a place, and also tell their friends about it. A win-win for people and places.

For planet

Calvium is increasingly thinking about how PEP can connect to the environment more tangibly, to raise awareness of environmental issues and climate change.

World Without Oil is an early example of this. The alternate reality game, created in 2007, encouraged players to plan for, and engineer solutions to, a possible near future global oil shortage. The most compelling player stories and ideas were incorporated into the official narrative, posted daily.

Some places will naturally lend themselves to gentle activism enabled by place-based storytelling more than others. For example, walking through a nature reserve and being made aware of aspects that could affect it, or walking coastal paths and being informed that the path you’re treading on won’t exist in a year’s time because of rising sea levels.

It’s about finding ways to use those places in a compelling way to drive different thinking and more awareness.

As the Place Experience Platform continues to evolve, we look forward to seeing how it can play a more meaningful role in enabling positive change for people, place and planet.

The global pandemic triggered a near-total shutdown of international tourism to and from the UK. Although borders are starting to open and ‘tiers’ are being allocated on a regional basis, the outlook tends to change daily, making forecasting difficult. Needless to say, we are dealing with uncertainty and therefore should frame all that we design for as uncertain; anticipating many different futures.

Presently, the VisitBritain tourism forecast anticipates a decline of 73% on inbound visits and a decline of 79% in spending, equivalent to £60m a day. Inbound tourism numbers are expected to rise towards the end of the year, but these models are precarious.

Domestic tourism seems to be the saving grace of the tourism industry, even if it’s expected to recover gradually but unevenly across the country. However, the unpredictable local and tiered lockdowns, fear of new Covid-19 spikes in the short-term and general uncertainty about the experience of being in a place is a cause for concern for many visitors — and understandably so.

In this article, I want to explore the opportunities that digital placemaking offers the domestic tourism sector. I’ll look briefly at some challenges, some pre-pandemic sector trends and then shine a light on digital services that are being harnessed to support the visitor economy. I’m also going to introduce Calvium’s new digital placemaking solution – the Place Experience Platform – created to enhance the visitor experience of towns and cities, and support place-based recovery.

The UK’s Tourist Economy in Crisis

The UK could lose up to £22bn in tourism revenues in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, predicts the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). In the worst case scenario, three million jobs would be in jeopardy. This is the real world context within which place leaders and destination marketers are operating, and for anyone entrusted with supporting the local economy and place-based growth, this is a massively challenging time.

Challenges for Destination Leaders and Place Managers

With lockdown easing, the competition amongst towns and cities has become more intense. Winning the attention of a dwindling number of anxious domestic visitors and the few international visitors choosing to explore the UK is a daily challenge for destination leaders. Whilst trying to be mutually supportive as an industry, places in the UK are also in fierce competition with each other, as well as the other international destinations that have opened up.

As I stated earlier, we all have to accept that uncertainty is the ‘new normal.’ Therefore, place leaders need to invest in robust and trustworthy solutions that are also flexible and adaptable. When the context is uncertain, it is imperative to have viable visitor experiences that can be readily adapted to respond to ongoing flux. No more static printed resources, familiar campaigns or standard visitor products, nowadays the astute place strategist invests in the value of mobile-first digital delivery and digital placemaking.

Responsiveness was front of mind when designing the Place Experience Platform. I will talk more about the platform later in the article, but to give a brief overview, it is a digital placemaking solution for place professionals that provides a reliable way of delivering engaging and responsive visitor experiences swiftly, while, at the same time, enabling place managers to guide visitors around destinations as desired and provide up to date information when needed.

Visitor Pain Points

Before August ended, statistics from the Office of National Statistics revealed that 27% of adults were likely or very likely to go on holiday in the UK this summer. In fact, social distancing-friendly destinations like cottages, caravan sites, and holiday parks were booked up and many have taken bookings for 2021 at rates previously unknown.

Visitors clearly want to have a great time, but many are understandably concerned about safety and security when visiting a public place, especially since we’re all wary of not repeating the Bournemouth experience of this summer. Nowadays, tourists demand place assurance, which is why it’s important to give them confidence in all aspects of a destination. They research a place thoroughly prior to visiting, desire up-to-date information during their stay and want to enjoy themselves. A place that fails to deliver on these points, fails to attract or satisfy visitors.

With these challenges in mind, we need to play our part in inspiring people and encouraging them to spend time locally – making their experiences truly positive and memorable. Utilising digital technologies to attract visitors to a destination, help them plan their visit, show them around and provide meaningful connections to the uniqueness of places is a sure-fire way to revive the visitor economy. This can be achieved easily and quickly – with the right partners on board and a collaborative approach.

Pre-Pandemic Tourism Trends

Back in the days of mass tourism (2019!), we were seeing global trends that were poised to shift tourism’s trajectory. These trends are likely to become the norm for most destinations:

Minimise Overcrowding 

Overcrowding in tourist spots brings several issues like alienated residents, reduced visitor experience, unequal distribution and benefit, overloaded infrastructure, threats to culture and heritage, and damage to nature – for starters.

To minimise this, The European Travel Commission (ETC) began to move towards a ‘value not volume’ brand positioning as its marketing strategy for 2019. This strategy involved shifting from a demographic-based market segmentation to a behaviour-based one. Instead of emphasising specific destinations, the ETC started to highlight the experiences from each location, which would disperse tourist crowds more broadly based on their interests and attitudes. This approach is playing out in locations globally and is set to continue, probably spurred on by our recent context.

Environmentally Sustainable Models 

As restrictions started to ease up mid-way through 2020, the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme, led by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), announced its renewed focus on sustainability for the recovering tourism sector to better prepare the industry from future crises.

This vision, supported by governments and the private sector, will support Sustainable Development Goals, national policies, and individual place sentiment. In line with the programme, six courses of action for people, planet, and prosperity were recommended, including social inclusion, biodiversity conservation, climate action, governance and finance, public health and circular economy.

Place and Localism

Destination strategies are changing. Instead of wooing potential visitors with picturesque images of people sitting by the beach as the sun fades into the horizon, tourism marketing is now focusing on destinations co-created by residents, the industry and visitors.

This is especially apparent in Copenhagen, as the city saw how mass tourism wreaked havoc on the quality of life of residents in cities like Venice and Barcelona. To lessen the effect of tourism once borders are all fully open, the Danish city came up with a solution that will benefit both visitors and locals.

Called ‘localhood for everyone,’ destinations in Copenhagen are encouraged to see visitors not as tourists but as temporary residents. They will be part of the community however long or short their stay is. This can be achieved through a five-point plan that includes:

• Enabling travellers, partners, and influencers to create shareable moments online
• Encouraging repeat visits
• Attracting new visitors from growing markets
• Co-innovation where industries work together
• People-based growth where the goal is not to increase the number of visitors, rather the value of visitors for all.

Digital Services

Place Services and the Rise of Booking Systems

People use digital technologies to engage with a place at all stages of the journey experience lifecycle. This has ramped up massively since the pandemic, so visitors expect to have more digital information and digitally-enabled services post-pandemic.

According to Publicis Sapient, during the third week of March when most countries began their stay-at-home orders, calls flooded company contact centres, with wait times for customers averaging over two hours. One airline even saw half of its customers’ calls unanswered. As visitors will only demand more digital solutions especially when resolving travel concerns, businesses will do well with streamlining digital customer touchpoints, especially for cancellations and rebookings.

Increased Digital Engagement With Visitors

Digital marketing organisations will continue to increase their digital spend considerably. With this, print investment is expected to go down.

As more and more visitors prefer to have updated information in real-time, print, by its static nature, will swiftly be out of date. Digital channels are much more responsive to change, especially since lockdown rules are changing regularly.

Digital Technology at All Stages of the Visitor Journey

With the increased reliance on digital technology, visitors expect to engage with the destination at all stages of their journey – not only as they plan a trip but when they are walking around their destination.

Walk With Me: St Austell is one such digital visitor product. Calvium collaborated with the Kneehigh artists and poet Anna Maria Murphy to create this location-triggered app that narrates wildly exaggerated stories and tales as visitors walk around the St. Austell Bay area. Alight is another location-based app from our team, only this time it gives users more insight into several pieces of sacred art across London, Oxford, Chichester, New York City, and Washington DC.

Both these mobile experiences have a two-pronged benefit. For visitors on-site, they have more control over the locations they will explore as they can see the trail they will follow right from the start. Meanwhile, these apps also have ‘armchair’ modes, which allow users to visit each city without leaving the safe confines of their homes – helping place managers to market their destination.

Place Experience Platform

Place managers need to attract visitors to their destinations and provide the circumstances for visitors to have a safe and enjoyable time. As we can see with the tourism trends, digital technologies are playing an increasingly important role in visitors’ lives and can greatly enhance their experience, which is why Calvium developed the Place Experience Platform –  to provide great and personalised visitor experiences for a destination’s target audiences, now and in the future.

What is the Place Experience Platform?

Calvium’s new Place Experience Platform is designed for those entrusted with supporting the visitor economy. It comprises of:

• The Place Experience App which provides compelling content to visitors by combining wayfinding, storytelling, and real-time information about a destination
• The Place Management System which puts control of the visitor experience into the hands of place managers.

Place Experience Platform is a place assurance service that provides visitors with a ‘sense of place’ that can be aligned with that place’s unique marketing strategy.

Through wayfinding, storytelling and up-to-date information about a destination, place managers have the power to design and map trails that visitors can explore—potentially leading them away from overcrowded locations which can put their health at risk, damage the environment and cause strain in the infrastructure.

How Can Place Experience Platform Support the Visitor Economy?

Place Experience Platform is a visitor companion. The App helps people plan a visit and guides them around a destination, offering them entertaining content as well as more practical place-based information. Key benefits include:

• Supports economies of less visited areas by encouraging visitors to move around the location in a guided way.
• Enables visitor experiences to be changed easily and quickly, according to destination needs and growth strategies.
• Draws visitors away from bottlenecks that: cause long wait times and clustering, strain infrastructure and damage assets, thus reducing associated management spend.
• Simple, reliable and easy to use, putting control in the hands of place managers, thereby providing a responsive and flexible service.

Discover Salisbury Trails Visitor Experience

Salisbury Trails is the first visitor experience product to be released on Calvium’s platform. It was commissioned by Wiltshire Council to support the economic recovery and development of Salisbury. The app enables visitors to move around Salisbury’s streets and discover the city’s heritage, whether that’s locating off the beaten paths, exploring hidden gems, or following some fantastic routes for shopping, eating and drinking in the city centre.

Visitors hear stories about an attraction, read about it and see related images. They can choose to follow defined trails such as ‘Medieval Meanderings’ or ‘Witchcraft, Riots and Treason’ that present them with a range of related information while they walk around. The interface itself provides a seamless experience as the app has been expertly crafted with attention to detail throughout.

Discover Salisbury is available on the App Store or Google Play. Its content does not depend on an internet connection, allowing visitors to access it wherever and whenever they desire.

As part of Salisbury’s economic recovery plans, the Salisbury Trails app is a perfect way to share the heritage of Salisbury with visitors in compelling ways.

Shifting to Digital Experiences

Now is the time for place leaders to rethink visitor and tourism strategies, for all the reasons I’ve mentioned and so many more. We all need to take a radically different approach to how we relate to and respect the places we inhabit, whether as permanent or temporary residents. We need to develop a holistic approach to how we invite people to experience and understand our neighbourhoods and be part of our communities.

Digital placemaking is obviously a core part of any contemporary place strategy and as we’ve seen, there are myriad ways in which digital solutions and digitally-enabled experiences are enhancing people’s experience of places. The Place Experience Platform is one easy and simple digital product for place managers to use as part of their visitor offer, and it can be developed further for the unique conditions and context of a specific destination.

Seize the new thinking and behaviours that the pandemic has prompted alongside the tourism trends that were already in motion, and employ digital placemaking as the way to revitalise your visitor economy.