QR Codes in Travel and Tourism
So here’s a field where QR codes have spread like wildfire throughout the country. I found a site that spoke about a few ways that QR codes are being used in the travel and tourism industry and came across an event that I actually went to last year. The World Park that Central Park in NYC opened up last year was quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve seen to date. That’s because it was not only the trees that were budding in the park, but technology!! They took the whole park and transformed it into a park that had tree shaped QR codes all around where you could scan them and they performed different functions. They had QR codes that, when scanned, gave you old pictures of the park, history of the park itself and even music videos of the orchestra that plays in the orchestra pit. I think this is a great example of how old world meets new world. Central Park has been around forever and finally they are upgrading technology to market to a different crowd, a younger generation who is now being raised with computers and smartphones.
Another thing that they talked about was a river walk tour in San Antonio where a QR code was placed at the entrance and when scanned, actually gave you a guided tour of the walk as you went through. I think eventually you will see these QR codes everywhere in tourist areas as they provide visitors with easy access to information about the places they are visiting.
Another use of QR codes that I thought was really neat was a QR code on a menu and when scanned, it gave a demonstration of how the food that they ordered was prepared. While this may not be as interesting to some, I personally feel that this is a great thing. We always go out to eat but often wonder when we eat fine dining, how these world-renowned chefs make some of these exquisite dishes! Well, with this new functionality, you can! Also, you can see how clean their kitchens are. ;)
And the last thing she discusses is a QR code that was placed on the outside door of a visitor center. What did the QR code do, you ask? Well, if it was after hours and you had a question, you scan the barcode and up comes a Q&A page for those that may have a simple question to be answered. How neat! And what great customer service is that…I mean, you can’t think of a better way to cater to your customers, other than wasting money and paying someone to be there 24/7…not efficient or economical!
Here are some other sites about QR codes being used in Travel and Tourism: