The Alpine Wall
As a tourist walking through Innsbruck you are sounded by majestic mountains. You can see them from distance. You can admire their imposing heights, surreal alpine woods or glittering snow. But, do you feel them? Can you touch them? Can you breath in the fresh air or enjoy the birds' songs?
Mostly used in sales campaigns, sensory marketing is a tool that has widened the possibility of rising the customers awareness. Engaging one or a couple of human senses (hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste), some of the most popular brands on the market are "resorting to sensory marketing ... to influence customers subconsciously and to make subliminal bonding.” (University of South Florida, 2017)
Even though Tirol Info Center in Innsbruck does not fit in the Retailers Big League, benefiting from the advantages of sensory marketing is to be considered for this mini-project.
For me entering this Info Center feels like leaving at the door everything I know about Innsbruck and stepping into a dull, unfriendly space. The only things hinting you are in a Tourist Info Center are the leaflets at the info desks and the 60+ tourists who took shelter from the Sun in this establishment.
Statistics showed that the average stay of a tourist in Innsbruck during the summer season is 3,5 nights (Tirol Tourism Research, 2019), giving him/ her a rather limited time to enjoy the city and its surroundings. From personal experience, I know that most of the tourists are interested in visiting the Old Town, Swarovski Crystal World and take the Nordkete cable car. For many of them even these 3 activities do not fit in their 24h - 36h trip to Innsbruck.
There is also another big share of tourists who do not have the slightest clue what to do in Innsbruck, so they are entering the Tirol Info Center in hope of some suggestions. As I mentioned before this Tourist Info Center is not the most appealing one, so my suggestion to bring some enthusiasm in the house is to create during the summer season an Alpine Wall using only herbs from the woods. Moreover, an audio record with sounds from the forest will be played alongside engaging tourists' four senses - hearing, sight, smell and touch. By this, I would like to emphasize that Innsbruck is not only a stop on their way to Italy or Germany but a place where they can enjoy the beauty of the city and enjoy their senses during a (bike)hike on the mountain. One of these concept's biggest benefit is that the Tirol Info Center has already the products - the marked paths, maps, information regarding the routes and mountain guides ready to assist the tourists in their journey. From the range of paths available it is almost impossible not to find one suitable for their level.
Sound of Forest
The importance of staff engagement in this project is vital as the tourists' interest has to be quickly redirected into a suitable activity.
Furthermore, this mini-project can have an impact on other local businesses such as sports gear shops or the number of hired mountain guides. None the less, this mini-project would like to be of help to increase the average tourist stay during the summer season by uncovering a range of activities oftentimes unknown to the tourists.
Sources:
https://www.usf.edu/business/documents/insights/vol-iv-sensory-marketing.pdf
https://www.ttr.tirol/statistik/statistik/sommersaison-2019
https://kristallwelten.swarovski.com/Content.Node/wattens/index.en.html
https://nordkette.com/en/leisure-service.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxP8kxUn5bc
© 2019 by Maria Teodorescu. Proudly created with Wix.com