Norderstedt, December 14, 2020 - Today, the German Tourism Association (DTV) awarded St. Peter-Ording and the Bay of Lübeck for the project "Innovative Digital Visitor Guidance". A jury of 22 tourism experts and media representatives awarded second place at the German Tourism Award 2020 to the Schleswig-Holstein-wide digital solution, which was developed together with Lufthansa Industry Solutions and other partners. In addition, the Schleswig-Holstein team also won the audience award: More than half of the over 10,000 votes in the online evaluation went to the seaside resorts' solution.
Anonymized visitor recognition for more security in Corona's everyday life
The aim of the solution is to avoid high crowds at critical points and to guarantee sufficient hygienic distance between visitors. Camera and laser technology is used to measure the number of people, vehicles and occupancy rates, and to manage visitor flows. The system collects anonymized data via WLAN measurement, laser scanning and image recognition, evaluates it and displays it as a traffic light system on the digital terminals of the locations and regions for the visitors. This allows tourists to quickly identify which beach sections and congested areas are particularly busy. "We are pleased to have developed a solution that can help the tourism industry in the current situation to regain some control over its own situation and thus normality," said Marc Assmann, Associate Director CRM & Venue Digitalization at Lufthansa Industry Solutions.
André Rosinski, Chairman of the Bay of Lübeck Tourism Agency, and Constanze Höffinghoff, former Director of the St. Peter-Ording Tourism Center, repeatedly emphasized the good cooperation during the project in their acceptance speech. "We were able to set up an innovative solution in record time with our technical partners and also benefit immensely from the exchange between the two locations," Höffinghoff summed up. André Rosinski looked to the future and predicted that the approaches are about to take off: "We're nowhere near the end."
The jury of the German Tourism Award 2020 selected five 5 projects from 158 entries that have particular relevance for the tourism industry in the context of the Corona pandemic. First prize went to the Standkorb Open Air 2020 event, which allowed visitors to experience comedy and concerts in the open air at Sparkassenpark Mönchengladbach despite Corona restrictions. Third place was awarded to the project "#Umdenken im Tourismus - Chancen in der Krise" (rethinking tourism - opportunities in the crisis) by the IUBH International University of Applied Sciences. Here, students worked together with practice partners and professors to develop solution approaches for tourism businesses in the Corona crisis.