The new state tourism strategy for North Rhine-Westphalia recommends a decentrally organized yet networked data and content strategy. This requires data to be prepared so they are machine readable and available to all tourism industry players in NRW and beyond – regardless of the output format, from the smartphone to the big screen. Uniform data standards and open licensing for data with the intent of developing a corresponding visibility are elementary here.
Developments in the fields of big data (analytics), the Internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and machine learning pose tremendous challenges, also for North Rhine-Westphalia, which Tourismus NRW e.V. intends to face with its partners in the project “Tourism data management NRW: Open, networked, digital”. Destinations and tourism operations must be provided with the best possible support in their ability to compete, coordinating requirements in terms of quality, standardization, and effective processes.
In the project “Tourism data management NRW: Open, networked, digital”, Fraunhofer ISST is assisting Tourismusverband NRW e.V. with project coordination and providing the association with technical advice on the topics of data architecture, data management, and the development of digital innovations. For the NRW-Hub – the future data ecosystem for tourism in North Rhine-Westphalia – we are conducting the analysis of existing system landscapes and assisting with the selection of technologies, standards, and interface architectures, and with preparing and implementing an evaluation and qualification program.
The project is geared directly towards the state tourism strategy. Data containing basic information about places of interest, accommodations, or biking and hiking routes form the foundation for the innovative tourism of tomorrow. High-quality, shareable editorial and other content (in particular texts, images, and videos) to be processed in the new digital services is intended to inspire guests to experience North Rhine-Westphalia.
Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering