Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming travel startups working on solutions for smart cities. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 4 promising Smart Tourism Startups.
Heat Map: 4 Top Smart Tourism Startups
For our 4 top picks, we used a data-driven startup scouting approach to identify the most relevant solutions globally. The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 4 interesting examples out of 70 relevant solutions. Depending on your specific needs, your top picks might look entirely different.
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Masabi – Smart Ticketing
With an ever-increasing number of ways to travel inside cities, especially in big cities, public transport infrastructure and mobility services are finding innovative solutions to connect different transport systems like buses, trains, flights, metro rails, monorails, trams and more. Smart ticketing is one such solution to ease the use of such services, for both residents and tourists. These include the increasingly popular NFC-centered mobile payments, creative ways of scanning for payments, and transparent ticket validation devices. British startup Masabi develops Justride, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for cities that want to unify their ticketing systems and increase the footfall for its public transportation systems. Their platform integrates many tourism-related services into a single application, introduces account-based ticketing, eliminates the need for queues, offers all options for payment and provides integrated ticket validation solutions. They also offer data analytics software for transportation agencies to monitor sales and tariffs.
Bismart – Smart Information Kiosks
Touring a new and large city can quickly become overwhelming and, with limits on time and cost, can seriously diminish the satisfaction and enjoyment of travel. This is where city bots come in, offering information and simple guidance related to commuting, places of interest, timing details, city-specific information, and much more. Spanish company Bismart offers business intelligence and Big Data solutions. Among other services, they develop smart city bots for both tourists and residents. The bot can assist a user through social media applications during various interactions with the city, including working hours of various sites, museums, and public infrastructure, administrative and legal matters, reporting of accidents and public issues, and navigating through the city.
Quantela – Crowd Management Solutions
Cities usually organize large events to bring a positive message or image and to create awareness about various issues that hinder them. However, with big events come big crowds which poses a significant risk, especially when managed poorly. This is becoming easier with advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which together identify, locate, and help in taking measures to control crowds and prevent potential violence. The USA-based startup Quantela specializes in smart city solutions with the use of IoT and AI. They develop crowd management solutions that analyze sensor data from all entries or exits and traffic to orchestrate the movement of the crowds and facilitate precautionary measures when required.
FlippARGo – Augmented Reality Experiences
Nowadays, cities go to great lengths to showcase their scenic spots and other centers of attraction. Augmented Reality (AR) makes it that much easier to display all of the major places of interest for a tourist, helping them plan their trips in a more efficient manner. Information about historical sights, interactive tours, and other relevant information are enhanced with AR. AR tourism offers an immersive experience and allows cities to attract and engage with both tourists and residents. Indian startup FlippARGo focuses on creating AR experiences for tourists around the world with the aim of promoting various arts and crafts conferences, museums, and other places within India and abroad. These experiences are available through their proprietary iOS and Android applications.
What About The Other 66 Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence for your Proof of Concept (PoC), partnership, or investment targets. The 4 startups showcased above are promising examples out of 70 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria and collaboration strategy, get in touch.
