Heritage Sites Copy Tricks From Video Games to Woo Visitors
Skift Take
For many cultural heritage sites affected by the pandemic, it's "game on." Med Gaims and Questo offer some promising models for destinations looking to engage tourists in the recovery.
Can tourist destinations tap the mechanics that make computer games so compelling to hook visitors on learning culturally and historically relevant information? That's a question posed by some recent projects by Med Gaims and Questo.
The so-called "gamification of experiential tourism" aims to add to the travel experience some elements that software developers use to make video games and mobile apps engrossing. The goal is to broaden the appeal of historical sights to today's digitally immersed travelers by fusing the virtual and real worlds. Visitors compete to earn points and badges in mobile app games or play physical board games and simulations of historical activities.
"We want to change tourism to something far from the traditional sun-and-sea type experience," said Daniel Asmar, who oversees Med Gaims and is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the American University of Beirut. "We're supporting tourism with games that have cultural heritage as their backbone. We're especially interested in supporting off-season tourism to lesser-marketed heritage sites."
Cultural heritage organizations in Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, and Spain are the Med Gaims project's pilot partners. They have been inviting game developers to create relevant games for their destinations.
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