We are delighted to announce that Yorkshire Wildlife Park has released their brand new mobile app, powered by the Attractions.io platform.
The app, aimed at helping visitors make the most out of their day, includes an interactive map, information on all of the park’s magnificent animals and a handy day planner.
Studies have shown that the average person checks their smartphone 85 times per day. Perhaps it’s no surprise then that numerous surveys have reported battery life to be the most important feature of a phone. Indeed, less than a quarter of users are happy with their device’s battery life.
Battery tech is a hot topic, and numerous companies are vying for future dominance. Ideas range from getting energy from plants to lithium-air batteries, based on the Lithium material found in most tech gadgets today but with a promise of 10x the capacity. However, these technologies are likely at least a decade away from reaching our phones. So, what do we do in the meantime?
The potential for using iBeacons within attractions is vast, whether you’re looking to increase sales, improve the visitor experience or understand what your guests do. They offer a whole new level of contextual interaction, but it can be hard to understand how they work and how to implement them in practice. The good news is that it can be much easier than you think, and there are compelling reasons to implement them right away!
So what exactly are iBeacons? Put simply, iBeacons are small devices that can be strategically placed around an attraction. As visitors walk past the beacons, their smartphones pick up the signal in the background and in turn perform actions such as sending them a notification. All that’s required is for the user to have a compatible phone (all of the latest devices are) and your attraction’s mobile app installed.
Hot off the heels of the European Attractions Show in Sweden last month, I attended the IAAPA Attractions Expo in Orlando. Compared to Sweden, this show is on another planet! It’s the main IAAPA event, held at the massive Orange County Convention Centre, and with show floor space of over half a million square feet, it’s nothing short of ginormous!
This year, almost 33,000 industry professionals attended from 120 different countries, with over 1,000 companies exhibiting their latest and greatest offerings. The mere fact that 34 press conferences were held during the week tells you that this is centre stage for the attractions industry.
This week I’ve been in Sweden for the European Attractions Show, held at The Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre. For a person who loves theme parks and loves technology, it was great fun!
On Tuesday morning, before the show floor opened to visitors for the first time, I spoke at the Technology Trends Showcase held inside Liseberg theme park. Liseberg is one of the most visited amusement parks in Scandinavia and was immediately opposite the exhibition centre, providing a fantastic backdrop for the event.
