How a multimedia guide can help my museum combat the post-pandemic crisis?

Currently most, if not all, cultural institutions are fully focused on survival; whether it be reducing your workforce, getting loans, government assistance. Considering we still do not know with certainty how long this is going to last. If the right decisions are not taken today, it may be exceedingly difficult for many businesses to survive 6 months from now.

Many businesses operating in physical environments, such as museums, have not yet found the necessity for digital transformation. We are currently seeing an increase in the necessity for digital transformation; however, this is transitional as the virtual may not replace the physical.

This is the current situation!

• Lock-downsizing – Countries around the planet are at different stages of the pandemic evolution. While some begin to scale down, others remain entirely shut down and others are still oblivious to the situation. Europe begins to lift restrictions while many fear re-peaking of the pandemic.
• Less Tourism (-70%) – Even the most optimistic expectations don't expect any recovery within the travel industry before July. It certain tourism will initially resume with domestic travel, as national borders will remain closed or highly restricted in most countries. These restrictions are expected to remain until at least September, when transnational travel will slowly start to recover. International travel will resume in 2021, with recovery not expected before 2022.
• Consumer behavior – Economic instability, unemployment, concern for hygiene and sense of insecurity will impact consumer confidence and spending negatively. Visitors will be reluctant towards shared or rental devices used by others and even more concerned about overcrowding.

• Social Distancing – Government policies set to control the spread of Covid will most likely result in reduced venue capacities, higher expenses and more limitations. Restrictions may apply to shared or rental devices. Group visits are set to disappear in the short to medium term. Museums will have to invest in adaptation.
• Covid-free Adaptation – A new perception of cleanliness and hygiene is being created as a result of the pandemic. Adapting to these changes will imply adjustment in logistics, operations, resulting in further administrative expenses.

Over all, less income and more expenses!

Ticket sale industries are and will be hit hard as travel and entertainment gets cancelled and luxury purchases get deferred. But not all is lost, at GVAM we believe multimedia guides could be a safe haven for many museums and tourist destinations Worldwide.

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Augmented experience

Reduced venue capacities do open an opportunity to improve the overall visitor experience, eliminating the hassle of agglomerations, noise pollution, over-tourism, etc. There is a growing concern amongst museologists as to how the physical experience will cope with the post-pandemic environment as well as to how may museums capitalize on digitalization, since uploading loads of free content on to the web, will help retain market share and brand visibility in the short term, but is not a solution in the long term.

Multimedia guides are key in bridging the virtual and the physical experience. Integrating additional content and augmented features that will enable the visitor to experience the museum in different ways, using all senses and rather interfering, complementing the interaction between the visitor and the exhibits.

Museums are capable of adapting the experience to the visitors preferences, developing tours based on their profiles, consequently leading to a more personalized experience and higher levels of visitor satisfaction. Increasing revenue per visitor should be a priority in order to offset the losses caused by reduced capacity. Rental devices may well be reliable contribution to revenue generation.

Find out more about GVAM's know-how and expertise

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Cleanliness

Post-covid consumer sentiment is a concern for all of us. Experts predict a greater concern for cleanliness and hygiene. Rental and shared devices will become less popular, as the BYOD (Bring your own device) movement gets stronger.

Multimedia guides contribute to reducing the risk of contagion by limiting contact, as they may be used directly from the visitor’s device or rented at the museum desk, where devices may be easily disinfected after each use without contact.

Multimedia guides may also be accessed through the visitors device either by downloading an App or Web App shortcut. With or without WiFi or mobile internet, in dark, rain or shine.

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Seamless experience

While the physical experience is not going to disappear. Experts predict the post-pandemic environment will prioritize the seamless/contactless experience, adjusting to social distancing norms. As such, payment terminals are set to disappear, and human interaction will be minimized.

Museums are capable of providing a seamless experience through multimedia guides, allowing the visitor to interact with the exhibition, such as, obtaining guidance, additional content, communication with staff, purchasing and payments from the device minimizing contact with any surfaces or objects throughout the visit.

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Self-guided tours

In the short to medium term group visits and guided tours will be heavily restricted if not forbidden. Multimedia guidance features will be essential to support the visit to the museum.

Cross-selling

Less interaction between museum staff and visitors implies less opportunities for cross-selling. At GVAM we believe this may be offset through the use of seamless “gift cards”. These features may easily be integrated into multimedia guides and will be most effective in BYOD guides.

Monitoring, Data Insight & Notifications

Our multimedia guides provide detailed insights on visitor activity, which in addition to easing innovation and improving visitor satisfaction increase efforts, may also be synchronized with real time notifications to provide a sense of security advising visitors when they unknowingly breach social distancing norms.

Inclusivity & Accessibility

Even the most optimistic predictions do not expect international tourism to pick up before 2021, therefore, there will be a greater focus on domestic tourism, at least in the short term. Considering the market reduction, diversification strategies that enable to spread the risks over a larger pool of the market, such as making the museum more accessible, will be popular solutions.

Find out more about GVAM's knowhow and expertise

Request a complimentary budget proposal for your museum

#virtualtours #museums #destinationmanagement #culture #heritage #multimediaguides #smarttourism #addedvalue #visitorexperience #visitorsatisfaction #coronavirus #citymuseums #exhibitions #exhibits #revenuegrowth #revenuegeneration #audiencedevelopment #digitaltransforma