Digital transformation in tourism: How smart technology addresses peak season challenges
Every year, as summer approaches, popular tourist spots face the same problems: long lines, crowded spaces, and safety concerns. Together, these test every aspect of a destination's infrastructure and preparedness, make trips less enjoyable, and highlight the urgent need for smart tourism solutions.
Popular destinations often get packed during holidays. Long queues at entrances frustrate tourists, many of whom have traveled thousands of miles for their dream vacation. Crowded pathways, meanwhile, create safety risks, and operators struggle to manage tourist attractions using old systems that are unable to keep up with modern demands.
Today's tourists, after all, expect fast, digital services such as mobile shopping and ride-sharing. They want quick entry, real-time information, and personalized experiences—all while maintaining the highest tourism safety standards.
The traditional approach of simply adding more staff during peak periods is no longer sufficient. What's needed is a transformation in how tourist destinations operate, using intelligent technologies to create smarter, and more responsive systems while enhancing both visitor satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) represents the convergence of AI capabilities with Internet of Things connectivity, creating intelligent systems that can learn, adapt, and respond autonomously. For tourism destinations, this technology offers great opportunities to solve longstanding operational challenges and deliver comprehensive smart tourism solutions.
A great example of AIoT in action, No-Queue Contactless Passage Systems allow seamless entry to an attraction without physical contact or manual processing. They support multiple verification methods—from digital tickets and mobile QR codes to biometric identification—ensuring that visitors can enter quickly regardless of their booking methods. The intelligence of these solutions extends to handling special cases, such as student discounts or group bookings, automatically applying appropriate access permissions in real time.
Crowd Management Systems, meanwhile, use AI-powered cameras and sensors to monitor visitor numbers in real time, and create heat maps showing which areas are too crowded. Such systems don't just collect data—they analyze patterns, predict congestion before it occurs, and automatically alert management teams when intervention is needed. This proactive approach allows staff to guide visitors to less crowded areas, implement temporary flow controls, or open alternative routes before problems escalate.
AIoT can also address one of the most critical tourism security concerns for natural and heritage sites. Thermal Imaging Fire Prevention Systems use thermal cameras to spot fire risks even at night or in bad weather, providing protection around the clock. When integrated with AI analytics, these systems can distinguish between normal temperature variations and genuine fire threats, dramatically reducing false alarms while ensuring rapid response to real emergencies. This protects both visitors and natural areas.
When technologies such as these work together, they transform reactive tourist attraction management into proactive, predictive operations. The result is enhanced visitor experiences, improved tourism safety and more efficient resource utilization.
A case in point is Mount Taishan, one of China's most revered cultural and natural heritage sites, which welcomes over 50,000 visitors every day during peak times. To cope with these numbers, it has adopted comprehensive smart tourism solutions that improve every step of the visitor journey.
The transformation begins with the entry experience, creating China's first fully ticket-free scenic area. Students can enter in just 3 seconds using just their digital identity, and people without ID cards can use QR codes for quick access.
The impact goes beyond convenience. The 457-square-kilometer site, with a 30-square-kilometer tourism zone, faces major crowd management issues, especially on narrow mountain paths between key viewing points. A real-time AI-powered heat map system monitors visitor flows and density and alerts staff when areas become congested. This advanced crowd management system allows quick action to redirect people and prevent dangerous overcrowding.
Tourism security enhancement through thermal imaging technology addressed another critical challenge. With over 500,000 acres of forest and 18,000 ancient trees requiring protection, fire prevention was paramount. That's why the previous system of 15 manual lookout posts has been replaced with 95 smart thermal monitoring stations. They are able to automatically monitor 85% of the forest 24 hours a day. The AI-enhanced system detects and locates fire threats immediately, transforming reactive fire response into proactive fire prevention.
These systems mean that, even during busy peak times, Mount Taishan runs smoothly and is able to keep visitors satisfied through effective tourist attraction management. For those who can't visit, the scenic spot uses new HD time-lapse tech to capture rare cloud-sea and sunrise views, sharing them on mobile devices. Now, everyone can enjoy these stunning videos anytime, anywhere.
Hikvision's AIoT solutions have transformed tourist attraction management at one of the world's most challenging heritage sites. The same tech that helps Mount Taishan handle over 50,000 daily visitors can be tailored for any destination—be it coastal spots or historic cities.
Contact us today to see how our AIoT solutions can turn your destination into a smart tourism success. Prepare your destination not just for this summer, but for sustainable growth in the years ahead.
This is Article 1 of our Smart Summer Blog Series, where we're exploring how new technology is transforming tourism. Stay tuned for Article 2, where we'll explore how LED technologies are reshaping the industry.
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