In the current context where the global tourism market is gradually recovering, when many managers of overseas scenic spots, museums and theme parks come to us, they all mention similar concerns: the number of international tourists is on the rise, but the shortage of multilingual tour guides has never been filled. Traditional tour guides either have fixed and inflexible content that fails to meet the needs of different tourists or require a lot of manpower to maintain. These practical problems are precisely the core issues that Yingmi Technology has always wanted to solve through technology when it has been deeply engaged in the field of wireless tour guide equipment for many years.
As a brand that has served over 500 tourist destinations worldwide, Yingmi has always believed that the audio guide system should not merely be a “tool for playing audio”, but should become a bridge connecting tourists with local culture. The intelligent voice tour guide system should be a good helper for overseas operators to reduce costs and increase efficiency and enhance the tourist experience. Today, let’s start from our practical service experience and talk about what the future?audio guide system?should be like.
I. Yingmi’s audio guide system
When many overseas customers first come into contact with us, they often ask, “What makes your audio guide system different from those on the market?”
Based on Yingmi Technology’s experience in serving overseas clients, the current audio guide system has become a combination of “hardware equipment + software services”, with the core being to solve problems for tourists and operators with different needs. Specifically, it mainly falls into three categories:
Team explanation equipment
It is specifically designed for scenarios such as travel agency group Tours, enterprise inspections, and international conferences. Last year, we upgraded a local tour agency in Athens, Greece. The equipment they were using before would always lose noise in the noisy environment of the Acropolis scenic area, and there were many complaints from tourists. The equipment we provided for them is a “lapel microphone + lightweight receiver”. The tour guide doesn’t have to shout when speaking. Even if the tourists wear the receiver 10 meters away from the tour guide, they can still hear clearly. More importantly, during the same period of time, three tour groups giving explanations nearby won’t have any sound interference. This is extremely crucial for popular scenic spots. Now this set of equipment has also added a multi-language switching function, supporting 16 mainstream languages. For example, when receiving Chinese tourists, it can switch to Chinese, and when receiving Middle Eastern tourists, it can switch to Arabic, eliminating the need for additional translators.
Self-service tour guide system
It?mainly serves individual tourists and independent travelers. Many small and medium-sized museums in Europe have limited space and cannot afford to hire too many tour guides. Our self-guided tour machines have been of great help. For instance, in a ceramic museum in Florence, Italy, when visitors come to the display cases, they either enter the item numbers on the guide machines or the equipment automatically senses when approaching the display cases, and then they can hear the explanations – from the firing techniques of ceramics to the Renaissance stories behind the patterns, everything is explained clearly. We have also provided 24-hour self-service rental lockers. Tourists can borrow and return them by themselves even when they come in the early hours of the morning. The museum doesn’t need to add night shift staff, and the labor cost has been significantly reduced. After the pandemic last year, this kind of “contactless service” equipment also sold particularly well in scenic spots in Southeast Asia.
Online tour guide platform
It can be used through mini-programs, apps or official accounts. A mountainous scenic area in Chiang Mai, Thailand, has adopted our online system. Tourists don’t need to rent hardware. By scanning the code, they can view the graphic and textual introduction of the scenic area and listen to the legends recorded by local elders – such as why a certain stone is called “the seat of the Mountain God” and how villagers used to pray here for blessings. For overseas independent travelers, there is no need to bring additional equipment; they can use it with their mobile phones, which is particularly convenient. For scenic spots, updating the content is also simple. Just change the text or audio in the background, and tourists can see it immediately without having to update the hardware batch by batch.
In fact, to sum up, the core of the audio guide system is to “solve practical problems” : helping tourists easily obtain information and helping operators save costs and improve efficiency. This is also the starting point that will never change when we explore the future audio guide system.
Ⅱ.The core feature of the future audio guide system
Over the past few years, when chatting with overseas clients, we have found that they share three common expectations for the “future tour guide system” : the content should be more in line with the needs of tourists, it should be more convenient to use, and it should also help the operators manage it more easily. Based on our technical reserves and practical cases, the future audio guide system will have three core features:
1. ?AI makes what everyone hears different
Nowadays, many overseas customers have given feedback that the content of traditional tour guides is too fixed – tourists with children find it too boring, and history enthusiasts think it is not deep enough. The future intelligent voice tour guide system will solve this problem.
For instance, when tourists first receive our tour guide equipment, they don’t need to fill out complex forms. They just need to select simple preferences such as “family Tour”, “Cultural In-depth Tour”, and “Leisure Sightseeing Tour”, and the system will automatically adjust the content. Last year, we conducted a test in a heritage park in Cairo, Egypt: Tourists with children walked up to the stone statue and heard, “There is a story behind this stone statue. In the past, children would play hide-and-seek beside the stone statue.” For tourists who have chosen the “Cultural In-depth Tour”, the system will say, “The material of this stone statue is granite from Aswan. The archaeological team discovered new inscriptions on the base of the stone statue last year, recording the time of the sacrificial ceremony at that time.”
There will also be multilingual translation, and it will be more “down-to-earth” in the future. For instance, for Chinese tourists, it’s not just simple Mandarin; they can also choose Cantonese or Minnan dialect. For English-speaking tourists, it is possible to switch between British, American and even Australian English. Previously, an Australian tourist told us, “When I heard the explanations in my hometown accent, it felt like chatting with locals.” Moreover, the system can adjust the speaking speed in real time. For instance, when encountering elderly tourists, the speaking speed will automatically slow down without the need for manual setting.
2. AR and wearable devices make the experience smoother
Overseas customers often say, “A good tour guide system should be one where tourists are not aware of its existence but cannot do without it.” The future audio guide system will move towards the direction of “hands-free” and “immersive”.
For instance, regarding the integration of wearable devices, we are currently collaborating with a hiking scenic area in New Zealand for testing: the smartwatches worn by tourists will be connected to the navigation system. When they reach the viewing platform, the watch will vibrate once, and the explanation of the snow-capped mountains will come through the headphones – “This mountain was formed 2 million years ago. In summer, small yellow flowers will bloom at the foot of the mountain, which is a unique variety of the local area.” If tourists reach a fork in the road, the watch will gently shake to the left or right, reminding them, “This way, you can see the remnants of the glacier.” Without holding a mobile phone or pressing buttons, tourists can focus on enjoying the scenery, and the experience is particularly good.
AR technology will also be more practical and not just for show. Last year, we did an AR tour for an ancient Roman theater in Turkey When tourists point their mobile phones at the ruins of the theater, scenes of ancient Romans watching a play will appear on the screen – actors performing on stage and audiences clapping in their seats. At the same time, a voice explanation will be given: “The theater at that time could seat 5,000 people. The sound could reach the last row without a microphone because the arc design of the theater had acoustic principles.” Many tourists said, “Before, when we saw the ruins, we only thought they were old. Now, we finally understand how they were used before.”
3. Cloud computing and the Internet of Things help save a lot of trouble
Most overseas scenic spots are confronted with the problem of “wide distribution of equipment and difficult maintenance”. For instance, in Southeast Asian scenic spots, equipment placed outdoors is prone to moisture, while in European museums, there are many pieces of equipment, and it is hard to locate them when they break down. The future audio guide system will help operators solve these troubles through the cloud and the Internet of Things.
For instance, in terms of cloud management, a chain of art museums in Italy uses our system in all five of its venues. Their staff can update the content at the headquarters – for example, when there is a new exhibition, they upload the explanation audio to the background, and the equipment in all five venues is updated synchronously, without having to go and debug one by one. If the battery of the equipment in a certain venue is about to run out of power, the system will automatically send a reminder, and the staff will go to charge it in advance, so as not to delay the use of tourists.
Data analysis can also assist the operator in making decisions. For instance, the system will calculate “which exhibition area visitors stay the longest” and “which language is used the most frequently”. A French museum found that the usage of Spanish had increased by 30% compared to last year, so it specially added explanations in Spanish. Later, the positive feedback rate from Spanish tourists rose significantly. These data do not need to be manually tallied. The system will automatically generate reports. The operator can know how to adjust the service by looking at the reports.
Iii. The Application of Future Audio Guide Systems
Whether a technology is good or not ultimately depends on whether it can be applied in actual scenarios. Based on Yingmi Technology’s experience in serving overseas clients, the future voice guide system will play a significant role in three core scenarios, truly implementing the future voice guide solution for smart tourism in scenic spots.
1. Museums and Cultural Sites: Bringing Culture to Life
The most core demand of museums and cultural sites overseas is to “enable tourists to understand the culture”. The future audio guide system will shift from “imparting knowledge” to “telling stories”.
For instance, in the pyramid scenic area of Egypt, our system will use AR to restore the funeral ceremony of the pharaohs – when tourists face the entrance of the pyramids, they can see the scene of ancient Egyptians carrying coffins inside, with voice explanations saying, “At that time, people believed that this could take the soul of the pharaohs to heaven.” At the same time, it can also retrieve the internal photos taken by the archaeological team, stating, “This passage was discovered by archaeologists in 1922, and at that time, the jewelry of the pharaoh was still preserved inside.” It is not about dryly stating that “the pyramids were built around 2500 BC”, but rather allowing tourists to experience the culture and life of that time.
We are also focusing on providing barrier-free services. For instance, for visually impaired visitors, the tour guide equipment will be equipped with haptic feedback. When visitors touch the model of the exhibit, the equipment will explain, “This earthenware jar is 20 centimeters high, and the patterns on it are wavy. It feels a bit uneven when touched.” For hearing-impaired tourists, AR will display subtitles in real time and can also switch to sign language animations to ensure that every tourist can enjoy the guided tour service. Last year, the accessibility upgrade we made for a museum in London, UK, was commended by the local tourism department.
2. Scenic Spots and theme Parks: Make Your Tour smoother
Overseas scenic spots and theme parks are large in area and crowded with people. The most troublesome issues for tourists are “finding the way” and “queuing up”. The future audio guide system will help tourists solve these troubles.
For instance, in terms of dynamic route recommendation, after a theme park in Tokyo, Japan, adopted our system, visitors could see the message “The queue for the roller coaster is 20 minutes and for the carousel is 5 minutes” when they turned on the tour guide device. The system would also recommend “Go to the carousel first and then go to the roller coaster when there are fewer people.” If a scenic spot is temporarily closed, the system will immediately alert to prevent tourists from making a wasted trip. Last summer vacation, the number of complaints from visitors to this park dropped by 40% compared to the previous year, all because the route recommendations saved visitors a lot of time.
There is also commercial linkage, which can help scenic spots increase their income. For instance, when tourists get tired from strolling around the scenic area, the tour guide equipment will recommend, “There is a cafe 50 meters ahead. Their handmade cakes are local specialties,” and at the same time, it will mention, “This cafe has been open for 20 years. The owner’s grandmother used to make desserts for the nobility.” Tourists find it interesting and are willing to give it a try. A scenic spot in Southeast Asia said that since adding this function, the revenue of the coffee shop has increased by 25%.
3. International Conferences and business Visits: Making Communication smoother
In addition to tourism scenarios, future audio guide systems can also be used in international conferences and business investigations. We provided services for a tourism industry forum in Germany. There were people from 12 countries in attendance. Our team’s interpretation equipment was used for simultaneous interpretation – speakers spoke English. The receivers worn by the participants could switch to Chinese, Japanese and Spanish in real time, eliminating the need to sit in a row of interpreters. Moreover, after the meeting, participants can download the meeting minutes and voice replay in the system without having to take notes anymore.
There are also enterprise visits. For instance, a Chinese tourism group went to Europe to visit scenic spots and used our equipment for explanations – the local tour guide spoke French, and the equipment translated it into Chinese in real time. The members of the visit group heard it clearly. When encountering key content, you can also press the “Mark” button on the device. After going back, you can bring it up for review. The head of the inspection team said, “In the past, I was always afraid of missing the key points during inspections. Now with this equipment, I feel much more at ease.”
Iv. Conclusion: Technology Serves People
After so many years of developing audio guide systems, our most profound realization is that technology is never meant to show off, but to “solve problems”. Whether it is the future audio guide system or the intelligent audio guide system, the core is to serve people – to serve tourists, enabling them to easily and deeply experience the local culture. Serve the operation party, enabling them to manage the scenic area with peace of mind and efficiency.
In the future, we will continue to follow the demands of overseas customers: for tropical scenic spots, we will improve the high-temperature resistance and waterproof performance of the equipment. For niche museums in Europe, keep the cost of the system even lower. For cultural sites in the Middle East, the historical details restored by AR should be made more accurate. We believe that there is no one-size-fits-all solution; there are only services that are adapted to local conditions.
If your scenic area or museum is located overseas, whether you need anti-interference team equipment, a self-service system that can adapt to multiple languages, or want to implement a future voice guide solution for smart tourism in your scenic area, you can all come to us for a chat. Yingmi Technology is willing to work with you to make the future voice guide system more practical and considerate, making every trip full of warmth.