Smartphones are an essential part of vacations: visitors can find information, ideas and inspiration online, together with mobile apps that allow them to make the most precious weeks of the year as enjoyable as possible. Digital offerings play a key role in the tourist industry in Saxony-Anhalt. Many regions and vacation service providers inspire their guests with virtual insights and online fun.
The theme of this year’s Saxony-Anhalt tourism day in November was “truly digital.” It highlighted the many examples and successes of digitalization, such as the innovation platform of the regional tourism association, which provides creative methods and workshops on the theme of tourism and recently featured on the shortlist of five projects for the German tourism prize. There is also the open data platform SAiNT (Saxony-Anhalt intelligent network technology) developed by the Investment and Marketing Corporation Saxony-Anhalt (IMG), which pools information relating to tourism and can be incorporated by partners into their websites. This data from Saxony-Anhalt is also included in the Knowledge Graph of the German National Tourist Board (DZT) to provide visitors from outside Germany with all the information they need.
Our new winter press kit focuses on a variety of individual offerings from the different tourism regions in Saxony-Anhalt. For example, the Altmark app allows travelers to plan their own tours and to identify the rare plants and animals that they encounter along the way. In the World Heritage Region of Anhalt-Dessau-Wittenberg, families can use the Actionbound app to set off on digital treasure hunts in the footsteps of princes and princesses. In the city of Dessau, there are 44 information columns with interesting stories to tell about the sights that are worth seeing, which are often unknown even to residents. In Halle (Saale), visitors can take an online look behind the scenes of the zoological collection, the cabinet of curiosities of the Francke Foundations and the Art Museum Moritzburg. There young museum guides have developed the podcast “Kunstgelaber anders nice” (A different type of chat about art) to promote an understanding of art among young people.
The Brocken Gang in the Harz, which was recently awarded the ADAC People’s Choice Prize on German tourism day, brings together online and offline offerings for children, while the Saale-Unstrut region uses the interactive journey “Der Kreis von Goseck” (The circle of Goseck) and the “sudden life gaming” storytelling method to introduce visitors to interesting and little-known locations. The Saxony-Anhalt Music Academy at Michaelstein Abbey has created a digital twin of its collection and the mixed reality Set-Caching app brings movie locations in Saxony-Anhalt back to life and attracts new target groups. Digitalization also involves the creation of online information and booking systems, one example of which is the Congress Alliance of the MMKT, the city of Magdeburg marketing organization.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our tourism regions pushed ahead with their digitalization plans and put some of their “truly stunning” locations on the web in the form of 360 degree walks, which bring Saxony-Anhalt right into people’s living rooms. These walks include the Bauhaus, the Garden Dreams of Saxony-Anhalt, the Harz region and the Elbe Cycle Path, together with five UNESCO World Heritage sites. But these virtual tours and nice photos do not replace the real-life experience of visiting the region. Instead, they ensure that visitors can really look forward to their vacations. We also aim to do this with our presence at the ITB, the world’s leading travel trade show, in Berlin (DZT stand, hall 27). We will also be presenting the highlights of 2024 at a press brunch on March 6 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. We invite you to join us!