The real-time collection and analysis of Big Data allows local public administrations to make important decisions quickly, including those related to services for travellers and promoting the area. This opportunity becomes a necessity when the tourist season sees a very substantial increase in people visiting our cities.
Destination Assisi is a concrete example of this, an effective response to the needs of an art city that leverages the most advanced smart city technologies to improve its hospitality. Thanks to the project implemented by TIM Enterprise, the Umbrian municipality is, in fact, able to detect and manage the number of tourists in the area thanks to a special algorithm that analyses numbers and origins from data collected by the mobile telephone network. Aggregated visitor data are collected anonymously and in full compliance with privacy regulations through mobile phone SIM cards connected to the TIM network.
With a dedicated application and platform, TIM City Forecast, administrators in Assisi can quickly and easily consult daily data on the number and movements of tourists and excursionists in the area. They can, for example, draw a quantitative and qualitative profile of tourists, first of all identifying their demographic data: geographic origin, age group, gender, etc. By cross-referencing the profile with movements, attendance at points of interest, and the trend of flows broken down geographically, it is then possible to draw a complete picture of visitor demand in order to better adapt and structure services and promote the area.
The benefits do not only concern the administrators, but also the visitors themselves and, in particular, tourists who do not stay overnight in the Assisi area and cannot be tracked through traditional systems. Real-time visibility of their movements makes it possible to customise reception, optimise mobility, and offer temporary services, such as temporary parking areas on the busiest days.
Another important advantage of this solution concerns the improvement of tourism marketing planning. It is possible to work in synergy with tourism, culture and shop owners, also to intercept new market segments.
With its innovative scope, Destination Assisi has already been mentioned in the Italian Report on Tourism (IRISS-CNR) (Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development - National Research Centre) which published its description in the 24th edition.
The project, created for the Umbrian town, is part of the Smart City solutions by TIM Enterprise, the Group's new business unit dedicated to companies and public administration, which proposes a model for the smart development of our cities that has already been adopted by several Italian municipalities.