Hi-tech Hi-touch – Getting the balance right

Tech is the way of a smarter tourism future, but Queenstown tourism development specialist Brad Rowe says that doesn’t mean robots at the helm of our jetboats and delivering meals in our fine dining restaurants.

Rowe, who’s organising Host-tech-2024 with the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Economic Futures team, says it will be vital to maintain a healthy balance between ‘hi-tech’ and ‘hi-touch’, especially in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

“In future, savvy operators in these sectors will use both – tech to replace roles and make their business more productive and efficient, and the personal touch so there’s still that vital engagement with a real person,” Rowe says.

The event on Tuesday, 21 May, is being staged in collaboration with Destination Queenstown, Lake Wānaka Tourism, Hospitality NZ, and NZ Tech. It will bring together a diverse array of tech providers, from emerging startups to established industry giants, in a showcase of tourism and hospitality technology that will be all about enhancing efficiency, productivity and profitability.

The aim of the event is to provide an opportunity for businesses to experience new and existing tech innovations first-hand, grasp their benefits, and connect with the leaders of these companies.
Some of the latest in high tech innovations will be exhibited including Yonder’s AI-powered tourism chatbots to boost website buy-in. This can be trained so that the more data you use and questions you ask the more detailed information it provides, Rowe says.

CarbonTrail – a simpler way to manage your inventory of emissions and effortlessly track supply chain emissions, using the data to reduce emissions. “The better you can understand and measure data the more you can improve your emissions outcomes,” he says.

It can be scary entrusting a chatbot with customers’ personal data and information and Both Brains and QT IT will be on hand to show businesses how to ensure their customers feel comfortable that their data is being managed safely, is secure, and wont’ get lost or hacked. “These companies provide managed IT services ensuring security, data storage and foundational IT support – the fundamentals of a good tech stack,” Rowe says.

Queenstown’s own successful tech innovations, many now taking on the world, will take pride of place among the exhibitors, including newcomer AJ Hacket Bungy-founded EpicShot, which uses a series of strategically placed iPhones to capture photo and video footage instantly transferrable to the customer as they make their post-jump victory climb. This doubles as a clever marketing tool with customers immediately posting their jump prowess on social media. Already this innovation has generated more than 100 million views for the company.

Other more established Queenstown tourism and hospitality tech success story founders will also be on hand to explain how it’s done, including Chomp, Magic Memories and IBIS Technology.

• Host-tech - Tuesday 21st of May - 9am - 12pm - Kingpin Queenstown (upstairs).