An active information guide for theme parks

Abstract

Theme parks have emerged as a popular leisure option. Millions of people around the world visit theme parks annually for the fun and exciting experience. Visitor expectation for quality of experience is becoming higher and higher. Apart from exciting rides, the supporting service is also an vital element that can enhance visitor experience. More requests for new services are raised. Meanwhile, as for the theme park operators, the theme park operation and management is becoming continually more difficult. Operators may need to have an efficient way to collect useful information such as customer behavior and park utilization for making better park operation and management decisions. With the proliferation in location tracking technology and mobile computing devices, there are equipped theme parks in a few countries offering innovative services. However, the major theme parks in Hong Kong does not appear to have plans to take advantages of the new technology to excite the customers. In this project, the examples from the theme parks overseas and the current setting of the local parks have been studied to devise a promising solution to enhance visitor experience and support as well as assist park operators in making managerial decisions. A framework for an active information guide for theme parks is designed. The framework makes use of the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to locate visitors. Visitor location and park information can be derived dynamically at real time. In addition, a prototype system, Active Information Guide (AIG) is developed to facilitate access to dynamic park information, offer location-based, park supporting and collaboration services for visitors. Meanwhile, the park operator can have a full picture of the park utilization information and exercise crowd management. The prototype system is designed as a web enabled application which is accessible to visitors and operators through any device that can be connected to the Internet. With the proposed framework, applications similar to the prototype system developed in this project can be built to enhance visitor experience and assist operator in making better managerial decisions.