Fanø, an island in the Wadden Sea in Denmark, has incorporated what is supposed to be the world's first artificially intelligent tour guide: Waddi. At least that's how its developers define it.
At first glance, Waddi is just a seal materialized in different sculptures and cartoons that are all over the island. These are accompanied by QR codes.
Visitors can scan them with their cell phone and start chatting with the AI, asking everything from where to rent bikes to finding restaurants or natural places to visit in the area.
"It gets smarter because we have the ability to analyze these questions, we have an idea of what guests are interested in, and then we can feed Waddi with even more content," stresses development consultant Søren Christensen.
By using artificial intelligence technology to achieve greater accuracy in the answers given by this character, Fanø would be setting a new standard for personalized tour guides and improving the overall tourist experience.
Fanø is known for its natural beauty and outdoor recreational opportunities. The northwest corner of the island boasts a vast sandbank known as 'Søren Jessens Sand', while the west coast is home to a long stretch of beach.
Visitors to Fanø can enjoy a variety of water and wind sports, such as kite flying, surfing and buggy riding.
A new era of tour guides?
For tourists who are new to the island, Waddi is a quick and simple way to access information and recommendations for their visit. All they need is their cell phone and transfer their curiosity to the seal.
This AI could be a good example that could be applied elsewhere, providing a new way for tourists to engage with destinations around the world.
Highly visited locations with a high flow of tourists would enable a fairly seamless feedback from the technology, which would greatly improve interactions with visitors and tailor them to their needs. Thus, AI opens up a whole world of options for these new digital tour guides and their users.
