Consumption Trends: Phygitalization

The evolution and implementation of digital tech has had a deep-seated impact on the way people live, work, travel and do business. Today’s increasingly connected consumers have little in common with their counterparts at the start of this century.

Typically located at strategic locations, tourist information centres welcome visitors and provide an abundance of useful information. These physical centres used to be the only touch point, now virtual information is complementing and enriching the consumer journey at every point.

With the arrival of this new technology and paradigm shifts, the concept of the tourist space is in constant flux. Today, physical and virtual spaces are intertwined. Combining these two worlds is a way of counterbalancing these new consumption behaviours. In marketing terms, it’s called “phygitalization” or the art of merging the advantages of a physical presence with those of digital applications or functionalities. Phygital is all about the realization of three “i’s”: immediacy, immersion and interaction.

In tourism, inspiration must be at the core of the offer. Instead of undermining tourism centres, this shift will in fact enhance their identity by modernizing them and making them even more attractive to travellers.