PARSONII improves tourist experience at Vejle Municipality

Digital Tourist Guide at Vejle Municipality | PARSONII

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Promoting the pinnacle of cycling history with groundbreaking AI service technology

Vejle Municipality municipality wanted to do something extra for their large-scale Tour de France 2022 event when stage 3 of the prestigious race starts out in Vejle, so they onboarded a digital human, Victoria. Along with the rest of the tourist office team, she will be answering questions from visitors in the period leading up to the event. After the Tour de France, Victoria will trade in her jersey for a VisitVejle shirt to assume a permanent position as a guide at the tourist office.

Business need

Vejle Municipality is always looking for ways to improve the tourist experience of visiting Vejle
The municipality wanted to do something extra for their large-scale Tour de France 2022 event when stage 3 of the prestigious race starts out in Vejle
As a part of the municipality’s overall digitalization strategy, Vejle Erhverv wished to showcase the potential and application of AI and digital solutions to local businesses as well as international guests

Solution

PARSONII platform

Outcome

PARSONII requires a shorter training period than a human guide
Victoria’s personality and ability to detect and mirror moods ensures a personal experience for visitors and tourists
PARSONII supports the continuous improvement of the accessibility of the service and information Vejle Municipality provides for visitors
The digital human allows improved flexibility and lower costs when it comes to adjusting to the varying need for guides depending on events and tourist seasons

Industry: Public Sector
Department: Tourist Office

I’m not an AI specialist myself, but this project really opened my eyes to why having a service avatar makes perfect sense – especially after a pandemic and with a lack of manpower for routine tasks.

Jens Jørn Josefsen

Project Manager, VisitVejle, Vejle Municipality

Why did this project come to be?

Breaking new digital ground

On July 3rd, when upwards of 100,000 people visit Vejle to join the festivities for the third stage of the 2022 Tour de France, many of them will most likely encounter Victoria – the municipality’s first digital human – centrally placed on a screen at the city’s tourist office.

Victoria was initially developed to add a special touch to Vejle’s huge Tour de France event as well as to meet the need for a digital hostess. Along with the rest of the tourist office team, she will be answering questions from visitors in the period leading up to the event – from where to find parking to giving directions for the fan zone and sharing information on the riders. And on the actual day, she will even be able to give live updates on the race and other current information.

But Victoria is also an important part of the municipality’s efforts to promote and increase digitalization and AI, explains Jens Jørn Josefsen, Project Manager at VisitVejle that owns the project, which also includes Jens P. Jensen, Technical Project Manager from Vejle Municipality. “Digitalization and AI are strategic focus areas for us, so the collaboration with NTT DATA Business Solutions was a great opportunity to showcase our progressive mindset while demonstrating to businesses in Vejle the many opportunities an avatar brings.”

How did we solve it?

Built on experience

Victoria was created based on input from several of her municipality colleagues. On workshops together with NTT DATA Business Solutions, members from the tourist office team helped define the information she needed to know and the questions she would be expected to answer.

They were also instrumental in deciding that she wear the polka dot mountain jersey, just like they gave input for her personality based on their experience with the interactions she would be having with visitors and tourists. One colleague even came up with the name Victoria as a reference to the winning mentality that characterizes Tour de France riders – revealed at an official naming celebration for the press and local public in late 2021. Jens Jørn Josefsen describes the overall collaboration as a positive experience in the hands of a skilled and experienced partner:

“The workshops were a great way to define our needs for Victoria – and working with her after that has been very straightforward.” Her onboarding included learning different information and skills – in many ways similar to had she been a human, only faster. “Training a human guide usually takes two to three months, while I would say that training Victoria took six weeks max.”

What changed for the better?

Improved service and flexibility

After the Tour de France, Victoria will trade in her jersey for a VisitVejle shirt to assume a permanent position as a guide at the tourist office. Her performance and the experiences so far will allow the municipality to evaluate the need for another digital colleague at a new resource center and possibly an avatar app for ultimate availability.

Looking further ahead, Jens Jørn Josefsen sees the PARSONII platform supporting the municipality’s mission to constantly expand and improve the service they provide to visitors:

“With a digital human like Victoria, we can both extend our service hours as well as ensure better accessibility of information. And at the same time, it increases the flexibility and speed of adjusting our head count to varying needs for large event and slow periods.”

PARSONII™ | AI-powered digital human platform for customer engagement

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The PARSONII journey

Vejle Municipality is always looking for ways to improve the tourist experience of visiting Vejle

With only limited AI insight at Vejle Municipality, NTT DATA Business Solutions provided the expert skills and experience needed for this type of project

The project was a perfect match for the collaborative spirit upon which Vejle Erhverv is based with NTT DATA Business Solutions providing the digital human DNA and the municipality adding just the right nuances and personality

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