Travel tech player Vox Group is has created a new product to help tour guides, venues and attractions recover and rebound in the post-COVID world.
Speaking to Travel Weekly, Vox Group’s managing director for Australasia, Peter Smith, said the company has been using the lockdown period to complete its latest piece of technology called Vox Connect.
“It turns the guide’s own phone into a transmitter and the guests’ mobiles into receivers by easily downloading a simple app, so that you don’t even need to rent or buy any equipment,” he explained.
“And by using their personal devices and earphones, guests can socially distance with ease.”
Vox Connect also enables voice and music mixing, speaker polls and Q&As, in-app messaging to the speaker, and global live streaming.
With Smith expecting the FIT sector to bounce back first, Vox’s focus has also been on developing new POPGuide mapping solutions for large and smaller towns and cities around the world.
“This is the digital side of our business that has been seeing huge growth in the last two years and, ironically, the event of COVID will see this grow even faster,” he said.
“Simply put, just by downloading a branded app with their logo and colours, our partners are able to give their FIT clients a personal tour guide in their pocket with full audio commentary of the cities’ points of interest triggered by GPS location.”
Smith said this can also be adapted across other sectors of the industry, including venues and attractions, regional and local touring authorities, and even MICE.
As for all of Vox’s physical equipment, the group has implemented strict cleaning and sanitisation protocols according to the World Health Organisation and government guidelines.
“With social distancing so much now part of our normal way of life, the humble radio headsets for group tours have become so much more important right around the world, as people will no longer want to huddle close to a guide or tour leader to hear their commentary,” Smith said.
