Ilsur Metshin studied the work of the Touristic Data Center in Hangzhou

(KZN.RU, December 8). Today, Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, and Evgeniya Lodvigova, the first deputy head of the Kazan Municipal Formation, visited the Touristic Data Center, which is recognized as one of the best in China. They got acquainted with the way, in which information about tourists arriving in the city is collected and accumulated, and also learned about the implementation of the local tourism development program. The head of the city and the first deputy head are in Hangzhou to participate in the meeting of the World Council of the United Cities and Local Governments, which is taking place these days.

Mr. Xu Ming, the secretary general of the Hangzhou Municipal Committee, spoke about the unique system used in the Chinese city to determine the volume of the tourist flow at the facilities, in November during a visit to Kazan. During a meeting of the Chinese delegation with representatives of the Kazan Executive Committee in the City Hall, Xu Ming invited the Kazan leadership to China to demonstrate how this system works.

The Touristic Data Center in Hangzhou is a large data center, where all information is received about those who come to the city, and what places they visit most often. Specialists of 15 Chinese IT-companies worked on the creation of the center for 3 years.

Geolocation services in electronic devices allow tracking the movement of tourists, and the information comes in real time and is updated regularly every 15 minutes. Barriers with photo-fixation systems are installed on all 83 automobile entrances to the city to collect information about guests of the city. It helps to find out, from which region or country tourists come.

There is a whole staff of specialists In the center analyzing the information received: where the tourists came from, what places they visit, how many tourists spend on average and what purchases they make most often, etc. The portrait of the tourist (age, gender, and city) is formed based on data that comes to the center through the applications available on the smartphone or tablet.

Tourists can assess how much they liked some of the city’s sites with the help of a special application. There are given specific tips in the application, for example, recommendations on the time of visiting tourist sites, depending on the traffic and the number of people in objects.

In total, 3 million foreign tourists and about 50 million Chinese tourists visit Hangzhou annually.

Taking into account the analyzed data, the funds provided by the tourism development program are used to support tourist facilities and spot advertising to attract tourists from a particular city, region, or country.

Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, was impressed by what he saw and noted the advanced technologies and sound analysis of the data. The head of the city marked that this is an interesting experience that requires careful study, and some of the methods used in the Touristic Data Center can be implemented in the capital of Tatarstan, which is actively developing the tourism direction.

Since 2002, Hangzhou has been a sister city of Kazan. Cities actively establish cooperation in the spheres of tourism, culture, and technology. The Chinese side is especially interested in studying Kazan's experience in holding major sports tournaments. In 2018, the World Swimming Championships will be held in Hangzhou, and in 2022 – the Asian Summer Games.

For reference

The World Organization “United Cities and Local Governments” is a voluntary international merger of associations, unions, and individual municipal entities, established in 2004 to effectively implement the citizens' rights to local self-government. The UCLG is the most powerful and influential structure in the sphere of strengthening the interaction of local self-government bodies, their representation at the international level and the implementation of democratic principles. For today, the UCLG unites more than 10 thousand cities and associations of the world and represents more than half of the population of the planet. The UCLG consists of 7 regional offices. The President of the UCLG Eurasian Branch is Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan.