Connecting with tourists

Many arts organisations can see that there is a great deal of potential in the world of apps. It’s a way of connecting with new audiences via the technology people carry in their pockets. How you make the most of that opportunity is the harder question, but one of the answers is ‘CultureKey’, a project that aims to bring all kinds of arts organisations together by uniting culture and tourism.

CultureKey, is basically a guide to cities around the world, published as a smartphone app. It presents a combination of interesting information about cultural gems on a single city basis, including monuments, galleries, museums and other culturally relevant sites in and around a chosen city. This is packaged with both audio and text commentary, a gallery of images and videos, and a map of the city, thus equipping both foreign and local visitors with a tool for exploration. But, in a wider sense, CultureKey is much more than just a guide. Tourists do not just visit one museum or gallery in a city – they visit the destination, and CultureKey’s role is to bring organisations together to help improve the experience for visitors, from the moment they start to plan their trip, until they walk through the door.

Whilst cultural tourists coming to London are probably already familiar with the Tate Moderns and National Galleries of the city, there may not be the same level of awareness for smaller, more specialist sites, which we believe are just as important. CultureKey gives these smaller organisations a stepping stone to reach out to users of the app. Working with members of the Visual Arts and Galleries Association we can ensure that visitors can find all that is best about London. At the same time we can also help all kinds of organisations take their first step into mobile and see the impact it can have as they develop their offer to tourists from around the world.

In contrast to the early days of cultural apps, we do now think about the experience of international visitors, which is why we make CultureKey apps available and fully functional, when online or offline. This is ideal for foreign visitors who want to use the app whilst abroad but don’t want to incur any roaming charges. We also make it available for download from both Apple and Android app stores, so that arts organisations can reach the widest possible audience.