Educating Visitors Through Gamification

Gamification can make responsible travel engaging for visitors by turning education into an interactive and rewarding experience.

DMOs can incorporate gamification into their strategies to encourage responsible travel behavior among tourists. Interactive activities that visitors can participate in not only entertain visitors but also provide an educational opportunity. Since 2011, in Block Island, Rhode Island, the Block Island Tourism Council has hosted their Glass Float Project in partnership with The Glass Station Studio. Each summer, hidden hand-blown glass floats are scattered across the island, encouraging visitors to explore less-traveled areas. When visitors find the glass floats and register them with the Block Island Tourism Council, they can keep the float. If visitors find more, they are asked to hide them again for other visitors, building community participation.

This scavenger hunt reduces pressure on crowded areas on the island while promoting environmental awareness and supporting local artists. Scavenger hunts can be a useful, adaptive, and fun program that DMOs can use to highlight certain aspects that are important to their destination, such as increasing public transportation use, visiting local businesses, or exploring off-the-beaten-path attractions.

Although Block Island has physical glass floats around the island, other DMOs could utilize interpretive signage, digital content, or QR codes at key locations that provide quick, digestible tips on topics like local wildlife protection, renewable energy, or waste reduction.

The end goal of gamification can go beyond education, towards inspiration. Creating opportunities for visitors to share their experiences through photos, testimonials, or hashtags can be beneficial in spreading the word about the activity but also responsible travel in general. For example, a visitor who finds one of the items in a scavenger hunt can share the location on social media, showcasing their adventure and spreading awareness about your destination’s program and responsible travel efforts.

Gamification can transform how visitors interact with destinations. DMOs can employ activities that can inspire exploration, foster education, and drive meaningful changes while creating fun and lasting memories for visitors.