AIT and the Schönbrunn Palace: Innovation in visitor management
SIMULATE makes it possible to adjust the range of tours on offer while at the same time boosting visitor satisfaction, security and capacity utilisation.
Vienna (AIT/SKB): Boasting over 2.7 million visitors a year, Schönbrunn Palace is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Austria. Where the palace was once intended to house the imperial family and its court, today the 40 magnificent rooms dating back to the Habsburg era draw up to 10,000 visitors a day. As it may be assumed that the interest of visitors is bound to rise, it is of key importance not to delay but to implement an intelligent, targeted and sustainable visitor management system now, in order to ensure the future satisfaction and security of guests.
With the specially adapted version of its Solutions for Analysis and Optimization of Pedestrian Flows the experts at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology convinced the jury within the framework of an ideas competition held by the IÖB innovation partnership. The detailed capture and simulation of the flow of visitors will enable the calculation of valid data concerning the distribution of visitors in the palace, which in turn will serve as the basis for optimising tour planning.
Greater visitor satisfaction thanks to digitisation: Solution concept according to the "Sense-Plan-Act-Paradigm"
The overall solution "Sense-Plan-Act-Paradigm" proposed by the researchers at the AIT Center for Mobility Systems meets the desired requirements perfectly thus providing an ideal tool for sustainably boosting efficiency and visitor satisfaction.
- Sense stands for the capture of the movements and distribution of visitors in the palace, including waiting times, the length of time spent in the individual rooms and the complete duration of tours. Sense provides the basis for further planning and simulations.
- Plan: Ideas are tried out here by means of simulation and the effects of different guidance and intervention measures or alternative tour planning are analysed for different capacity utilisation rates. This enables the efficient development of both suitable short-term measures - for allowing a response to situations that arise in the near-term - as well as long-term strategies.
- Act: Identified measures are implemented and employees prepared and trained accordingly.
"Sense-Plan-Act" functions as a cycle, with which the dynamic challenges of visitor management can be addressed iteratively.
Klaus Panholzer, the Managing Director of SKB, emphasises the importance of an appropriate visitor flow management, "As a UNESCO World Heritage Site it is especially important for the Schönbrunn Palace to offer our visitors a high-value experience while at the same time ensuring the greatest possible protection of the historical substance. An intelligent visitor flow management system also allows us to plan tours in a more targeted and diverse manner".
SIMULATE: Innovative Simulation, Analysis and Optimization of Pedestrian Flows
Arno Klamminger, Head of Center for Mobility Systems at AIT: "The optimisation and analysis of pedestrian flows in urban areas constitutes a major challenge. The AIT offers tailor-made scalable solutions for the simulation, analysis and planning of complex pedestrian flows in railway stations, public transport, airports, shopping malls, stadiums or
event venues. The scientifically recognised methods used are the result of many years of research in this field."
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology is Austria's largest non-university research institute. With its eight Centers, AIT regards itself as a highly specialised research and development partner for industry. Its researchers focus on the key infrastructure issues of the future: Energy, Health & Bioresources, Digital Safety & Security, Vision, Automation & Control, Mobility Systems, Low-Emission Transport, Technology Experience and Innovation Systems & Policy. Throughout the whole of Austria - in particular at the main locations Wien Giefinggasse, Seibersdorf, Wiener Neustadt, Ranshofen and Leoben - around 1,300 employees carry out research on the development of those tools, technologies and solutions that will keep Austria's economy fit for the future in line with our motto "Tomorrow Today".
Center for Mobility Systems
Mobility is a fundamental core element of our society. At the Center for Mobility Systems, around 100 experts are developing holistic mobility solutions for the future based on the interrelation of passenger mobility, mobility of goods, and transport infrastructure. Efficiency, safety, ecological sustainability and the human factor are at the heart of the research and development efforts. Leveraging comprehensive system know-how, scientific excellence, market knowledge, and many years of international experience, AIT experts are using innovation to lead industry and society into the future of mobility.
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.
The Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H. (SKB) administers Schönbrunn Palace, the Hofmobiliendepot - Imperial Furniture Collection, the Imperial Apartments in the Vienna Hofburg, including the Sisi Museum and the Silver Collection and Schloss Hof Estate and Schloss Niederweiden in the Marchfeld, in other words, the greatest attractions of Austria's imperial heritage.
Schönbrunn Palace
The World Cultural Heritage Site of Schönbrunn Palace is Austria's most frequently visited tourist attraction. In the ownership of the Habsburg dynasty for centuries, this Baroque ensemble of palace and gardens has been preserved largely in its original state. Numerous attractions await the visitor, including tours of the authentically furnished state rooms and residential apartments of the imperial family in the palace, to the Maze and Labyrinth in the gardens and a dedicated Children's Museum.
Contact:
Florian Hainz BA Bakk
Marketing & Communications
Center for Mobility Systems
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
florian.hainz@ait.ac.at | www.ait.ac.at
T +43 (0)50550-4518 | M +43 (0)664 88256021
Daniel Pepl, MAS
Corporate and Marketing Communications
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
daniel.pepl@ait.ac.at | www.ait.ac.at
T +43 (0)50550-4040
Mag.a Petra Reiner
Corporate Communications and Spokesperson
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- u. Betriebsges.m.b.H.
T +43 1 811 13 461 | Mobil: +43 664 889 65 410
reiner@schoenbrunn.at
http://www.schoenbrunn.at | www.schlosshof.at | www.hofburg-wien.at | www.hofmobiliendepot.at | www.kaiserkinder.at | www.schoenbrunnmeetings.com