This case study explores the Data Hub North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in Germany. The Data Hub NRW distributes tourism data streams in North Rhine-Westphalia, with data provided by companies, tourism regions and other stakeholders on points of interest, routes of interest, events, lodging businesses and food establishments. The Data Hub NRW is intended to enable a wide range of data users to retrieve tourism-relevant data from North Rhine-Westphalia and use it for their own digital use cases.
The Data Hub North Rhine‑Westphalia in Germany
Abstract
Data management is important not only at a national level, but also at a regional level. This case study is an example of touristic data management at the regional level.
For tourism in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) to make its top attractions more visible across all digital channels, it needs high-quality, relevant and shareable content. Datasets containing basic information on sights, accommodation or cycling and hiking routes are just as relevant as editorial content (especially texts, images or videos) that can inspire guests to experience NRW. In addition, uniform data standards and the opening of the data in accordance with licencing law mean that datasets can develop a corresponding level of visibility and be used and disseminated by both local stakeholders and external parties.
The Data Hub NRW serves as a data hub that distributes tourism data streams in North Rhine-Westphalia. Data are provided by companies, tourism regions and other stakeholders. All tourism regions in North Rhine-Westphalia are connected to the Data Hub NRW. The data are integrated into the Data Hub via interfaces and a wide variety of data types are combined on one platform. The data must be made machine-readable so that it can be utilised equally everywhere. This means that it must be structured according to a uniform standard and, if the content is worthy of protection, it must be provided with a valid licence.
The Data Hub NRW is intended to enable a wide range of data users to retrieve tourism-relevant data from North Rhine-Westphalia and use it for their own digital use cases. The central use cases of the data in the Data Hub include the use cases of Tourismus NRW such as the progressive web app, Discover NRW, which bundles the information and data available in the Data Hub from all destinations in North Rhine-Westphalia and displays it to guests; and the Data Hub widget, which enables small and medium-sized tourism companies to integrate tourism content from North Rhine-Westphalia on their websites.
The data quality and usability of the data in North Rhine-Westphalia are increased through centralised control and standardised quality criteria. This is also reflected in the fact that the datasets have been awarded 5 stars in accordance with Tim Berners-Lee’s 5-star model for open data.
On the output side, the regions and third parties can access and display the openly licensed data. Direct data retrieval via the Open Data Finder NRW enables service providers, platforms and service providers to offer their customers up-to-date, high-quality information and develop new, innovative services.
The Data Hub NRW comprises the data types: points of interest, routes of interest, events, lodging businesses and food establishments. The Data Hub NRW is currently displaying almost 25 000 open datasets via the Open Data Finder.
The Data Hub NRW pursues the following goals:
Content for all channels: The Data Hub NRW manages to provide standardised tourism datasets from reliable sources for a wide range of applications and channels.
Enter once, display everywhere: By linking the tourism databases of North Rhine-Westphalia, the maintenance effort is sustainably reduced.
Greater reach and visibility: The open and standardised datasets achieve greater reach and visibility through their distribution.
Improving data quality: The aim is to dynamically improve data quality through standardised data quality criteria.
New digital services: Licensing the data enables it to be used openly so that existing digital applications can be improved, and new services can be created.
The Data Hub NRW was initialised as part of the project “Touristic Data Management North Rhine-Westphalia - open, smart, digital” funded by the European Union and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The project volume totalled EUR 4.013 million with a funding ratio of 80% and spanned from 4 September 2019 to 31 May 2023. The costs of continuing to operate the Data Hub NRW after the end of the project are borne by Tourismus NRW.
The complexity and multi-faceted nature of digitalisation poses a variety of challenges for tourism, and the tourism value chain will change enormously in the future. To meet the future requirements of digitalised tourism experiences, Tourismus NRW and its partners have developed a data strategy that serves as the basis for a co-ordinated database and its use in digital services for guests and locals. The data strategy is intended to set an example throughout Germany and strengthen the role of tourism in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The focus of the data strategy is the Data Hub NRW, which represents the technical infrastructure for tourism-relevant data from North Rhine-Westphalia and makes the openly licensed content available to the public. The tourism data strategy results from the interplay of six factors centred around the Data Hub NRW. These include "capabilities" and "principles" as well as a "vision" for the handling of data relevant to tourism in North Rhine-Westphalia, the operationalisation of the data strategy through "use cases" and the establishment of a tourism "data ecosystem". The "organisation" completes the data strategy and ensures the long-term importance of the Data Hub NRW as the hub of tourism-relevant content in North Rhine-Westphalia.
As a data hub for the entire tourism supply in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Data Hub NRW makes a significant contribution on the way to becoming a smart destination. The data strategy was developed together with all the tourism regions and is a dynamic guidance document that is updated in regular intervals and thus further developed and refined.
Tourismus NRW is committed to advancing touristic data management at a technical and strategic level in Germany. The association is part of the "Open Data Germany" initiative, which is co-ordinated by the German National Tourist Board. The open data project will create the conditions for digital change in the direction of AI to make Germany competitive as a tourism location. At the core of the project is the development of a knowledge graph. The Knowledge Graph has been live since June 2023.
Tourismus NRW is also part of the Open Data Tourism Alliance. The National Tourist Boards of Germany, Austria and Switzerland and around 20 partners at the federal level have been involved in the Open Data Tourism Alliance since September 2021. The common goal of this transnational alliance is the standardisation of semantic data models for tourism information based on the schema.org standard.
The Data Hub NRW has created a tourism data ecosystem for the tourism state of North Rhine-Westphalia that brings together various tourism stakeholders and promotes data-driven innovation. To demonstrate the success of the tourism data ecosystem in a measurable way, the Data Score was created as an instrument that can provide a comprehensive overview of the data pool in the tourism state of North Rhine-Westphalia based on certain key performance indicators.
The term "data score" is not universally defined or standardised, so the meaning may vary depending on the context. In general, a "data score" refers to an assessment or metric that evaluates the quality, relevance or reliability of data. It is a way of quantifying the value and usefulness of data.
The Data Score measures the tourism data ecosystem of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, that is, all data that the tourism regions supply to the Data Hub NRW as well as the data quality criteria. Overall, the Data Score is calculated from four components: data quantity, open data quantity, open data approach, and data quality. It is planned to integrate further components into the model in the future.
The data score gives stakeholders at management level an insight into the data ecosystem and can assess which areas may need to be improved to sustainably promote the visibility and reach of their destination.
Data and content management has long been one of the most important tasks in tourism. The tourism sector has therefore been discussing the opportunities and challenges of digital data collection for years and trialling a wide variety of models and solutions. Solid data management is crucial for successful performance in the second wave of digital transformation, as it forms the basis for the use of AI. Only where data are available correctly and completely can it be correlated with each other and with data from other sources. In future, the use of AI will also make it possible to provide relevant, context-related and personalised responses to complex voice commands and derive forecasts to guide guests in a targeted manner. Data management, therefore, is the essential basis for the start of the second wave of digital transformation and the use of AI.
Data maintenance in North Rhine-Westphalia is decentralised. This means that the individual touristic regions maintain their data in their own systems and deliver this data to the Data Hub NRW via interfaces. There are different approaches at the destination level. While some destinations manage all the data within their region, other destinations are divided into separate local organisations that manage local data on their own. In these cases, the destination serves as a central data hub like the Data Hub NRW. While this approach offers many advantages and gives the touristic regions the opportunity to organise their data management independently, it also highlights the complexity of the project with its many stakeholders.
An overarching goal of the data strategy is to create a complete, digital image of tourism in North Rhine-Westphalia. The destinations can enter the five data types into the Data Hub NRW: points of interest, routes of interest, events, lodging businesses and food establishments. Currently, all destinations in North Rhine-Westphalia maintain the data type “points of interest”. The other data types are not yet maintained equally by all touristic regions. However, to provide data for the entire customer journey, all data types must be available as comprehensively as possible in the future. Without complete data, guests are repeatedly forced to access other data sources during their customer journey, for example to find a suitable hotel or restaurant.
Together with its partners, as of 1 January 2024, Tourismus NRW started the follow-up project Tourism Data Intelligence Initiative North Rhine-Westfalia to establish the use of AI in German tourism by creating an AI hub that complements the Data Hub NRW. The digital image of NRW will be further optimised in the process. The project utilises AI applications to rewrite texts, enable open data licensing, and improve data quality. Additionally, AI-driven B2C applications will be developed to suggest relevant tourist attractions to guests.
For further information please contact:
Dr. Heike Döll-König, CEO, Tourism North Rhine-Westphalia, doell-koenig@nrw-tourismus.de
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