The global coronavirus pandemic has been highly detrimental to the tourism industry, and Tyrol is no exception. Given the second wave of infections currently unfolding, Tyrol’s state governor commissioned Tirol Werbung, a semi-governmental umbrella organization, with creating a digital coronavirus dashboard for the region’s 35 tourism associations, enabling them to get clear daily updates on the infection situation. Within just one month, T-Systems constructed just such a dashboard together with Tirol Werbung. Tourists from abroad (including from Germany and Switzerland) – as well as local hotels and restaurants, and domestic tourists – can get corresponding information on the websites of the different tourism associations.
The dashboard helps tourism companies and holidaymakers get reliable information on the current situation and therefore be able to plan their business activities or trips accordingly.
Armin Möller, Innovation & Data, Tirol Werbung
In order to optimally inform tourism association members, e.g. hotels, restaurants, and leisure facilities, and their guests, the contents of various official domestic and foreign sources need to be collated. This information creates an overall picture that the dashboard must present in a clear and comprehensive form so that both sides can achieve planning certainty. With a view to protecting Austrian citizens, a modified version of the dashboard will also be developed to provide input for decision-makers in the regional coronavirus situation center.
T-Systems built the coronavirus dashboard on the basis of Azure and PowerBI. It is a complete solution that is provided to the customer as a managed service. That means the dashboard can be fully scaled up should demand for the service grow. The dashboard consolidates up-to-date information from a variety of sources, evaluating and presenting it in a clear and comprehensible manner. This information concerns the situation in Tyrol itself: Where are high-risk areas? What restrictions apply? How many new infections have been reported? But it also includes evaluations, such as how the disease is spreading in the region and how many people have been tested – and also gives the number of positive tests. In addition, the dashboard provides information from visitors’ home countries – e.g., which countries consider Tyrol to be a high-risk region for travel. This is supplemented by central data from the Austrian government on hygiene measures and rules for behavior in the country as well as any government restrictions in force – including their repercussions for tourism. The public version of the dashboard is freely available online at www.tirolwerbung.at (German language).
