“The two sectors can enrich each other to capture new audiences and retain existing audiences”underlined the president of the MT and alderman of Tourism of Charleroi, Maxime Hardy. As the director of the Charleroi Tourism Office recalls, “we applied the same recipe to bring together tourism stakeholders: attractions, producers, hoteliers and accommodation providers. This choice has paid off.” In the same spirit, the Pays de Charleroi has decided to highlight the two specificities of its territory: nature on the one hand, with unique sites and routes; the industry of the other, with the workers’ heritage, the places of memory.
Charli’s artificial intelligence
The City intends to move up a gear by exploiting the resources of technology and artificial intelligence (AI). “As part of a regional call, we submitted a mobile application project related to AI”recalls Maxime Hardy. The cost of this product was estimated at €270,000, with an intervention of €213,000 from Wallonia. A public contract was launched, the award procedure was delayed. “We nevertheless hope to be able to appoint the service provider before the end of the year for development in 2025.” This app, named Charli, will be based around three functionalities.
First, provide answers to all the user’s questions, thanks to artificial intelligence. “We can, for example, ask him for the address of the best restaurants that serve vitoulets, or the route to get to the Eau d’Heure lakes. List of current exhibitions, historical details: the user will be able to use Charli in everything.”
Second: “The app will have a ticket office common to all cultural operators. No longer just the PBA, Éden, Charleroi Danse and l’Ancre, therefore, but all the players who request it.” Finally, there will be an ambassador functionality to raise awareness and recognition of Charleroi.
