This week, the tourism development agency Charentes Tourisme announced that it was investing in the metaverse by creating 3 virtual spaces, that of Charentes, Angoulême and Châtelaillon-Plage. Why did you decide to bet on this technology? What is the tourism ambition behind this experiment? Interview with Gallic Guyot, Executive Director of Charentes Tourisme.
What was the starting point of this metaverse project?
Gallic Guyot, Executive Director of Charentes Tourisme
It all started when we presented our new strategy and took steps to become a mission association. We want to support territories and sectors in facing tourism challenges and changes. These challenges are environmental, but not only that. Another challenge is to transform our tools, our supports, to better address younger generations. This project is the result of an exchange with François-Xavier Goemare, Co-founder of Wytland, whose speech and approach I liked. His idea is that the metaverse is above all a relational tool and not just a technological one. My priority was to create a collective including people from Generation Z. This is why we formed a partnership with the Excelia business school. We also worked with the Angoulême Tourist Office, the Cité de la BD, the Châtelaillon-Plage Tourist Office and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Tourism Committee.
What is your ambition with these 3 metaverses?
We wanted to create a space adapted to new generations. This experiment will allow us to evaluate our capacity to mobilize young people in these spaces in order to trigger their arrival in the region. This is why we worked closely with Excelia students, in order to understand their expectations and the themes that affect them. Among them, soft mobility and heritage particularly stood out. These metaverses are intended to become spaces for socialization, we want to create a community. Perhaps we are heading straight into the wall, but the time has not yet come to take stock. When I see schools investing massively in this technology and making it an educational issue, I tell myself that we are on the right track.
How much did it cost to develop these virtual spaces?
Our overall budget was 20,000 euros with co-financing from Excelia and the CRT to the tune of 2,000 euros. My goal is to obtain a new envelope next year in order to continue to bring these spaces to life and evolve. The idea is for this project to be co-financed, this has been our logic from the start.
How do you see the evolution of these metaverses? Do you plan to organize virtual events like Nice did with its Carnival?
The good thing about these virtual spaces is that you can imagine a lot of things. For example, we are thinking about creating unusual and exclusive experiences, particularly with the Cité de la BD, such as unique access to archives. We also talk to festivals. Lives could be organized in these metaverses. But we do not want to lock young people into digital technology. What we want above all is to trigger their arrival by inspiring them. Just like websites used to do.
Opening photo: Wytland
All our articles on the metaverse are available here
