The tourism industry is a growing sector and is currently looked at as unsustainable. One of the biggest causes is the problem of congestion. Tourist sites and locations across the world are exceeding their maximum capacity of people. This is being seen in Ireland and it is having effects on community, tourism industry and landscape. This process book is going through the design development process to the congestion problem in tourism. This problem was identified through extensive secondary and primary research looking at the situation around the world and in Ireland. Conceptualization methods were then used to develop the product ReDirect. Redirect aims to reduce this congestion problem on walking trails through a congestion monitoring digital signage solution. 

ReDirect creates sustainable tourist behaviour around tourist site as well as allowing the site to monitor customer behaviour and be able to influence where their customers are moving. This signpost encourages customers at an outdoor tourist site to take routes which are less busy and creates a more even distribution of people across site. This reduces impact on enviroment as well as improving customer experience and also maximises site capacity, boosting income at site.  It also is an easy way for site managers to monitor customer behaviour at site through a home device. It gives the site information on congestion which they can then actively act upon and improve the site’s health and tourist experience.

There were three interviews conducted with experts in the area. The aim of these interviews was to understand the area of tourism, specifically the effects tourism has at destinations and its causes, results and the actions being taken by stakeholders in this area.

Congestion occurs when either there is an obstruction to the flow of people or when the flow of people exceeds the capacity of that site. From Interviews and secondary research, the problem of congestion was the biggest issue, and is continually growing which companies now are being faced with and looking to solve. To understand this problem of congestion more two observational studies were taken to experience the problem of congestion. This was to further understand the problem, causes and effects. 

The two studies were at Howth Cliff Walk and at the Belfast Christmas markets 2022. From this the problem of wayfinding was brought to attention. 

In the Belfast Christmas Markets the problem of congestion was extreme. There was a huddle of people all moving in whatever direction they could find. If people walked in a more uniform manor the time to get from one stall to another at the markets would reduce significantly. In a video taken at the market it took one person to move about 3metres in 30 seconds, having to swerve and stop often.

At both Markets and Cliff walk there was often patches of no congestion and then patches of extreme congestion. It was observed that the site could hold the number of people there if people behaved in an orderly communitive manner.  

When there is a lack of information or confusing information this also causes people to stop and thus resulting in congestion. This was seen at Howth Cliff Walk at the information sign at the start of the trail. Visitors would stand at the sign deciding on what walk and then figuring out where that walk was. Then more than often visitors would start walking and then get to the first intersection forgetting which one they decided and go back to the first sign to check again. 

The paths can get quite narrow. When there is a damaged muddy section in the trail people are having to slow down and walk around this section. When there are crowds of people this is also restricting the flow of people. Often people are changing which side of the trail they walk on which is also slowing down the movement of people. 

Findings from across primary and secondary research methods were gathered and highlighted between similarities creating areas for potential design opportunities. 

A major problem in Ireland and across the world is congestion of tourists. Tourists’ behaviour currently is congested and not efficient. Congestion is causing unsustainable effects on the community, landscape and tourism industry. Local peoples daily life is being disrupted by amount of people, there is damage being caused on paths and historical sites, as well as experience for tourists is being effected resulting in tourist site loosing income. 

How Might We Questions:

HMW Help staff better manage movement of people

HMW manage the consequences from people walking and land being damaged

HMW reduce physical congetion

HMW increase facilities ability to hold people

HMW spread people out across site

HMW help site manage or prevent fluctuating congestion

On the Howth Cliff Walk there were small, coloured arrow signs for showing direction of trail. If doing the blue trail, the visitor would know to follow the blue arrow sign. This sign inspired the final concept which is a digital directional signage system that would be based on congestion monitoring. 

The sign would inform tourist on best direction to go based on monitoring where and how many people there are. Google maps is a big success in congestion management. Bringing this idea into signage at a local tourist site could have a great effect on congestion problems in the tourism industry. The idea was originally for trail sites but through further development could also be used for indoor sites like museums. 

Solar panels are being used more and more and are currently used for powering road signs. Using solar panel to power the product will mean that the unit is self-sufficient and is less maintenance for the site manager. There is 1000 Watts of power in one square metre of sunlight and solar panels on average can get 15% of that power. 

The signpost material will be anodized aluminium. This will be extruded to create a sleek form that is both strong and appropriate to environmental conditions. This also allows options for different anodized finishes on the product.

The product will use a bolt down pole mount to fix the post into the ground. This part will be an off the shelf product which is used in existing signpost mounting. It has adjustability in height allowing for different depths of fixing. The material is stainless steel which will mean that soil acidity wont damage the material.

Electronics​​​​​​​

The two user interfaces are the screen and site managers app which accesses data and controls screen, also holds any necessary information about the signpost.