Data for decision and process optimization in one place - Business Intelligence combined with sales system
This post is part of a larger article.”AI at the service of heritage: Dynamic Pricing Droplabs and attendance prediction in shaping sustainable tourism behaviour in TPN“
The Challenge
Another important challenge that TPN wants to face is to minimize queues to buy admission tickets. Long queues lead to the gathering of a large number of people at critical points:
- A long wait and a large concentration of people in one place leads to increased production of garbage (packaging, cigarette butts), which often, despite the presence of baskets, land on the ground or are blown away by the wind.
- In addition, the gathering of a large group of people generates an increased level of noise, which negatively affects wild animals, disrupting their peace and natural behavior.
- Although the checkout points are usually paved, waiting outside the designated paths (especially in the season when the queues are very long) can lead to trampling and destruction of vegetation in the protection zone.
- Overloading toilets in a short time can lead to sanitary problems. As a result, this problem negatively affects both the comfort of tourists and the ecological peace of the Park.
- In addition, the long waiting time for the purchase of a ticket delays the start of the hike, reducing the time available on the trail, which can affect the safety of tourists (e.g. having to return after dark).
As if that were not enough, the abandonment of the printing of physical tickets by the service is essential on the scale of millions of tourists a year, reducing paper consumption. In addition, the problem of littering the Park by lost or discarded tickets is reduced, which further supports the protection of the delicate Tatra ecosystem.
The service of tourists who have purchased a ticket online is significantly faster than with transactions carried out at a physical cash point. TPN has already met tourists before, allowing online ticket holders to skip the queues at checkpoints. Unfortunately, in the Park and its immediate surroundings there are often problems with the coverage and stability of the Internet, making it difficult to purchase a ticket online on the spot. It is also a challenge to influence the behavior of tourists to make a purchase in advance. Since the price of entrance tickets to the Tatra National Park is regulated by law, applying the strategy as in the case of parking is not the first choice at this stage.
Solution
Adhering to the principle that you cannot effectively change what is not measured, Tatra National Park has launched a Business Intelligence (BI) system with the help of Droplabs to professionally monitor ticket purchase data through all available channels.
From the point of view of managers, it is one place in the form of a convenient screen in a web browser - to view and draw conclusions from data: attendance, advance purchase, popularity of hours, services, etc. In practice, thanks to it, you can track - also in comparative periods, for example, year to year - how indicators such as attendance or the share of tickets purchased online change.
The Business Intelligence (BI) system allows TPN to find answers to management and analytical questions in one place. To better understand what is hidden under the name Business Intelligence, let's look at sample questions, the answers to which this system can help to find:
- Communication: Has the strengthening of the communication message in the new channels translated into a real increase in the share of online ticket sales?
- Logistics: Is it possible to fill the ticket offices more efficiently, taking into account the hours at which admission tickets are purchased during the given periods of the year?
- Education: Is it possible to better adapt the educational message and the educational offer taking into account who visits the park? How many groups are there, what is the structure of discount, normal tickets? What is the participation of multi-day tickets?
- Research: How does data on the number of tourists in the Park at certain times correlate with recorded noise or pollution levels?
BI enables TPN to act on data, not just intuition. The BI system was configured by Droplabs, this company is also responsible for maintaining the transfer of structured data there, both from online channels and from ticket offices.
Increase in online participation for admission tickets
The increase in the popularity of buying tickets online to TPN is clear. In the first quarter of 2024, the share of tourists with an online ticket was 14%. In the following months, the momentum increased, reaching 22% in September 2024, to reach already in September 2025. 31%.
It should be noted that these statistics do not include tourists using the cable car to Kasprowy Wierch (operated by PKL) or persons paying a civil fee for entering the territory of the Community of Eligible Eight Villages in Witowo at the cash desks of the Chochołowska Valley (Siwa Polana) and Lejowa Valley. In the latter two cases, the sale is not carried out by TPN, but by the Forest Community of the Eight Authorized Villages.
Tatra National Park is actively looking for ways to influence the increase in the share of online shopping, which has a beneficial effect on both nature and the comfort of tourists. An example of this is the test launch of three Starlink Internet access points. The connection to the network is initiated by scanning a special QR code placed in: Palenica Białczańska, in the Kościeliska Valley and the Włosienica Glade.
This post is part of a larger article.”AI at the service of heritage: Dynamic Pricing Droplabs and attendance prediction in shaping sustainable tourism behaviour in TPN“
