Theme park guests want artificial intelligence ID checks

Theme park guests want artificial intelligence ID checks

More than eight in ten theme park guests say they want to see artificial intelligence used for ID verification to make visits as trouble-free as possible, according to cloud-based tech firm Omnico. In its new Omnico Theme Park Barometer, which … Continue reading

More than eight in ten theme park guests say they want to see artificial intelligence used for ID verification to make visits as trouble-free as possible, according to cloud-based tech firm Omnico.

In its new Omnico Theme Park Barometer, which surveyed the expectations of 3,470 consumers from five countries, it found that 85% of respondents from the US, UK, China, Japan and Malaysia were in favour of using AI as an ID check.

Chinese visitors are keenest, with 92% in favour of allowing AI to recognise their physical attributes.

Fingertip recognition is the most popular method of verification across the five countries (selected by 32%), although China is the exception, with facial recognition the preference among 41% of its them park visitors.  Palm-recognition was favoured by 15% overall.

“Theme park visitors want to be part of the revolution in technology,” said Mel Taylor, CEO, Omnico Group. “Everyone can see how AI and other advances such as virtual and augmented reality will take the hassle out of visits. It’s time for operators to recognise that technology is essential to giving visitors the enjoyable, all-round experience they now demand.”

The survey found that 89% of respondents, who had all visited a theme park in the last two years, want virtual reality technology to help them get more out of theme park visits by, for example, using headsets to choose rides (selected by 37%), restaurants, hotel rooms and souvenirs, or obtaining a bird’s eye view of the park on arrival (36%).

Chinese visitors were most enthusiastic for the potential of VR, with 98% saying they wanted to see it integrated into theme parks. The most popular use for VR in China is for obtaining a view of the park (53%), whereas in the US and UK it is for choosing rides (42% and 34% respectively). Japanese respondents were less enthusiastic, with the most popular use for VR being the choice of restaurant (34%). For Malaysians the best use for VR is helping choose restaurants and hotel rooms (50% for each).