Tourist Board uses artistic QR codes to promote city tours

Grey Group Hong Kong|Grey Group Hong Kong|Grey Group Hong Kong

Hong Kong city has found an innovative way to promote their Old Town Central area.

The Hong Kong Tourist Board has come up with a unique way to encourage tourists to visit the City’s Old Town Central area: QR codes. Rather than just putting up the traditional black and white QR code though, the Tourist Board have transformed them into colorful pieces of art. People then simply scan the codes for one of four tours of the area.

The Central district is made up of four distinct areas: Tasting Hong Kong, Crazy for Art, Treasure Hunt and Time Traveler. When you scan in the code it links to the Hong Kong Tourist Board website, where you’ll find a tour linked to that theme and other sources of information. The Tourist Board also recruited five dogs to tour the area with cameras strapped to their backs. The cameras were rigged so that they took a photo whenever the dog’s tale wagged greater than 45-degrees in any one direction – so, technically, they only took photos of things that made them happy.

The QR code, which started out as a simple pattern of black and white squares is evolving in some interesting ways. Vodafone in Romania created a virtual library using the codes, and QueueHop and Twist invented a way of shopping that allows you to pay for things as you shop via QR codes. Have we reached the limits of QR code technology though, or are there plenty of other untapped opportunities?