New tool enables guests to financially support beloved destinations.
WishTrip, a leading tourism experience management platform, is releasing a new digital crowdfunding solution that allows attractions, such as zoos, aquariums, and national parks, to create location-based crowdfunding campaigns for the very first time. Launching as a beta version, Dynamic Crowdfunding increases monetary contributions by connecting guests, through their mobile app, with the real-time environment within the destination they are currently visiting and showing them how they can help contribute in tangible and meaningful ways. With many visitor attractions looking to recoup some of their losses due to the financial impact of Covid-19, Dynamic Crowdfunding takes the best aspects of internet crowdfunding campaigns and adds additional functionality to make it an especially powerful fundraising tool.
Even prior to the pandemic, most visitor attractions didn’t rely on visitor contributions as a significant revenue stream. According to a recent survey of museums in the UK, the average donation size was approximately £1 per patron, a representative picture of most visitor attractions. In contrast, internet crowdfunding platforms raise over $84 billion annually, demonstrating that people are willing to open their hearts and wallets when moved. Dynamic crowdfunding creates these moments throughout the destination giving visitors multiple opportunities to find a cause that inspires them. This gives destinations and attractions access to contributions that they wouldn't have otherwise.
WishTrip CEO Bezalel Lenzizky says the company is “honored to provide a completely new type of solution that will help recreational, educational, and cultural destinations thrive in a time of crisis and beyond”. He adds that “most visitor destinations and attractions are leaving money on the table simply because they are asking for donations at the wrong time. The Dynamic Crowdunding platform lets destination managers pick the perfect moment to ask by showing how a specific contribution will help the exhibit or trail a visitor is enjoying at that time.”
The idea came to Lenzizky after puzzling over why popular and often overcrowded destinations he worked with still seemed to be struggling with expenses. He came to understand that despite visitor destinations and attractions being lucky enough to have a self-selected interested group of people coming through their gates to enjoy the site, they were not doing in-destination fundraising according to best practices. If they are asked for a financial contribution at all, it is at the gate when people are tired and ready to leave.
With Dynamic Crowdfunding, attraction managers are able to quickly and easily set up and experiment with various crowdfunding opportunities throughout their site, based on area, exhibit, time of day, or even day of the week. For example, if a guest visits a tiger exhibit in a zoo during lunch hours, they will have the opportunity to fund the animals’ meal, giving them the chance to help provide the resources that the zoo needs. The pre-release version is now available to all WishTrip destinations.
The announcement of the Dynamic Crowdfunding beta comes after WishTrip recently released a suite of solutions to help destinations safely reopen their doors amid the coronavirus pandemic. The addition of the crowdfunding tool gives both long-term benefits, as well as immediate help now for destinations that lost revenue in 2020.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
