Earlier this year a UK tourism board turned the idea of the traditional city centre bureau on its head - turning its Manchester facility into something closer to an Apple Store.
Filled with technology and interactive ways of exploring the city, the switch seemed to work: two-thirds of visitors cited the new facilities as the reason why they’d use it again; and 58% of visitors discovered new places to visit in the city by finding it on the various devices in-store.
Perhaps inspired by this, but generally with the changes to retailing in recent years and popularity of the Apple Stores, Thomas Cook is about to open a hi-tech travel agency which, lo and behold, also looks and feels like a facility belonging to the consumer tech giant.
Read full story at: http://www.tnooz.com/2012/12/07/news/now-travel-agencies-want-to-be-like-apple-stores/