The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism carries out a communications campaign with a series of videos themed “Vietnam: Travel to Love” on Youtube digital platform. (Photo: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)
Hanoi (VNA) – With digital transformation accelerated, a kaleidoscope ofsmart tourism offerings has been developed to provide new experiences for travelersand help recover the tourism industry, which was battered by the COVID-19pandemic.
Accordingto Chairman of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen TrungKhanh, the VNAT has joined hands with domestic and international partners toapply advanced technologies in tourism promotion activities.
Two years ago, the tourism authority in collaboration with Google to launch theonline exhibition project “Wonders of Vietnam”, an online exhibition project aspart of Google Arts & Culture (GA&C) that allows everyone to exploreart, history and the wonders of the world.
The "Wonders of Vietnam" project was launched as part of Google Arts and Culture that allows everyone to explore art, history and wonders of the world. (Screenshot photo)
Featuring 35stories and over 1,300 sumptuous photos of iconic sites, historical heritage,nature, cuisine and culture of Central Vietnam, the project is a unique way forhungry travellers to virtually explore. It is also an important part ofGoogle’s overall support of the local tourism industry, which has been badlyaffected by pandemic-related travel restrictions.
With initial support from Google, it continues to carry out a communicationscampaign with a series of videos themed “Vietnam: Travel to Love” on Youtubedigital platform, alongside with various activities to popularise Vietnamesetourism on websites and social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Zalo andViber.
Seeing the significance of digital transformation to tourism development, manycities and provinces have worked to renew marketing strategy as well as buildnew products to better meet tourists’ demand.
Most recently, the People’s Committee of Sa Pa town, Lao Cai provinceinaugurated a centre for supervision and management of smart urban areas, whichpilots the use of 3D technology to provide virtual tourism information andservices of local tourism sites for visitors, local residents and businesses.
With support of the 360Virtual Reality (VR 360) technology, a virtual tour was carried out for thefirst time in the Northwestern region in the end of 2020, allowing visitors toimmerse themselves fully within a virtual space of Moc Chau tourism site.From the outset of the year, the number of searches of Vietnamese tourism grewfrom 11th fastest rate to 7th globally, and Vietnam wasthe only Southeast Asian country in the top 10, according to data from Google’sDestination Insights.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung attributed the rise tothe tourism’s efforts to promote digital transformation, describing it aneffective tool to nudge Vietnamese destinations closer to internationalfriends.
However, he said, there are several challenges to the digital transformationprocess, which include a shortage of human resources and modern technologies andincomplete digital infrastructure.
Many tourism businesses, which are operating in a small scale, are not able tocover the expenses of advanced technologies, thus, their access to smarttourism is still humble, he added.
Nguyen Hang Huu Tam, a representative from the Nam Cuong Hai Phong hotel chain,said that marketing staff at the hotel fail to meet the requirements of digitaltransformation, and the business is seeking ways to go digitalised based onits budget./.
