Illustrative photo (Source: baothuathienhue.vn) Thua Thien Hue (VNA) – The central province of Thua Thien Hue has been building foundations for digital transformation serving local administration reform and creating a driving force for socio-economic growth.
As early as 2014, the province launched five shared software following the direction of shared infrastructure and centralised database.
In 2016, the provincial portal for online public administrative services came into operation.
In 2019, the local authority issued Decision 1779/QD-UBND approving a plan for smart urban services development.
In July 2020, it issued Decision 1957/QD-UBND approving the provincial digital transformation programme following the motto of paperless; meetings without mass gathering; online public administrative services; and cashless payment.
Under the programme, by 2030, Thua Thien Hue will complete its digital government and society models, with the smart urban model becoming popular in social and public management, and digital economy a core method for promoting socio-economic growth.
Talking to the press in mid-June, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Phan Ngoc Tho said stepping up digital transformation in administrative agencies has contributed significantly to administrative reform, cutting related paperwork, time, and costs.
Digital transformation in the sector is a key condition for the promotion of such transformation across economic spheres.
Since 2020 to date, to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control, the local authorities have promoted online meetings from communal to provincial levels.
According to the provincial Department of Information and Communication, to date, 100 percent of the local administrative procedures have been offered online at level 2 and above.
All documents submitted by people and businesses are recorded in an electronic one-stop system, so they can look up the settlement status of their applications via the Internet, SMS, or Zalo.
In addition, the province is piloting a digital government project that put the people at its centre.
Prioritising digital transformation in tourism
Nguyen Thanh Binh, Vice Chairman of the provincial People Committee, said in 2021, the province focuses on digital transformation in four sectors, with tourism one of the priorities.
Currently, a large number of smart tourism models and products have been formed such as virtual reality models, automatic audio narrations at relic sites, the digitisation of cultural heritages, and smart tourist cards.
Binh listed key tasks for the time to come, including building digital database and infrastructure for tourism, developing applications to connect central and local management activities and smart apps to serve tourists, and training tourism personnel.
At a Thua Thien Hue digital transformation week held in late April, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung underscored that the province must become a destination for large technological events of the nation and the world toward the goals of developing tourism and technology as well as becoming a digital transformation model.
The COVID-19 pandemic has a major impact on tourism in Vietnam, and Thua Thien-Hue province is no exception. The pandemic has forced the suspension of many tourism promotion plans here, pushed a number of travel companies to the brink of bankruptcy, and caused thousands of layoffs in the sector.
The provincial tourism sector lost about 2.25 trillion VND (97.4 million USD) so far this year, as the number of holidaymakers dropped 55 percent year-on-year. /.
VNA
