As the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has expanded, the world's tourism sector is facing requirements for quickly transforming from traditional tourism to ‘smart tourism’. Viet Nam is no exception.
By applying technology to tourism, it is hoped that in the future, Viet Nam will have systems in place to enable tourists to book hotels and tickets to enter attractions without support from travel agencies.
In macro-economic cope, Decree 07/2017/ND-CP, dated January 25, 2017 guiding the pilot implementation of an e-visa scheme for visitors from 40 countries and Government’s Resolution 124/NQ-CP dated May 4, 2017 on six more countries on the pilot e-visa program were regarded as breakthroughs to facilitate international guests in Viet Nam.
To grasp opportunities from the 4IR, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc on May 4, 2017 issued Directive 16/CT-TTg on strengthening of the ability to access the 4IR. Especially, the document requires all sectors and levels to seize opportunities and seek practical solutions especially building strategies on digital conversion and smart administration.
Specifically, in November, 2017, Da Nang city introduced Chatbot Danang Fanstaticity which supports visitors to search tourism information on Da nang (destinations, weather, roads), and other utilities.
In Ha Noi, the Centre for Scientific and Cultural Activities of Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature – National University) on January 11, 2018 put into operation an automatic multi-language guide system to serve domestic and foreign tourists. The system provides service in eight languages, namely Vietnamese, English, French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Chinese.
The Ninh Binh Tourism Department and the Ninh Binh Telecom on January 16 signed a cooperative deal to deploy a smart tourism model in Ninh Binh.
By Kim Loan