Overlooking Hue with a 360-degree image application
Convenient for tourists
On July 1, 2018, the Provincial Border Guard Command applied an electronic border defense procedure system to connect the National One-Stop Online Portal with sea tourist cruisers to Chan May Port.
This enables the immigration control work closely, ensuring security and safety, and shortening the time for immigration procedure for tourists. Previously, when the procedure was not applied, it took 2 - 3 hours to complete the procedure for tourists to get off the cruiser, now only about 30 minutes.
Representatives of Saigontourist Company said that shortening the time for immigration procedures has created conditions for the businesses to organize the tours to Hue and Central Vietnam more suitably, increasing the time to visit Hue City; tourists can use many services and increase their expenditure in Hue.
One difficulty not only in Hue but also in many localities is a lack of tour guides, especially in rare languages. Mr. Le Dinh Huy, Vice Chairman of the Association of Guides said if the number of tourists of a cruiser from Chan May Port to Hue City for sightseeing is huge, there will not be enough guides to provide. This greatly affects the quality of the tours.
Tourists do immigration procedures at Chan May Port
This difficulty is partly solved in June 2019 when Hue Monuments Conservation Center applied Audio guide technology, automating the explanation for sightseers, especially international tourists and tourists speaking rare languages.
Aside from Vietnamese, the explanatory content is translated into 11 other languages, including English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Portuguese. There are 5 sites where this service is provided:the Citadel, Minh Mang Mausoleum, Tu Duc Mausoleum, Khai Dinh Mausoleum, Thien Mu Pagoda. The Citadel and Tu Duc Mausoleum are the first two sites applied.
Recently, Hue tourism has developed the application to support tourists in experiencing tourism with 360-degree image technology. This image technology publicizes, communicates and promotes tourism. It integrates smart tourist services on multiple devices such as touch screens, phones, computers, tablets ... to support tourists.
According to the leaders of the Department of Tourism, with the 360-degree technology application, people and tourists can observe Hue City from above including overall tourist destinations such as the Citadel, the system of royal mausoleums, Thien Mu Pagoda... Also, the explanatory content for each site is brief and concise. This app also integrates directions for tourists to attractions. The first step was highly evaluated by tourists about the utility.
One of the technological applications can be cited is the virtual reality technology, which helps tourists see the 200-year-old royal palace with their own eyes, also creating novelties for tourists. In the State management, the tourism sector has also applied the software "Receiving and sending tourism statistics reports", which helps to effectively and scientifically manage the data source from the business result reports; helps to facilitate management, to limit the incorrect declaration of the number of tourists to Hue.
Building a smart tourism ecosystem
Hue is implementing the smart urban construction, so the application of new technology applications will enrich the smart tourism ecosystem, contributing to meeting the needs of high-tech experience, providing images in a convenient and effective way at the lowest cost for tourists.
Recently, the Provincial People's Committee issued the Plan No. 111 / KH-UBND on the implementation of the "Master plan on information technology application in the field of tourism in the 2019-2020 period and the orientation to 2025". The requirement set down is to increase the information technology application to develop a smart tourism ecosystem in order to proactively meet the specific and specialized needs of the tourist market, and to support tourism businesses in effective connection.
The plan to 2020 is to invest in basic infrastructure in order to serve the development of smart tourism services; to form a basis for integrating, sharing and connecting for the tourism sector on the basis of integrating, sharing and connecting smart urban services of the province... By 2025, the synchronous development of the smart tourism ecosystem will have been associated with Vietnamese knowledge system, digitization and smart urban models...
Tourism leaders said that the first step of the plan is to build an App for Hue tourism. This App not only provides the complete information for tourists but also issues warnings, receives and gives the feedback on bad images of tourism towards a safe, friendly tourism environment.
Mr. Truong Thanh Minh, Director of the Center for Tourism Promotion Information said that the tourism sector is in the process of building the information supply stations in Hue City. At the stations, in addition to the traditional information support, a lot of modern equipment is also supplied to better support tourists.
Story and photos: Duc Quang