The central coastal province of Thua-Thien Hue, especially Hue City, is projected to become a smart tourist destination in the years to come, having invested in technology, infrastructure and relevant services based on a recently approved smart tourism plan.
A foreign visitor bargains with a female vendor in the file photo.
When the smart tourism ecosystem further develops, bargaining will no longer
be necessary as tourists will know in advance the prices and sites of tourism products
Le Huu Minh, acting director of the provincial Department of Tourism, said the department has prepared a project titled “Smart Tourism” on developing a smart tourism ecosystem as a core business to provide essential services for locals and tourists. For instance, visitors traveling between historical sites or popular destinations will require convenient transport modes, standard infrastructure facilities and tourism products.
The project is part of the provincial government's larger scheme to develop smart urban services in the province until 2020, with a vision toward 2025, with investment capital of VND325 billion.
To get the project off the ground, the tourism sector will have to develop a system that supports tourists in searching for necessary information, give them counsel on tour packages for the city and help them plan itineraries, Minh added. Software will be developed, based on artificial intelligence, to operate independently, answer tourists’ questions automatically and help them solve problems, Minh explained.
Apart from this, the project will include the creation of an application that enables tourists to find smart tours, make decisions and work out traveling costs. In addition, it will offer multiple options for visitors, such as types of tourism (adventure, families, leisure) and types of residences (hotels, home stays, resorts), and will allow users to enter details on the number of adults and children on the trip, the planned budget and preferred tour itineraries to find out the most suitable options. The application will be integrated with a website promoting Hue tourism.
Hue has seen limited applications of technology to the tourism sector, according to tour operators, as visitors can only book available tours offered by travel agencies. Meanwhile, those who want to design their own tours, particularly expats, have difficulty finding the necessary information to plan for their trips, except for sightseeing at the Hue Imperial Citadel.
Therefore, the project should be launched as soon as possible to create more favorable conditions for tourists visiting Hue City as well as attract additional visitors in the future.