New digital transformation initiatives for the tourism industry

Vietnam's first digital art space, SongLab

Duong Do, founder and implementation director of SongLab, said, “The biggest goal of this space is to create opportunities for people to come into contact with contemporary art and the most advanced technologies in the world. The space combines technology, entertainment, education, culture, and art.”

Meanwhile, Non Nuoc Stone Carving Village, one of the oldest and most renowned carving villages in Danang, has embraced blockchain technology. Its award-winning stone-carved products are fitted with blockchain chips, so tourists can use smart devices to scan the chips and watch videos and images of the products. Tourists can learn about the history of the craft village, the production process, the stories, as well as verify the quality of the product with full transparency.

Likewise, Ca Mau province is adopting 3D technology to provide virtual tourists with information and services about local sites for visitors, residents, and businesses. The project contractor iPEC has been taking photos and filming 3D movies of the 21 most popular tourist sites in Ca Mau.

Speaking at a conference in September, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha said, "The national strategy for developing the digital economy and society towards 2025 has set out a number of key tasks for the tourism industry. The development of infrastructure and applications such as the internet of things, AI, interactive VR, cloud computing, and big data analytics is one such focus of the digital transformation in tourism," he added.

According to a report from Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, online travel is one of the five sectors driving growth in Vietnam's digital economy. Online travel has skyrocketed 83 per cent, from $3 billion in 2022 to $5 billion in 2023m with the figure expected to reach $7 billion by 2025.

In order to be at the forefront of this change, Be Group has signed an MoU on strategic cooperation with Sun World. Both firms have committed to promoting local tourism to their 25-million-strong customer base and to facilitate access to local tourist spots in more creative and interesting ways.

Be Group will also build and integrate new digital services, starting with making e-tickets for Sun World entertainment and sightseeing available on its multiservice platform, along with more diverse payment methods. The group will also develop new digital experiences for tourists visiting Sun World's facilities in the future. Such digital technology solutions are expected to help simplify Sun World's advance ticket booking procedures, improving the customer experience for visitors as they will be able to plan their trips more easily.

Vu Hoang Yen, CEO of Be Group, said, "There was a sharp increase in search volume for Vietnam as a tourist destination on Google in the first and second quarters of 2023, ranking the country 7th in the world. It is, therefore, an honour for us to have the opportunity to sign this agreement with Sun World so that both parties can collaborate to keep creating new products that bring exciting and memorable experiences for tourists visiting our country."

Vu Hoang Yen, CEO, Be Group, after signing an MoU with Sun World

Tourism industry embarks on digital journey Within the framework of the Vietnam International Tourism Mart Hanoi 2022, the Tourism Information Centre coordinated with Vietsens Group to organise a programme named Digital Transformation in the Tourism Industry on April 2.

Localities accelerate digital transformation in tourism Localities nationwide are accelerating digital transformation to create breakthroughs in the tourism sector.

Localities go creative in digital tourism Accelerating digitalisation is a solution for tourism businesses to reduce operating costs and open up opportunities to improve visitor experiences.