The Da Nang Municipal Department of Tourism recently coordinated a seminar on improving digital transformation capacity and smart lighting solutions in tourist accommodation establishments this year.
The event was an opportunity for associations and businesses providing services to explore solutions for digital transformation, smart lighting, and convenient and smart technology. The first step in the process of tourism digital transformation is to upgrade facilities and invest in modern equipment for accommodation facilities to meet the demand of personalised experiences.
According to the Deputy Director of the Da Nang Municipal Department of Tourism, since the COVID-19 epidemic, the tourism industry has not completely recovered, and the behaviour and trends of tourists have overcome significant changes. Creating new experiences and unique tourism products through digital transformation, and optimising operations at accommodation facilities is important for the overall growth of the sector.
Many tourist accommodation establishments have focused on smart lighting solutions, which reduce labour, operation and electricity costs. These solutions boost the competitiveness of tourist accommodation establishments by increasing the quality of customer experiences.
In February, Da Nang became the second city in Southeast Asia to deploy chatbot tech for tourism. In an attempt to increase the variety of tourist self-service tools and information channels, the municipal Tourism Department worked along with a private artificial intelligence (AI) developer to create and pilot Chatbot Danang Fantasticity, the first automatic tourism information search and support channel via text message in Vietnam.
According to the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre, during its six-month trial the chatbot was updated with relevant information about famous destinations, events, weather, ATM locations, and hotlines, among others. The Event Countdown is one of Danang FantastiCity Chatbot’s notable features. The function helps tourists avoid missing out on any ongoing or future events in the city, and can even plan routes to the destinations, as OpenGov Asia reported.
By registering with an email or phone number, tourists can receive e-coupon bar codes with special offers. A wide range of attraction sites, tourist activities, and entertainment outlets around the city offer e-coupons via the chatbot. This technology can also communicate with international tourists as it offers English for all its information categories.
Given the benefits of AI, experts believe that Vietnam’s tourism sector should promote the widespread use of these apps. Perhaps Ha Long Bay, located in the northern Quang Ninh province, may be one of the next places to implement this initiative. As one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, it is an ideal destination for the development of an AI process and continuous application to see its compatibility with established goals. It is crucial to connect with relevant product and service providers to create a complete chatbot system for tourism.