Hanoi improves travel experience by digitizing tourist sites

Hanoi has completed the data sharing of more than 300 tourist attractions in the city, as one of the measures to encourage tourism businesses to renovate their travel services.

Visitors scan electronic tickets at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi. Photo: Minh Anh

Tran Trung Hieu, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Tourism Department, said that through the integrated database, domestic and foreign tourists can dig into information about destinations before setting out.

He added: "Tourism businesses can reach out to potential customers, expand new services to meet market trends, and optimize human resources, operating costs, and time thanks to the application of digital technology."

Recently, a large number of tourist sites in Hanoi have actively applied new technologies in product development and operation management.

At the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, the management has applied QR codes for visitors to find information about relic sites, in addition to automatic ticket control and guest management software to improve their management.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum's iMuseum VFA, a multimedia guide app, is one of the museum's first efforts to introduce artworks to visitors and promote museum artifacts in the digital environment.

Meanwhile, the Temple of Literature is using 3D mapping to recreate ancient documents and artifacts while digitizing data from ancient examination courses and doctoral steles.

Le Xuan Kieu, Director of the Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities of the Temple of Literature, said the Temple of Literature has introduced an audio guide service in 12 languages.

Bat Trang Pottery Village in Gia Lam District uses virtual reality (VR) technology to help visitors immerse themselves in the village's handicraft festival.

Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, Director of the Hoa Lo Prison Relic Management Board, said: "Digital transformation is one of the important solutions for us in connection with tourism businesses to build tours to attract tourists to Hanoi."

The Management Board has cooperated with Hanoitourist Travel Company to promote night tour products on their websites, Facebook, and Zalo social networks, she said.

According to the deputy director of the municipal Department of Tourism, the city also continues to upgrade its website and social networking sites to promote Hanoi tourism in line with new market trends. 

Building synchronized national tourism data 

Phu Quoc Island, one of the world's leading travel destinations for tourists. Photo: Sun Group

Over the years, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) have focused on building digital platforms to create a smart tourism ecosystem towards synchronization across the country. This strengthens connectivity and support for industry stakeholders, from central and local authorities to tourism sites, service providers, and tourists.

The VNAT's Tourism Information has developed and published a guide on digital transformation in the tourism industry to support localities in digital transformation and building a synchronized digital ecosystem.

Speaking at a national conference on tourism on March 15, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung urged the VNAT and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to continue investing in websites and mobile applications.

Vietnam is making efforts to build a professional and synchronized national tourism data portal and connect with localities to promote the tourism industry, he emphasized.