The Da Nang Municipal Department of Tourism recently coordinated with related units to organise a seminar on improving digital transformation capacity and smart lighting solutions at tourist accommodation establishments in 2022.

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 needs 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 witnessed significant changes. Creating new experiences and unique tourism products through digital transformation solutions, and optimising operations at accommodation facilities is important for the overall growth of the sector, he said.

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 coordinated 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 conversation in Vietnam.

During its six-month trial, the chatbot was updated with relevant information about famous destinations, events, weather, ATM locations, and hotlines, among others, according to the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre. 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 price promotions. A wide range of attraction sites, tourist activities, and entertainment outlets around the city offer e-coupons via the chatbot. The technology can also communicate with international tourists as it offers English for all its information categories.

Given the benefits of AI apps, experts believe that Vietnam’s tourism sector should promote the widespread use of AI by building an AI development process and continually applying it to measure its compatibility with the set targets. It is necessary to connect with the suppliers of relevant products and services to create a complete chatbot ecosystem for tourism.

Da Nang has accelerated tourism through digital transformation and plans to modernise other segments of the economy as well. To boost e-commerce, in April, traders at wet markets in the city went cashless using the e-wallet mobile application Viettel Money, under a 4.0 wet market model. Owners of over 1,000 stalls at Da Nang’s three major wet markets, namely Con, Han, and Dong Da, used QR codes that allowed customers to make online payments through access to select banks and Viettel Money.

In the 2021 Digital Transformation Index (DTI) rankings, released this month, Da Nang topped the list for cities and provinces, scoring 0.6419 points, 0.1545 higher than the 2020 ranking released last year. Thua Thien-Hue came in second place (0.5872 points) and Ho Chi Minh City climbed two spots to rank third.