Born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City ,
the hustle and bustle of life sometimes makes me a passerby in my own
familiar land. This time, I decided to give myself a real vacation, to
rediscover the familiar street corners and architectural works from the
perspective of a tourist. Saigon tours
Instead of just picking up backpack and going by instinct, I decided to plan
my trip very specifically, to make sure I didn't miss any interesting
corners of this city.
Accessing the website visithcmc.vn - the city’s official tourism portal, I
felt like I was lost in a surprisingly vivid world appearing right on my
computer screen.
With just a few clicks, I was able to "stand" in the ancient space of the
Central Post Office, admire every detail of the Gothic architecture of the
City Theater, or "take a walk" around the Independence Palace through the
3D/360-degree interactive tourist map. Everything was so intuitive and
realistic that I could clearly visualize my schedule, with unprecedented
ease.
This experience, though small, is a sharp slice, a vivid proof that Ho Chi
Minh City's tourism industry has been undergoing a strong "transformation"
in the digital age.
The 360-degree digital map on the VisitHCMC website is an impressive
welcome, but to truly experience the breakthrough of the city's tourism, I
had to set foot on each destination myself. And I chose to start my journey
from the places that hold the memories of this city: the museums.
My first stop was the War Remnants Museum. Instead of the familiar image of
long and dense captions, now next to each artifact is a compact QR code. A
simple scan with the phone, and the story behind each tragic memento of war
is suddenly brought to life through a warm voiceover in the headset, or
through detailed articles with accompanying documentary images displayed
right on the phone screen. History is no longer silent words, but has become
a story told that is more personalized, profound and accessible than ever.
The journey continued to take me to the Ton Duc Thang Museum, and technology
once again surprised me. Just earlier this year, the Ton Duc Thang Museum
underwent a large-scale renovation. From a museum steeped in tradition, the
Ton Duc Thang Museum today meets the requirements of conveying exhibition
themes in a modern, digital space.
Here, Uncle Ton's life and great career are not just confined in glass
display cabinets. They are recreated on a large interactive screen, where I
can actively "touch" the timeline, explore each important milestone, and
watch valuable documentary footage. It is no longer a one-way information
reception, but a lively dialogue with history.
This experience suddenly brought back to me the memory of my trip to
Singapore in 2017. I was extremely amazed when I visited the Buddha Tooth
Relic Temple and Museum and saw that they applied automatic explanation
technology via QR codes, touch screens to look up information or view
artifacts in 3D. At that time, I secretly wished that heritage destinations
in Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular would soon have
such advances.
And now, I realize that wish has come true. A sense of pride creeps into me.
The city's tourism and cultural industry has not only learned but has
gradually caught up with the world's technological trends. They are using
the language of the digital age to breathe new life into the heritage,
helping historical values ??not to be forgotten but to become closer to the
public, especially the younger generation.
The impressive technological experiences I had at museums or on the
VisitHCMC tourism portal were not isolated, spontaneous efforts. Behind them
was a strategic vision, a decisive and systematic direction of the city
government. That was the policy "lever", creating a solid launching pad for
the entire tourism industry to break through.
The core of this strategy is the project "Developing smart tourism in Ho Chi
Minh City for the period 2020-2025, with a vision to 2030", approved by the
Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee in 2020.
More than just a guiding document, this project outlines a detailed roadmap
with a core goal: to build and form a synchronous smart tourism ecosystem.
This ecosystem will closely connect 3 parties: state management agencies -
businesses - tourists, through common technology platforms.
Looking more closely, I realized that VisitHCMC is a tangible product of the
project, and those QR codes or touch screens are the "extended arms",
bringing official information directly to visitors in an attractive way.
They turn the quiet heritage spaces into lively, soulful and storytelling
spaces.
The project also mentions the development of a shared data warehouse (Big
Data). This is considered the "brain" of the city's tourism industry, where
information about the market, tourists, tourism products, and service
providers is gathered and analyzed. This data helps management agencies make
accurate forecasts and decisions, and helps businesses better understand the
needs of tourists.
No matter how visionary a strategy is, it will only remain on paper without
dedicated people to implement it. What impressed me most when learning about
the digital transformation story of city tourism is the formation of a
dynamic "ecosystem" where there is strong resonance between the government,
businesses and training schools.
Hot topics of the times such as "Application of AI to personalize tourist
experiences" or "Challenges and solutions for tourism human resources in the
digital age" are no longer vague discussions. They have become real
dialogues, where a travel business can order a technology solution from an
IT company, and tourism students can listen to shape their career path.
This close cooperation ensures that the digital transformation of city
tourism does not just stop at the surface, but really goes into depth,
firmly rooted from the technology platform to the quality of human
resources.
Returning home after a day of wandering around Ho Chi Minh City, I was still
filled with an indescribable joy. The familiar city suddenly became new and
attractive. That feeling of excitement urged me to do something I had not
thought of for a long time: plan a further trip, to explore more fully the
beauty of the country.
Another surprise came. When browsing familiar e-commerce platforms to shop,
I came across a series of tours and resort combos from reputable travel
agencies being offered right there. The "products" that were only available
at travel agencies were now neatly placed in the online shopping cart.
I suddenly realized that these were the first "sweet fruits" of digital
transformation. By putting products on online "supermarkets", businesses not
only reach a huge number of customers, but can also optimize operations and
listen to customers better. The game has really changed.
A week later, I arrived at Tan Son Nhat Airport’s new, modern T3 terminal to
begin my journey beyond Ho Chi Minh City. It was here that I experienced
another impressive touchpoint technology: biometric security check-in. This
revolutionary convenience has contributed to the realization of the vision
of a smart, modern megacity.
Sitting on the plane, looking at the sparkling city lights below, I
understood that the digital transformation I was witnessing was not a
destination, but a journey without a stopping point. From a click on a 360
map, through QR codes in museums, to the biometric system at the airport,
all have demonstrated a far-sighted vision. Ho Chi Minh City still has a lot
of potential to go further, towards the goal of becoming a leading smart
tourism center in Asia, bringing increasingly wonderful experiences to
visitors and cultivating pride for every citizen of the city.
Source:
https://saigontraveltour.com/sai-gon-travel-blog/ho-chi-minh-plans-to-become-smart-tourism-destination/
