Race to bring AI and technology into tourism

The 2025 United Nations Vesak Festival takes place from May 6 to 8, but many days before that, hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world have flocked to Ho Chi Minh City to participate in the festival, worship the relics of Buddha Shakyamuni and the Heart relics of Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc.

No surprise

According to experts and tourism businesses, the 2025 United Nations Vesak Festival is not only a place for people and visitors to worship but also an opportunity for the tourism industry to promote destinations, images, and people of Vietnam to friends around the world.

Notably, at the reception area at the center of the 2025 Vesak Festival, many visitors were surprised by the appearance of intelligent reception robots. A total of 6 robots were arranged here, capable of communicating in 6 popular languages ​​in countries with large Buddhist followers, including: Vietnamese, English, Chinese, Indian, Thai and Sri Lanka.

Mr. Dinh Hoang Kien, founder of VedaX Company - the unit deploying the artificial intelligence (AI) platform to serve the 2025 United Nations Vesak Festival, said that an AI system integrated on the VedaX AI Platform, using ZeroChat and ZeroPhone technology, has been deployed by the festival's organizing committee on 6 robots. Visitors only need to press the "Start call" button to hear answers to information about the festival schedule, worship activities, academic seminars, cultural and artistic programs, parking lot locations, restroom areas, etc.

Previously, Ho Chi Minh City tourism exploded in April as the whole country looked forward to the April 30th holiday, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day. According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, in just 15 days (from April 20 to May 4), the city welcomed about 2.7 million domestic tourists and more than 355,000 international visitors. Revenue reached a "huge" level - more than VND 15,700 billion. This is an outstanding growth result, playing an important role in promoting the second quarter of 2025 target of the Ho Chi Minh City tourism industry.

In fact, this is the "sweet fruit" that tourism in Ho Chi Minh City and the whole country has reaped after a period of investing in service products, building unique and attractive tours and routes, including the application of technology.

Currently, in the trend of digital transformation, the city's tourism industry continues to promote the application of technology in promotion, advertising and market connection. Most recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism signed a cooperation agreement with B2B e-commerce platform Arobid to build a smart, modern and sustainable tourism ecosystem.

According to the agreement, Arobid will build and operate digital exhibitions for many important events, such as the Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair - ITE HCMC, Ho Chi Minh City River Festival, Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Week, and other tourism stimulus programs during the year. In addition, the two sides will also research and develop an online job exchange specializing in tourism to address human resource needs and improve the quality of human resources for the Ho Chi Minh City tourism industry.

Tourists enjoy the reception robot at the 2025 United Nations Vesak Festival. Photo: LE TINH

Required

As a partner with Arobid to develop a specialized digital exhibition platform for the golf and golf tourism industry, Mr. Trinh Thanh - General Secretary of the Vietnam Golf Tourism Association - commented that bringing the tourism industry to e-commerce will help businesses save operating costs and improve their ability to access international markets.

According to Mr. Trinh Thanh, instead of each enterprise having to invest in its own website, digital platform, multilingual system or AI technology, units in the industry can take advantage of existing platforms such as Arobid to introduce the entire service ecosystem, from golf courses, hotels, restaurants to transportation at the same point. "International tourists only need to access the platform to compare prices and quality of tourism enterprises from North to South and conveniently book services online. Enterprises need to proactively standardize information, images, clear service prices and service quality to ensure consistency when integrating into the platform. Build flexible pricing policies and closely link units in the service chain to create attractive product packages," said Mr. Thanh.

Ho Chi Minh City's tourism industry is also coordinating to deploy a smart "check-in" station - a solution that brings a completely new interactive tourism experience. Mr. Huy Nguyen, CEO of Phygital Labs, said that this system has been deployed at many prominent tourist destinations such as Hue Imperial City, Hai Van Quan, Sun World Ba Den peak (Tay Ninh), Sun World Fansipan (Lao Cai) ...

The system operates based on NFC technology, allowing for authenticating tour activities, tracking data, and monitoring traffic in real time. "The system integrates many modern features such as creating travel moments, AI guides, and tour tasks to help navigate the flow of tourists, providing data for planning sustainable development strategies," said Mr. Huy Nguyen.

Mr. Le Truong Hien Hoa, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, emphasized that digital transformation is no longer an option but a mandatory requirement for the tourism industry to adapt to new trends. Cooperation with Arobid - the "Made in Vietnam" platform - will be a strategic step to proactively apply technology to tourism and trade promotion. "Previously, connecting businesses and people was mainly through traditional fairs and seminars. Now with the digital platform, promotion activities become flexible, cost-effective, and have no limit on market expansion. Businesses can access modern technology to contribute to improving competitiveness, developing human resources and promoting the digital economy of the Ho Chi Minh City tourism industry" - Mr. Hoa shared.

Some recent studies show that after the COVID-19 pandemic, tourist behavior has changed, with the need to book services online before the trip; cashless payments and a preference for digital experiences such as AR/VR.

Towards smart ecosystem

According to the Smart Tourism Development Project in Ho Chi Minh City for the period 2020-2025, with a vision to 2030, the city will focus on building a smart tourism system towards key goals such as increasing convenience for tourists, smart destinations, smart business ecosystems, etc. Currently, 366 Ho Chi Minh City tourism resources have been updated on the Google Earth and Google Map platforms. The products are also posted on Shopee and Traveloka for tourists and residents to learn about.

The application of advanced technologies such as Big Data, AI, and digital travel cards will contribute to creating a smart tourism ecosystem, while promoting training and supporting technology tourism startups to develop high-quality human resources. According to experts, digital transformation efforts will create an important boost, creating a smart ecosystem, helping Ho Chi Minh City tourism grow, and improving competitiveness compared to other markets in the Southeast Asian region such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, etc.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/chay-dua-dua-ai-cong-nghe-vao-du-lich-196250507220856383.htm