Digitizing museums to attract visitors

After being heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, museum and relic activities are on the path to positive recovery.

Create connectivity

According to the Department of Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), in the first quarter of 2023, museums and historical sites of President Ho Chi Minh at the Presidential Palace recorded a sharp increase in the number of visitors. Of which, the President Ho Chi Minh Relic Site at the Presidential Palace welcomed more than 1.2 million visitors from November 2022 to February 2023.

The Vietnam Fine Arts Museum welcomed more than 31,800 visitors, of which 25% were foreigners. In addition, the museum also welcomed about 10,000 visitors to attend thematic exhibitions and exhibitions of other individuals and organizations; successfully organized thematic exhibitions, and coordinated with the Asian Cultural Center to bring 6 works to display in Korea.

The Museum of Vietnamese Ethnic Cultures also recorded an increase in the number of visitors. In 2022, the museum welcomed more than 60,000 visitors, including 18 international delegations. The Ho Chi Minh Museum welcomed more than 440,000 visitors. The museum also did a good job of displaying, collecting, and inventorying artifacts; creating content, posting 4 clips with the topics: "New Year's greetings poem of President Ho Chi Minh in 1969", "Remembering President Ho Chi Minh's birthday in May", "History of our country" and posting 13 stories in the column "Telling stories of Ho Chi Minh's moral example" on the museum's website and fanpage.

According to Mr. Pham Dinh Phong - Deputy Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage, although museums and relic sites are on the way to recovery, they still have to solve the problem of attracting more tourists. The leaders of the Department of Cultural Heritage requested that leaders of museums and relic sites should soon digitize the activities of the museum system and relic sites, increase the application of technology in displaying and introducing artifacts, guiding visitors from one museum to another, creating connectivity between units.

Số hóa bảo tàng để thu hút du khách - Ảnh 2.

Tourists visit the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts. Photo: HOANG TRIEU

Content is still king

In Ho Chi Minh City, the technical and technological application gallery at the Southern Women's Museum has applied 3D projection technology (Hologram technology equipment) in the exhibition space, helping visitors to feel the artifacts as if in real space with many different angles.

The War Remnants Museum recreates five major prisons in South Vietnam during the anti-American resistance war in a simulated outdoor container. Not only using 3D technology, it also combines light, temperature, sound... technology to somewhat demonstrate the authenticity of the old prisons.

Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History applies "3D/360 Smart Interactive Museum" to serve visitors remotely, recently also added the Sanbot Robot model applying artificial intelligence (AI) to guide visitors, with features such as: image projection, video introducing the museum, artifacts, galleries...

The Ho Chi Minh City Museum has also tested digitization at the Natural - Archaeological Exhibition Room. Here, visitors will be equipped with virtual reality glasses to experience images of terrain in Ho Chi Minh City, areas with archaeological artifacts are recreated with virtual images and linked with on-site artifacts to bring excitement to visitors.

According to insiders, digital transformation or technology application is only a necessary condition, but there must be a sufficient condition, which is innovation in thinking in the way of doing things. Technology will develop continuously, but if the content remains unchanged, it cannot have the desired effect. For museums, identity and inherent appeal are still the main factors, poor content, no matter how modern the technology is, it is difficult to attract viewers.

The Department of Cultural Heritage said that in recent times, revenue from museum and relic entrance fees has been reinvested by localities in the management, protection, restoration and promotion of relic values. According to heritage experts, collecting fees for the conservation and promotion of relic values is reasonable, demonstrating the spirit of community responsibility for heritage.

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