In line with the global trend, advanced countries in the world are applying the latest technology to cultural tourism. The Hue Monuments Conservation Center has pioneered the testing and integration of Smart Interactive Station technology at Hai Van Quan, Dai Noi... and plans to expand to all cultural tourism destinations in Hue.
Each interactive smart station acts as a “digital tour guide” that can provide a variety of amenities and support to visitors. These stations are linked together in a seamless experience, forming a comprehensive cultural and heritage experience map that is highly customizable and has unlimited development potential.
Smart interactive network for cultural tourism in the Imperial City
Applying technology to tell historical and cultural stories and increase the level of visitor interaction with each construction, relic, and heritage has only recently received investment attention. Pioneering in that trend and in line with the context of cultural tourism in Vietnam, the Hue Monuments Conservation Center has deployed Smart Interaction Station technology in the Imperial Citadel area before the Thai Hoa Palace officially opened to visitors after 3 years of restoration.
This new technology has received strong response from both domestic and foreign tourists, with more than 3,000 interactions after only 2 weeks of implementation.
Smart interactive stations are physical panels equipped with near-field communication (NFC) chips that tourists can tap their phones to connect to the historical and cultural stories of each location with a variety of rich forms of expression, including images, videos, 3D models, text, and guides using artificial intelligence (AI).
At each location, visitors are provided with a travel itinerary and guided to the next attraction. Taking check-in photos and posting their own images on the “golden board” of each location is also an extremely popular function, in which visitors can “carve their names on the digital wall” of each location without spoiling the beauty of the scenic spots and also helping each location promote tourism, creating a positive impact on the locality. Visitors can also participate in interesting tasks to receive attractive rewards…
Successful pilot at Hai Van Quan
In September 2024, the Smart Interactive Station technology was piloted at Hai Van Quan when it reopened to visitors after a joint restoration process between Hue and Da Nang.
Standing on Hai Van Quan, visitors not only feel like they are standing on three layers of clouds, admiring the majestic mountains and rivers, to the west are the mountains hidden in the mist and clouds, to the east is the vast ocean covered in gold and silver, looking to the north they see the dreamy Hue, a golden ancient capital, looking to the south they see Da Nang - a bustling city full of vitality.
Although it is only a pilot project that has not been widely publicized, this technology has proven its potential right at Hai Van Quan. After just over 2 months of installation, these stations have attracted more than 5,000 interactions and received hundreds of check-in images with countless excited emotions from thousands of tourists.
The Smart Interactive Network is one of the products that applies artificial intelligence (AI) technology into practice. Each check-in station acts as an AI tour guide, collecting information from visitors including check-in data, souvenir photos and questions at the time of visit.
Combined with information from the visitor's registered account, the system creates a unique knowledge base and continuously learns AI machine learning to develop an AI tour guide with unique personality, knowledge and experience. In the near future, in addition to interaction, visitors will be able to exchange and chat directly with the AI tour guide through the use of smartphones with integrated NFC chips.
