QuangNinh (VNA) - The northeastern province of Quang Ninh is one of thepioneers nationwide in implementing smart tourism solutions.

Smarttourism infrastructure has been improved throughout the province and is basedon smart city development.

Simplyput, smart tourism refers to the application of information and communicationstechnology to ensure interaction between managers, businesses, and tourists.

QuangNinh has favourable conditions to implement smart tourism, according to industryinsiders, as it was ranked third in the Vietnam ICT Index in 2019.

Buildingintegrated tourism data and a tourism portal has been defined as the first moveand one of the top priorities in smart tourism for Quang Ninh.

Visitorsare now able to access the local tourism information portal athalongtourism.com.vn and discoverhalong.com in Vietnamese, English, and Chinese,or through Quang Ninh tourism sector’s fanpage on Facebook, for the latestinformation.

Thesewebsites not only introduce popular destinations, entertainment, festivals, andspecialty dishes but also include guidance for visitors to book rooms, cars,and tickets online, as well as hotlines to accept feedback on services.

Theyare expected to apply artificial intelligence in the future to help holidaymakersselect and design their itinerary by themselves.

QuangNinh also provides free wifi at airports, bus stations, and residential andtourism areas.

Allvessels on Ha Long Bay - the province’s stand-out attraction - have had GPS installedto ensure tourist safety.

InApril 2019, Uong Bi city launched its Dulichuongbi app for smartphones, which suggestspopular destinations and provides detailed information on access, costs andestimated time to reach them.

Suchapps are not only useful for travellers but also help businesses save on advertisingcosts and increase their links with customers and partners.

QuangNinh is now focusing on its smart tourism administration centre, which isexpected to be put into operation this year.

Smart tourism is expected to help Quang Ninh fully exploitits natural advantages for sea and island tourism. It has a coastline of morethan 250 kilometres and more than 2,000 islands and islets which account fortwo-thirds of the total number in Vietnam. 

In particular, Ha Long Bay literally “descendingdragon bay”, was twice recognised as a World Natural Heritage site by UNESCO in1994 and 2000. The bay spans 1,553 square kilometres and includes 1,969 islandsof various sizes. It features thousands of limestone karsts and islets invarious shapes and sizes. The limestone in the bay has gone through 500 millionyears of formation in different conditions and environments. The geo-diversityof the environment has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreenbiosystem, oceanic and sea biosystem.

In 2018, Ha Long Bay made it into the top 15Instagrammed global cruise destinations based on a survey of 1.8 million poststagged on various ships and ports by travel cruise site SeaHub.

In 2019, British travel magazine RoughGuides included Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay in its selection of the 100 mostbeautiful places to visit next year. It describes “the scattering of limestonepinnacles jutting out of the smooth waters of Ha Long Bay”, around four hourseast of Hanoi capital, as an “incredible sight”.

Most recently in 2020, Ha Long Bay was namedamongst the 50 most beautiful natural wonders on Earth selected by US-basedmagazine Insider.

Last year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved a masterplan to develop Ha Long city into a world-class tourism and service hub by2050. Under the plan, Ha Long will be converted into a civilised and friendlysea tourism city with synchronous and modern socio-economic infrastructure systems./.