The tourism sector serves as major economic lifeblood for many cities across Southeast Asia. The scale of this reliance was emphasized as pandemic-related travel restrictions were implemented in major cities around the region, putting all tourism activities to a halt. This resulted in steep declines not only in visiting tourists but also in much-needed tourism revenue and employment. Given this, cities are looking for new ways to facilitate a swift and safe tourism recovery, and are increasingly adopting digital solutions to boost post-pandemic travel planning and restart tourism activities in the new normal.

Virtual reality is one of the immersive digital technologies that could help accelerate the tourism sector’s bounce-back and could play a vital role in the sector’s gradual re-emergence throughout the upcoming phases of the COVID-19 recovery. Virtual Reality promotes realistic experiences in a virtual environment that can showcase various experiences to tourists unable to travel physically to distant locations, such as a meditation session in Bali or cooking lessons in Bangkok. Crucially, digital technologies cannot, and are not intended to, replace the experience of real-world travel, but they may play a persuasive role in marketing Southeast Asia during the COVID-19 recovery.

This webinar explored the business development case for smart digital tourism solutions for post-pandemic recovery in the travel and tourism sector. Panelists also shared the benefits and experiences implementing smart tourism solutions with VR, augmented reality (AR), and extended reality (XR), along with best practices and specific use cases.

(Part 7 of the ASEAN Australia Smart Cities Trust Fund Webinar Series)