To better understand this project, Nhan Dan Newspaper reporters had a conversation with Nguyen Huy, General Director of Phygital Labs — the technology unit implementing the “Love Vietnam So Much” Project with Nhan Dan Newspaper.
Q: Can you share the reason why Phygital Labs has cooperated with Nhan Dan Newspaper to implement the “Love Vietnam So Much” project?
A: I think that the development of science and technology is opening new directions for the tourism industry. Technology combined with tourism creates new values, helping tourists explore the world more conveniently.
Moreover, currently, tourism trends have changed a lot towards multi-interactive experiences. Especially for foreign visitors and the young generation, they do not just follow simple tours, but when they arrive at a destination, they always want to integrate with the destination and personalise their travel experiences.
That is why, since around November 2024, Phygital Labs has been honoured to cooperate with Nhan Dan Newspaper to implement a project to connect tourists in the digital world, called "Love Vietnam So Much".
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Nguyen Huy, General Director of Phygital Labs. |
The project will be implemented from December 2024. By installing NFC chip-integrated board at famous landmarks in each province and city, the project aims to promote historical and cultural landmarks across the country, creating unique discovery experiences for tourists, meeting and matching the development of society in the current digital age.
During the project implementation process, we also encountered many difficulties in obtaining construction permits because the NFC chip-integrated stations are all located at cultural and historical relics, including national relics and special national relics.
However, with the support of localities and the great determination of project participants, after more than four months of implementation, the project has installed nearly 200 NFC chip-integrated boards at famous landmarks in 60 provinces and cities across the country.
Currently, three provinces — Binh Phuoc, Can Tho, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau — have just been granted construction permits. As such, in the coming time, we will continue to implement projects in these provinces.
Q: How is the application of technology in the “Love Vietnam So Much” project implemented?
A: Phygital Labs is a technology company, so we want to apply technology in many different fields to promote the digital economy. One of the fields we are interested in is culture and tourism. Therefore, with the cooperation with Nhan Dan Newspaper, we had the idea of implementing the “Love Vietnam So Much” project to build the first interactive map of tourism and culture in Vietnam.
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Tourists access information about destinations on the NFC chip-integrated board at Quang Ninh Museum. (Photo: VU KHOI) |
Based on the system of multi-interactive check-in stations installed in 63 provinces and cities across Vietnam, the project will create unique discovery experiences for tourists, thus supporting and promoting local tourism.
Visitors simply tap their NFC-enabled smartphones to access a digital space packed with features about Vietnam's popular destinations. From checking in with the support of AI guides to explore information, location history, leaving wishes, comments to building personalised tours, receiving certificates of completion, and exchanging gifts.
When building this project, we hope that each NFC chip-integrated board at landmarks is a tour guide, a friendly host, able to provide a lot of information, integrating NFC technology, artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain technology, thereby serving tourists in all countries around the world. This is not just fixed information, but through AI, the application will learn about the people interacting, chatting, and giving personal opinions.
In addition, we built the website www.yeulamvietnam.vn with a modern, easy-to-interact interface in Vietnamese and English, so that visitors can easily access official information about the location.
In addition, the online map will help visitors look up outstanding cultural destinations, track their journeys, and connect more deeply with each land.
Q: With just tapping NFC-enabled smartphones, can users be assured of the security of personal information when checking in?
A: This is the first project we have implemented that is linked with the National Data Centre to put data into the platform. Therefore, this entire project complies with the law on personal data. When users check in, their information will be kept strictly confidential, without revealing any data.
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After more than four months of implementation, there have been tens of thousands of successful check-ins, sharing tourists' photos at NFC chip-integrated boards across the country. |
When interacting, tourists' smartphones only receive the check-in number and notification that they have arrived at the destination. If tourists want to leave wishes, love, messages or interact with AI, they must log into the system. Tourists' wishes and comments must also go through a censorship process to ensure full content and compliance with traditional customs.
To limit inappropriate comments, Nhan Dan Newspaper coordinates with the localities where the heritages and tourist attractions are to censor the content before the comments are displayed on the system.
Q: Currently, the project has been deployed in 60 out of 63 provinces and cities. So, at the locations where NFC chip-integrated boards are installed, how do tourists respond after interacting and experiencing?
A: Basically, tourists find it convenient, because this is a fairly new experience. Previously, tourists often looked up destination information on flyers, not knowing what was around the destination. Now, with just a smartphone with an Internet connection, "tapping" the NFC chip-integrated board, tourists will receive useful information about the place, relic, or destination.
Each chip-integrated board will provide stories, images, videos or models of the relic site where the chip-integrated board is installed.
In addition, the project also provides a navigation lookup feature, information search to explore tourist destinations at the current location and neighbouring areas, thereby encouraging visitors to travel more and experience more.
In particular, the NFC chip-integrated board only needs to be tapped without installing software or downloading any applications, so it is suitable for all tourists, even those who are not familiar with technology can easily experience it.
According to our records, in the past time, tens of thousands of visitors have come to check in and share photos at the NFC chip-integrated board installation locations. That shows the strong spread of the project to travel lovers across the country.
Q: In the coming time, how will this project continue to be implemented?
A: This is just the beginning of the "Love Vietnam So Much" project. In the coming time, we will continue to deploy more NFC chip-integrated boards. It is expected that about 600-700 NFC chip-integrated boards will be installed nationwide.
Furthermore, we will integrate more real-time tourism data analysis features to support destination management and optimise interactions. In addition to the benefits for tourists, the system also opens the possibility of developing services, commerce and indigenous cultural data for the locality, thereby contributing to promoting sustainable tourism and digital economy.
For the project to be highly effective, we really hope to have the cooperation of many businesses, agencies, organisations, and localities to have more destinations equipped with NFC chips. Thereby, we aim to spread love for the country while promoting historical and cultural sites and tourist destinations to domestic and international tourists.
Thank you so much!
