Tourism industry has been at the forefront of digital transformation and continues to explore new ways to enhance travel experience. In a bid to attract travellers, the concept of ‘Smart Cultural Tourism’ is being put into practice to provide interactive experiences at local attractions. To support this, a better integration of innovative technologies and management services are required at these destinations. This can be achieved through the implementation of the latest 5G, cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, forming a new tourism economy and injecting changes to cultural tourism activities in the post-pandemic era.
In this regard, China Mobile has been supervising the integration of the latest 5G, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that drive the three focus areas in smart cultural tourism: supervision, smart attractions and smart exhibitions. Through this, product systems, smart services, smart selling and attraction monitoring can be upgraded to pinpoint the improvement areas at the operational level and in consumer experiences, ensuring the tourism industry can deliver the best-in-class service to attract a new generation of travellers.
An example of smart cultural tourism is immersive virtual reality (VR) panoramic streaming, designed to bring an authentic, interactive, and comprehensive attraction touring experience by using terminals such as H5, mega screens and VR wearables. These are powered by high-speed image stitching, 4K/8K panoramic video capture and 5G network transmission. They are highly integrated, 360-degree panoramic live streaming experiences which redefine the way people immerse themselves in foreign cultures at any time, without time and spatial boundaries.
These experiences can be put together through the collection of panoramic images and transmitted through CPE and 5G networks to XR cloud platforms, where video data can be collected with 360-degree panoramic camera terminals. With that, tourists can enjoy a panoramic view of the attraction by wearing VR wearables. The experience can also be enjoyed through other terminals such as H5, mega-screens and mobile phones.
China Mobile’s OneTrip single-device tour platform is another service which allows visitors to enjoy the beautiful view of attractions with just a simple click. We recently completed a Smart Campus Project in Shibing, Guizhou, to promote tourism activities with OneTrip platform. Given China Mobile’s pioneering and reliable high-speed ability to transmit various data, our powerful platform capability allows us to support functions like transcoding, recording and content auditing. Simultaneously, we can connect with the provincial CDN to establish a dedicated video distribution network to achieve 4K or above resolutions with low latency.
By integrating resources from various parties, China Mobile proactively liaised with tourist spots to provide comprehensive and smarter services to tourist attractions. Through the implementation of the OneTrip platform and by harnessing 5G and VR technologies, it customised the management of tourist spots for smarter travel and offered attraction broadcasting support services.
In addition, China Mobile provides tourist big data services and create panoramic tours combined with a 5G 360-degree full-view platform. All these have greatly integrated into the new tourism ecology and brought about a breakthrough in tourism development.
