The tourism sector serves as a 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 a steep decline 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, or VR, is one of the immersive digital technologies that could help accelerate the tourism sector’s bounce-back and could play a vital role for the sector’s gradual re-emergence throughout the upcoming phases of recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

VR 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 will explore the business development case for smart tourism solutions with VR for post-pandemic recovery in the travel and tourism sector. Panelists will also share the benefits and experiences implementing smart tourism solutions with VR, along with best practices and specific use cases.

The webinar is organized by the ASEAN Australia Smart Cities Trust Fund, which assists ASEAN cities in enhancing their planning systems, service delivery, and financial management by developing and testing appropriate digital solutions and systems.

Speakers 

RAQUEL PEREZ WONG
Chief Marketing Officer,
iACADEMY (Philippines)
Tech in Tourism

ERIK CHAMPION
Honorary Professor,
Australian National University Centre
for Digital Humanities Research
Cultural Tourism XR (Extended Reality)​​​​​​​

MARCELINE GIROL
Chief Strategy Officer, VRWORLD.TV
Reimagining Tourism while Protecting
Communities Using 4.0 Technologies​​​​​​​

JENS THRAENHART
Executive Director,
Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office
Concluding Remarks

STEVEN SCHIPANI
Project Administration Unit Head,
Southeast Asia Department, ADB
Moderator