International conference on design for sustainable living to boost Sarawak's tourism industry

International conference on design for sustainable living to boost Sarawak's tourism industry

By Nur Ashikin Louis

KUCHING, Dec 14: The 1st International Conference on Design for Sustainable Living (ICDeSL) 2021 is expected to boost innovative ideas and sustainable solutions in improving Sarawak's tourism industry.

Tourism, Arts and Culture (MTAC) Minister Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the rapid advancement of smart tourism technology brings new opportunities for tourism development.

He took note that more travel destinations are relying on smart technology to attract more tourists to visit and enrich their travel experience and most tourists use smart technology such as location queries, local restaurant reviews, or mobile payments through smartphones during their travel.

"Smart technology is used throughout the whole travel process, including by destination marketing organisations (DMOs) websites, tourism apps, social media, and virtual reality for tourists to arrange and enrich their trips.

"Researchers have recognised the potential of smart technology and predicted that the smart technology used by tourists will become more diversified.

"Hence, I wish to see the extended version of this knowledge to be explored in depth by all prominent researchers who are participating in this conference," he said in his speech text read by MTAC permanent secretary Hii Chang Kee at the opening ceremony of ICDeSL 2021 at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) today.

Abdul Karim believed that there is a need to develop technology-based tourism in the State as a way forward, which will help to ensure that the industry could recover amid the Covid­19 pandemic.

"For example, the utilisation of Sarawak Travel App as part of our Sarawak Tourism Promotion Campaign is vital as it can be a great promotion and marketing tool for our tourism.

"Among other digital initiatives planned include S-MM2H (Sarawak/Malaysia My Second Home Programme) online application, Digital Visitors Landing App, digitalisation of Sarawak Tourism Satellite Account (STSA) and Digital Visitor Tracking App.

"Nevertheless, I believe that we still can revive our tourism industry and people's confidence to travel and explore the Land of Hornbills, Sarawak," he added.

The event also witnessed three memoranda of agreement (MOA) virtual signing ceremonies involving Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) with Dalian University of Technology, China; University of Stavanger and TERP AS, Norway; and University of Evry Val d'Essonne, France. — DayakDaily

Source: (Int’l conference on design for sustainable living to boost Sarawak’s tourism industry | DayakDaily)

2021年第一届可持续生活设计国际会议（ICDeSL）预计将推动改善沙捞越旅游业的创新理念和可持续解决方案。

旅游、艺术和文化(MTAC)部长拿督斯里阿都卡里姆拉赫曼哈姆扎说，智能旅游技术的快速发展为旅游业发展带来了新的机遇。

他注意到，更多的旅游目的地正在依靠智能技术来吸引更多的游客到访，并丰富他们的旅游体验，大多数游客在旅行中通过智能手机使用智能技术，如位置查询、当地餐厅评论或移动支付。

"智能技术贯穿整个旅游过程，包括由目的地营销组织(DMOs)网站、旅游应用程序、社交媒体和虚拟现实技术，供游客安排和丰富他们的旅行。

"研究人员已经认识到智能技术的潜力，并预测游客使用的智能技术将变得更加多样化。

"因此，我希望看到所有参加本次会议的杰出研究人员对这一知识的扩展版本进行深入探索，"他在今天于古晋婆罗洲会展中心(BCCK)举行的ICDeSL 2021开幕式上由MTAC常务秘书Hii Chang Kee宣读的演讲稿中说。

阿都卡里姆认为，有必要在该州发展以技术为基础的旅游业，作为未来的发展方向，这将有助于确保该行业能够在2019冠状病毒病疫情中恢复。

"例如，利用沙捞越旅游应用程序作为我们沙捞越旅游推广活动的一部分是至关重要的，因为它可以成为我们旅游业的一个伟大的推广和营销工具。

"其他计划中的数字化举措包括S-MM2H（沙捞越/马来西亚我的第二家园计划）在线应用程序，数字游客登陆应用程序，沙捞越旅游卫星账户（STSA）的数字化和数字游客跟踪应用程序。

"他补充说："尽管如此，我相信我们仍然可以重振我们的旅游业，以及人们对旅行和探索犀鸟之乡沙捞越的信心。

该活动还见证了三个协议备忘录（MOA）的虚拟签署仪式，玛拉工艺大学(UiTM)与大连理工大学(DUT)、在挪威斯塔万格大学和TERP AS，以及法国埃夫里大学。