Promoting culture and tourism through games: An interesting way to attract visitors

New life for heritage tours

The night tour Decoding Thang Long Imperial Citadel was launched in 2021 and has received a lot of attention from tourists. Coming to the night tour, tourists can visualize a part of the history of Thang Long Imperial Citadel spanning from the 7th to 19th centuries, throughout the Ly, Tran, Le So, Mac, Le Trung Hung, and Nguyen dynasties.

Applying technology, games, and tasks makes travel more interesting and suitable for young people.

The tour ends with the Thang Long Imperial Citadel Decoding Game for visitors. Some typical artifacts of the Imperial Citadel are projected by laser on the archaeological foundations for visitors to learn and solve. Interesting details and decoding suggestions are revealed one by one during the tour.

Developing this type further, the Outting application with the heritage tour game in Duong Lam ancient village helps tourists' travel journey become more vivid. The application will draw the route to each station, when arriving at the right point, the application will introduce information about that heritage to visitors. Tasks and challenges are also given in turn, linked to the typical products of the destination. Players must answer each question to earn points.

Another program developed by the Outting application is the role-playing game Code from Antiquities at the Hung Vuong Museum (Viet Tri). The game simulates an adventure, searching for codes at the museum. During this journey, the team solves puzzles related to antiquities and learns about the traditional homeland. Each stop on the game provides information and tells stories about history, culture and famous historical figures. The game manufacturer affirms that applying modern technology helps simplify the organization of tours, reduce the number of people managing students, and at the same time allocate teams reasonably to avoid overload and ensure operating regulations at the museum.

The code from the relic is divided into many stations, with a variety of challenges such as jumping rope, detecting errors, jigsaw puzzles, and quizzes. Each station is located in a different space in the museum. Players are trained in memory skills, communication, spatial imagination, and active curiosity.

Launched at the end of May 2024, the Hanoi Old Quarter food tour experience program using a mobile game is also supported by many people. With 8 experience points around the Old Quarter, visitors can enjoy delicious dishes while discovering more about history and relics. The first destination on the journey is Hang Dau booth. The destinations on the tour are mostly historical relics around Hanoi Old Quarter such as 48 Hang Ngang relic where President Ho Chi Minh wrote the Declaration of Independence, Bach Ma temple... To complete the mission, visitors need to go to the correct location to receive the mission from the Organizing Committee, following the instructions available on the application.

Fun and challenging

Mr. Nguyen Ba Tung, Director of Outing App Technology JSC - a company that develops game applications that combine learning about culture, heritage, and tourism - said that in 2024, the company will focus on developing applications for the tourism sector, especially tourism associated with heritage.

Activities help players practice many skills of memory, communication, and spatial imagination.

“With the most typical feature of creating maps associated with destinations, relics or tourist spaces, the applications will rely on the GPS positioning platform to provide information or tasks, questions for tourists and players. After players and tourists install the application and follow the instructions to the correct location, tourists will receive information about the destination, heritage, relic or puzzles, questions associated with the destination,” Mr. Nguyen Ba Tung explained.

After 4 years of development and operation, the heritage games have reached Hoi An, Sa Pa, Ha Long, Cat Ba, Hanoi, Hue, Ho Chi Minh City, etc. In the coming time, this unit will focus on developing applications for international tourists. "We also aim to convert from phone applications to websites. Accordingly, tourists can both play games and explore heritage by accessing the website via QR codes provided by the program organizers or teachers," said Mr. Nguyen Ba Tung.

Tourist Tuan Anh (22 years old) shared that when participating in the food tour experience of the old town using the phone application: "When experiencing the game, I understand more about the scenic spots. Integrating Vietnam's history into the game application is a creative combination of technology and heritage."

Gamifying heritage in Vietnam is both a new and potential direction in tourism development and opens up opportunities to promote culture and history. Director of the Asian Tourism Development Institute Pham Hai Quynh affirmed that by taking advantage of modern technology, video game projects bring a new form of cultural transmission, attracting the attention of tourists, especially young people.

“This trend creates a strong driving force for the development of the cultural industry, expanding its influence and creating economic value for the country. However, the strong development of games brings a lot of potential, but also many challenges. One of the biggest challenges is ensuring accuracy and respect for cultural heritage,” said Mr. Pham Hai Quynh.

If the accuracy of local cultural and historical knowledge is not ensured, game applications will have unpredictable consequences. Financial and technological resources to develop quality games are also difficult problems to solve. Experts suggest that to promote tourism through game applications, there needs to be cooperation between the Government, cultural organizations, and game developers. For this form to be effective, it is necessary to ensure that games are not only attractive but also accurate and respectful of cultural and historical values.

Thailand, China promote tourism through games

Famous tourist destinations in Thailand are also proposed as the setting for the popular mobile game Ragnarok Origin by a Korean game developer. The game scenes also feature traditional Thai costumes, Muay Thai uniforms, elephant headbands, etc. as character costumes. The game The Great Wall Run in China offers a running journey along the Great Wall. Players use electronic cards to track their distance and receive rewards when reaching certain milestones.

According to tienphong.vn

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/quang-ba-van-hoa-du-lich-qua-tro-choi-chieu-hut-khach-thu-vi-post385073.html