The central city of Da Nang has officially launched a chatbot on smart travel to serve visitors during the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, which is taking place in the city from November 6 to 11.

With Singapore using the chatbot in administration, Da Nang is the first city in Southeast Asia region to use chatbot technology in tourism. Local authorities hope the chatbot will assist visitors while sightseeing and ensure they have many memorable memories of their visit to the city.

The Danang FantasiCity chatbot is attached to the Danang FantasiCity fanpage -- official channel of Da Nang’s tourism sector on Facebook. Accessing it simply involves typing “Danang FantasiCity” on Facebook or visiting m.me/visitdanang. Users can also quickly scan the code at tourist centres at popular destinations without downloading it.

The message interface on the chatbot is easy to use. Users can send a message to the chatbot and it will say “hello” and “serve” them immediately. Entire travel information, such as specialties, accommodation, places to visit, events and emergency contacts, are automatically installed by the chatbot. Frequently asked questions such as “How is the weather today?”, “Where is a public toilet?” or “How to rent a motorbike?” are answered quickly.

The chatbot also has the ability to recognise languages and can communicate in English to help visitors overcome language barriers. It will be upgraded in the future and add languages such as Chinese, Korean, and Japanese to support visitors from different countries and promote the image of Da Nang among international friends.

It also eases the workload at Da Nang’s tourist centres, improves the level of support provided to tourists and creates a friendly new communication channel along with the other channels such as websites and applications. The chatbot for the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders’ Week is a channel for residents and visitors to learn about activities being held within the framework of APEC.

A chatbot is artificial intelligence technology that allows a computer to communicate with people. Specifically, users can make a request orally or by typing and the chatbot will automatically and quickly find the right answer.

Amid the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), chatbots have emerged as the leading global technology. With the application of artificial intelligence, chatbots can understand the behaviour of the user and are becoming smarter. They are, therefore, being used to perform activities previously undertaken by people and are the latest trend globally.

The launch of the chatbot was conducted by the Da Nang Department of Tourism in co-operation with Da Nang City People’s Committee, the city’s Department of Information and Communications and Hekate Technology Joint Stock Company. — VNS