Business & Money | Monday 15 October, 2018 10:40 am |

The Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage ‘SCTH’ launched today an app for the Holo Journey Project, which is the first app in the world that is based on merging three cutting-edge tech solutions to enrich tourism and national heritage.

 

This app is a pioneering achievement for the commission toward digital transformation, as it brings together mixed reality, blockchain, and IoT, a step that bolsters presence of the commission as a main innovator in the world of technology.

 

Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, Vice President of the Support Sector in SCTH, said that the precedence of this achievement underlines the advanced level the commission observes in its operations, and he lauded the cooperation with Microsoft Arabia to make this achievement a reality.

 

He asserts that SCTH continues to adopt cutting-edge technologies in the field which enabled it to achieve a leading position worldwide, as it was awarded various national, regional, and international awards, and he said that the long list of achievements SCTH prides itself of is adorned with a certificate of confirmation from Microsoft commending such achievement.

 

He also said that SCTH follows clear plans and strategies toward modernizing the digital infrastructure of tourism by introducing the latest and widest-known smart technologies to improve tourism and boost the economy.

 

He added that SCTH strives to provide all available resources to enable and advance these efforts toward excellence and achieving goals of digital transformation in the Kingdom.

 

Thamer Al Harbi, president of Microsoft Arabia, said that emerging technologies such as mixed reality, blockchain, and IoT have become essential to our daily life. We constantly see the astounding effects of such technologies on individuals and businesses. He added that this rapid development in emerging technologies will facilitate communication between humans and machines in the near future.

 

Also commenting on Microsoft’s role in developing such emerging technologies to enable digital transformations in KSA, Al Harbi said “One of the key components of digital transformation is to ensure that businesses have the necessary technologies to enhance their performance and ensure its operations run smoothly. That is why Microsoft always focuses on developing such emerging technologies to enable employees, engage customers, improve operations, and develop products. All these accelerate digital transformation, which is at the heart of Saudi Vision 2030.”

 

Concerning the “Global Achievement Certificate” that Microsoft awarded SCTH, Al Harbi said “We are aware of the massive efforts SCTH made to realize this great achievement since the very days of our partnership with the commission. This certificate was awarded to SCTH after confirming that it is the first entity in the world that merged three emerging technologies to implement Holo Journey app Project. We congratulate SCTH on its efforts and continuous endeavour to adopt the latest technologies to achieve its goals.”

 

Eng.Anas A. Al-Solai, general manager of IT at SCTH, said that adopting modern technologies contributes in promoting the most valuable tourism and heritage items all over the world, as well as engaging museum visitors using a modern and exciting manner that enriches tourism and national heritage in the Kingdom.

He added that realizing this achievement contributes in improving the skills of employees and empowers them to achieve more development and to build on the success of the past towards leadership and innovation.

 

He asserted that SCTH, since its inception, ensured that it adopts technology to promote tourism by using tourism info devices and websites and modern apps, as well as launching various leading initiatives and projects in the field.

 

He added that SCTH was recently awarded two awards from Yesser Program for facilitating electronic government transactions in its fifth year, as an entity that achieved performance of measure seven in government electronic transactions, and as the highest entity in transformation toward government electronic transactions scale and for the fourth time in a row, which indicates how much advanced is SCTH and its excellent tech environment.

 

Holo Journey app Project is based on merging mixed reality, IoT, and blockchain to bring unique experiences about heritage and museums, as well as handling tourism data in the Kingdom.

 

The app provides a unique user experience, since it avails mixed reality technology that enables the user to go in virtual tours in museums as well as read information and statistics. Blockchain technology provides the user a way to evaluate services to highlight transparency and obtain a reference for the transaction at any time to check it. As for IoT, it is used to control devices and machines to serve the user.

 

The app provides the user with a unique, real, and rich experience toward dramatically changing the way visitors interact with museums.

 

Worthy to mention is that KSA has launched its 2030 vision, which focuses on the importance of digital infrastructure as a cornerstone in industrial development and attracting investment and boost economic advantage. The vision set tourism and national heritage as among the key elements in the Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program 2020, as prominent alternatives for post-oil economy.