Suwon Hwaseong Fortress to introduce 'smart' tourism

Suwon Hwaseong Fortress during sunset / gettyimagesbank

By Jun Ji-hye

Suwon Hwaseong Fortress in the middle of Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, will be transformed into a “smart” tourism site incorporating the latest advances in information and communication technologies for the convenience of tourists.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said Tuesday that the area was selected as this year's location for their project to create smart tourism sites across the country.

When the project was launched last year, the historical and cultural street of Incheon Open Port was selected as the first location for the project.

Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, commemorates the innovations of King Jeongjo of the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom through the magnificence of science, architecture and art of the 18th century with its four prominent gates and city wall.

Suwon City will introduce smart tourism services there using 3.5 billion won ($3.1 million) from the state budget and 3.5 billion won from the local budget.

Once completed, tourists will be able to enjoy virtual reality and augmented reality content showing historic sites of the fortress that have yet to be restored or opened to the public.

Real-time traffic and parking information will also be offered to improve convenience.

Officials said the sites within the fortress walls to be transformed into smart tourism sites will serve as venues in which innovative travel startups can expand their future businesses by combining tourism with Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

“Incheon's smart tourism city is scheduled to open in July,” said Kim Kwon-ki who is in charge of the smart tourism city project at the KTO. “We will give full efforts to raise the competitiveness of regional tourism by nurturing future tourism services.”