New heritage tourism app lets visitors 'Touch Suwon'

New smartphone app helps visitors navigate the city and its UNESCO heritage

By Ko Dong-hwan

Suwon, the provincial capital city of Gyeonggi, has come up with a high-tech solution to change its somewhat dull image.

Administrative officials of Suwon, which was officially designated as a special city and given access to a 3.5 billion won ($2.67 million) fund and another 3.5 billion won from the city budget, have developed and launched a new smartphone app called Touch Suwon to refurbish the city's lackluster image and boost the local tourism industry through this innovative method. The city had won the funding support after bidding in a national Smart Tourism City project back in June 2021.

“Smart tourism city, mixed with the elements of tourism and ICT technologies, seeks to offer tourists totally differentiated conveniences, services and experiences,” explained the city government's Tourism Policy Division. “The app analyzes the big data accumulated along its service hours and continuously improves its content and infrastructure related to the city's tourism industry.”

Packed with ambitious content that the city government has helped design, the latest ICT product allows travelers to hold Suwon in the palm of their hands in as realistic a way as possible. It helps users plan how to spend their days in the city using various creative online interfaces that guide users to the city's popular landmarks.

One of the features inside the app welcomes users to experience what it's like to ride an extended-reality (XR) tour bus operated by the city government, called “Memory of 1795.” Sitting inside a spacious tour bus surrounded by transparent-OLED screens, one can simultaneously enjoy local sceneries outside the bus and motion pictures from the screens showing what Korean kings enjoyed inside a strolling palanquin hundreds of years ago. That's why the app refers to the bus as a “modern palanquin.”

The bus borrowed its theme from the regal parade King Jeongjo from the Joseon Dynasty prepared in 1795 to celebrate the 61st birthday of his mother. The motion pictures show three separate chapters of the historical accounts that existed around Suwon Hwaseong Fortress: the parade dedicated to Jeongjo's mother; the architectural techniques used in building the fortress and the night-time military training held near the fortress.

The bus was revamped from one that can transport 45 passengers and can seat 18 people per ride. The ride's admission ticket can be booked from the app.

For those interested in the city's historical sites, like Suwon Hwaseong Fortress ― a UNESCO heritage site ― Paldalmun Gate, Banghwasuryujeong Pavilion, Hwaseomun Gate or Buggammun Gate, the app offers an online method where users can experience the sites in a three-dimensional model with virtual reality or augmented reality-based interfaces offering a 360-degree view. A mobile mission game set in Suwon Hwaseong Fortress is also available in the app where a player strives to escape the fortress by finding eight keys to unlock the maze-like fortress.

The app also features an AI-based itinerary planner, a function that recommends customized itinerary routes for users. Users need to just type in their dates of arrival in the city, their ages, number of people, style of their preferred trips and preferred destinations in Suwon. The app generates and suggests dozens of different tours that largely center on Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, other local hotspots, as well as fun rides. Catering to those who want a quick tour as well as those with enough time to hang out for hours, the courses vary in duration from less than an hour up to three hours.

With a Reservation/Purchase function inside the app, users can check lists of restaurants, attractions, cafes and shopping centers in the city and book their admissions to the facilities or purchase products available there.

Users can also store their belongings in “Internet of Things lockers” by using the app, listen to an audio tour guide for Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, and watch the heritage site's 15 promotional videos supported by sign language. The app offers the service in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese.

After what the city government hopes will be a game-changer, which began its service on July 1, the app was celebrated on Wednesday by government officials and lawmakers with local constituencies in the city. Suwon Mayor Lee Jae-joon, Special City Council Chairman Kim Ki-jeong, lawmakers from the city council and the Gyeonggi provincial council, a vice-ministerial official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as state-run Korea Tourism Organization President Shin Sang-yong joined the ceremony at Suwon Convention Center.

The mayor proclaimed that those visiting the city to see the global heritage site as well as other local attractions can now enjoy all the conveniences the city has to offer through the newly launched app.

“The city will further introduce a service that connects together a new hanok (traditional Korean house) village and a performing arts theater, all scheduled to open shortly in the city, with Suwon Convention Center making the city the most sought-after destination in the capital region,” said the mayor.

The app has been downloaded over 75,000 times as of July 23. Private businesses that signed partnerships with the app to be listed in its “Reservation/Purchase” category have reached 120 in number.

The city government plans to expand the app's coverage from the tourist attraction sites to the entire city so as to offer tourists a more convenient traveling experience.