Sarawak Travel App and Portal officially launched by YAB Chief Minister

Our Chief Minister, Yang Amat Berhormat Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Abang Haji Openg had called on local tourism in­dus­try play­ers to train them­selves in vir­tual re­al­ity (VR) and aug­mented re­al­ity (AR) ap­pli­ca­tions in order to keep­ up with the state’s vi­sion of em­brac­ing dig­i­tal tech­nol­ogy in the tourism sec­tor. According to him, when lo­cal play­ers are trained, they would be able to use ap­pli­ca­tions such as the "Sarawak Travel App and Por­tal" for their tourism prod­ucts to cre­ate a good im­pres­sion and pique the in­ter­est of vis­i­tors to come to Sarawak.
He said the Cen­tre of Tech­ni­cal Ex­cel­lence Sarawak (Cen­texs) has a col­lab­o­ra­tion with EON Re­al­ity, which has a branch in Europe. This is the num­ber one com­pany in the world that is num­ber one in the AR plat­form.
“In this re­gard, your staff or travel agents can be trained on how to han­dle VR and AR through the pro­gramme at Cen­texs,” he said when launch­ing the Sarawak Travel App and Por­tal in Kuching City on February 19.
The Chief Minister said we have to in­tro­duce our var­i­ous prod­ucts in­clud­ing places of in­ter­est and for them to book a trip to Sarawak di­rectly on the app or web por­tal. Through VR and AR, app users or those who visit the web por­tal can see the places of in­ter­est vir­tu­ally. If visitors are in­ter­ested, they can then book their trip on the app or web por­tal and place a de­posit,” he sug­gested.
In my welcoming speech, Sarawak Travel App and Web Por­tal is a strate­gic part­ner­ship and collaborative ef­fort by his min­istry, Sarawak Mul­ti­me­dia Au­thor­ity (SMA) and Univer­siti Malaysia Sarawak (Un­i­mas) which aims to dig­i­talise ma­jor com­po­nents of Sarawak tourism in­dus­try. The dig­i­tal­i­sa­tion of tourism in­dus­try as­pires to al­low seam­less travel ex­pe­ri­ence for both do­mes­tic and in­ter­na­tional tourists to Sarawak.”
Through the de­vel­oped travel app, he said tourists will be able to ex­pe­ri­ence street view of a rac­tions such as the Sarawak Cul­tural Vil­lage, Fort Margherita and Old Court House; view 360-de­gree panoramic im­ages of lo­cal a rac­tions such as the Kuch­ing Wa­ter­front and Mulu Na­tional Park; lo­cate and savour Sarawak dishes; try vir­tual tour and pres­ence in tra­di­tional long­house; plan and ar­range tour; and ar­range and view trans­porta­tion fa­cil­i­ta­tion in­for­ma­tion.
The project, which is ex­pected to end in April 2021, is de­signed and de­vel­oped pro­gres­sively in five mod­ules or phases that would fit into the state’s ‘ Sarawak More to Dis­cover’ cam­paign of Cul­ture, Ad­ven­ture, Na­ture, Food and Fes­ti­val (CANFF). It will show­case Sarawak’s di­verse cul­ture, ad­ven­ture, na­ture, food and fes­ti­vals in mo­bile ap­pli­ca­tion and web por­tal as well as pre­sent­ing them through vir­tual re­al­ity and aug­mented re­al­ity ca­pa­bil­i­ties.
The app is a vir­tual tourist guide, and it will take the ex­pe­ri­ence of tourists who use it to a whole new level. This in­cludes ge ing in­for­ma­tion about des­ti­na­tions, mak­ing book­ings and trans­ac­tions, and leav­ing re­views on the places they have vis­ited.