According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (DTC) of Son La province, in order to take advantage of opportunities from the 4th industrial revolution to develop tourism, in recent years, the unit has organized many consulting seminars, talks, training sessions, and tourism development connections, helping to suggest good solutions in managing and developing tourism service businesses.

In addition, business activities are implemented in many forms such as direct, online, marketing, product promotion, market expansion research, consulting, customer care, making online purchases, sales, and payments instead of the traditional methods such as printing leaflets, brochures, books, maps, etc., helping businesses save costs and meet the needs of tourists anytime, anywhere.

Son La province promotes the application of digital technology in business operations, management, and promotion, introduction, and business of tourism services.

Along with supporting businesses in many aspects, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also built a portal to vote for Son La province's tourism products and brands at: https://binhchondulich.sonla.gov.vn/ for people and tourists to participate in evaluating and voting on service quality, service prices, service attitude, environmental sanitation...; build database software to serve the organization of online competitions, such as logo and slogan creation contests; excellent tour guide contests, video creation contests, beautiful tourism photos, Son La tour design...

Through the above activities, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Son La province wants to affirm its brand, promote information about tourism resources to the people, create trust, peace of mind and ensure tourists when visiting and experiencing.

In 2024, the total number of tourists to Son La is estimated at 4.9 million, an increase of 7.5%; revenue is estimated at 5,800 billion VND, an increase of 22.1% over the previous year.

Mr. Tran Xuan Viet, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that the Department is currently reviewing and standardizing data to serve the construction of a smart tourism system in Son La province. At the same time, it is planning to build a 2D interactive electronic tourism map with information on tourist areas and tourist attractions to serve propaganda, promotion, destination introduction, and support for tourists at Moc Chau National Tourist Area. In particular, it is building a Son La tourism information portal, creating an online platform to provide comprehensive information on destinations, services, events, and tourism-related activities, integrating many smart features, both promoting and supporting state management of tourism.

Currently, 12 districts and cities of the province are maintaining electronic information portals, updating detailed information about the district and tourism activities. Most businesses and individuals providing tourism services, tourist areas and destinations build their images and promote themselves through websites and social networks.

In Moc Chau district, tourism activities have quickly approached and taken advantage of the strength of the internet to promote the image widely, helping tourists easily learn, know and come to Moc Chau to explore. For example, the website https://dulichmocchau.net/ has been operating since 2007, upgraded many times, and is still a reputable information channel, constantly updating the latest information and images about Moc Chau tourism.

In addition, the district has completed and put into use the 3D/360 smart interactive tourism map of Moc Chau district; many tourism businesses in the area have also built and developed reputable websites to introduce and promote tourism.

Quynh Nhai district has recently launched the smart tourism software "Quynh Nhai Tour", with the goal of optimizing local tourism management and experience. The software has outstanding features such as: booking tourism services online; detailed tourism information; virtual guide feature; business support tools... helping tourists search for information, book hotels and experience tourism services of Quynh Nhai district conveniently and quickly through images, videos, AI artificial intelligence...

It can be said that Son La tourism has proactively taken advantage of opportunities from the 4th industrial revolution to develop smart tourism, aiming at sustainable development of the local socio-economy.

Hien Luong