Riyadh — The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) launched on Monday the Holo Journey project, the first application in the world to merge three innovative technology solutions with the aim of enhancing the tourism and national heritage experience.
The application is an unprecedented global achievement for the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage in the field of digital transformation as it combines the technology of mixed reality blockchain and the internet of things in one step, thus confirming the presence of the SCTH as a major innovator on the map of technology in the world.
Dr. Abdul Aziz bin Mohammad Al-Shaikh, Vice President of the Support Sector of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, stressed that this achievement is an actualization of the vision of Prince Sultan Bin Salman, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, of adopting and keeping pace with the latest technologies to serve the tourism and national heritage sector in Saudi Arabia.
He explained that the SCTH's uniqueness in achieving this achievement reflects the advanced level of its institutional work, praising the cooperation with Microsoft Arabia Company to accomplish this remarkable achievement, stressing the continuation of the SCTH in keeping pace with the technological developments in the sector which enables it to occupy a prestigious position worldwide through being awarded many local, regional and international awards.
Al al-Shaikh added that the SCTH has obtained a confirmation certificate from Microsoft for its being unique in this achievement which will be added to the SCTH full of achievements record. He pointed out the SCTH is in line with clear plans and strategies to develop the digital infrastructure of the tourism sector by introducing the latest and most popular smart technologies to develop the sector and to boost the national economy.
Thamer al Harbi, President of Microsoft Arabia, said that the emerging technologies such as "mixed reality", "blockchain" and "Internet of Things" have become inevitable in our daily lives. A moment hardly passes without seeing the amazing results of these technologies at the individual and business levels. He added that the rapid development of emerging technologies will facilitate the communication between humans and machines in the near future.
Commenting on Microsoft's role in the development of these emerging technologies to enable digital transformation in Saudi Arabia, Al Harbi said, ‘One of the key components of digital transformation is to ensure that companies have the necessary technologies to enhance their performance and ensure their continued operations. Therefore, we see that Microsoft focuses on developing these emerging technologies all the time to enable employee empowerment, customer engagement, process improvement and product innovation, thus driving the digital transformation that is at the heart of Saudi Arabia's 2030 vision. ‘
With regard to the SCTH obtaining a "global achievement certificate" from Microsoft, al-Harbi said, ‘We are aware of the great efforts exerted by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage to accomplish such a remarkable achievement since our partnership, which started with the beginnings of establishing the SCTH. This certificate was awarded to the SCTH after getting confirmed that it is the world’s leading entity to merge three emerging technologies to implement Holo Journey project. ‘We congratulate the SCTH for its continued efforts to harness the latest technology to serve its objectives,’al Harbi added.
It should be mentioned that the application of the Holo Journey project is based on the idea of integrating the technologies of Mixed Reality technology, the Internet of Things and a series of blocks known as the Blockchain to bring unique experiences in aspects of cultural heritage and museums and in dealing with tourism data in the KSA.
