Phuket touted as a ‘Metaverse City’

Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn was the keynote speaker at an event hosted at Boat Lagoon Resort focused on “Transforming Thai tourism using technology” and creating Thailand’s first Metaverse City in Phuket.

Pichet Panapong, Deputy Governor of Phuket, opened the event, describing the further tourism potential and aspirations of Phuket as a leading destination.

He was then joined on stage by Wichai Thongtang, Chairman of Bitkub World Tech Co. Ltd, and Mr. Jirayut Sub Sri Sopha, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bitkub Capital Group Holdings Co, Ltd.

Further discussions involving officials and industry experts centred around promoting tourism and wellness with digital technology and how by applying technology tools of the future such as artifical intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), Phuket can become a leader in the field.

Phuket has been chosen as the pilot project to become the nation’s first Metaverse City because of its reputation as a leading tourism pronvince, often referred to as the “Pearl of the Andaman”.

According to the xrtoday website, “The notion of the metaverse – recently propelled into the mainstream by Facebook’s rebranding as Meta – will transform how we inhabit the world around us... the metaverse can be defined as a simulated digital environment that uses augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and blockchain, along with concepts from social media, to create spaces for rich user interaction mimicking the real world.”

Seoul announced last year that it aimed to become the first city to enter the Metaverse where, according to Euronews, it “intends to create a virtual communication ecosystem for all areas of its municipal administration. This would include economic, cultural, tourism, educational and civic service, in three stages.

“If this project becomes a reality, Seoul citizens will soon be able to put on their VR headsets to meet city officials for virtual consultations. They will even be able to attend mass events.”

Given the right levels of development support and promotion it is believed Phuket has the potential and ability to harness digital innovation methods to follow a similar path to its South Korean counterpart and continue to advance as a leading tourism destination.

No financial figures or cost projections were mentioned although Seoul has reportedly invested KRW 3.9 billion (B101bn) into its efforts already so significant funding would be required to even get the project off the ground.

Earlier yesterday, Mr Phiphat visited the area in the north of the island that has been designated for the construction of the Andaman International Sports Complex and Training Center.

Mr Phiphat was joined by Dr. Kongsak Yodmanee, Governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand, yesterday morning around 10am as they surveyed the area by boat.