High Speed Internet brings more potential to the Malaysian tourism industry.
Written by; Akmal Fadzil – ALTEL Group Chief Operating Officer

While the prospects of high speed internet and the promise of low latency from 5G is great, we are more excited about the possibilities it will unlock for tourism especially in an island as mythical as Langkawi.

Imagine a seamless travel experience where a tourist can arrive at an airport and be whisked away in an autonomous vehicle with luggage in tow, be checked in to his hotel on the way, and be guided to his hotel room or villa without any human contact. On his holiday, he experiences the legend of Mahsuri, and lives through that period through augmented reality.

Feeling famished, his online local tour guide gives him a list of local delicacies through a lag-free video conference call before ending his day by uploading high-definition videos of his adventure onto his social media profile.

While this may sound far-fetched, this high-tech approach to tourism is just around the corner with the introduction of 5G.

5G technology does not just enable high speeds, but higher capacity bandwidths that will allow more devices to get connected. This in turn unlocks potential for the end user to experience Langkawi in a whole new way.

Hoteliers and tour operators can benefit as well through the introduction of this technology as they can now track movement and get access to data. They could make better and faster decisions based on the in-bound tourism movements and create dynamic pricing or packages to appeal more to tourist. Places that used to suffer from low arrivals during low season can hopefully utilize this to compete for precious tourism dollars.

The potential of 5G opens up a dynamic ecosystem interplaying between travelers and industry players. From seamless conveniences, immersive experiences to data and information gathering, a long-needed disruption will finally come to the tourism industry giving it a refreshing outlook in creating unique destination experiences.