SpaceTravel to partner with UnionPay, The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia & Bali Tourism Promotion Board to Bolster Bali Tourism Industry through launch of BUBU App
Unlocking Post Covid Tourism Potential Through Digital Transformation
SpaceTravel,
UnionPay International, and the Bali Tourism Promotion Board, supported
by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Singapore, yesterday
officially kicked off their partnership to offer BUBU, a lifestyle app
for tourists in Bali. Singapore-based startup, SpaceTravel, will develop
this app as this partnership hopes to embrace digitisation to bolster
the Bali tourism industry through its recovery.
This partnership
was announced at a webinar yesterday “Digitisation to Unlock Tourism
Potential Post-Covid”. The event was attended by His Excellency Ngurah
Swajaya, the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Singapore, Mr.
Muhammad Neil El Himam, Director for Application & Governance of
Digital Economy – Ministry of Tourism and Economy Creative of the
Republic of Indonesia, Dr Putu Saroyini, Vice-Chair Bali Tourism
Promotion Board, Mr. Wenhui Yang, General Manager, UnionPay
International (UPI) Southeast Asia, Mr Ping Teck Huat, CEO of
SpaceTravel Pte Ltd, and other distinguished guests.
BUBU is
an all in one application that allows tourists to Bali to navigate, book
accommodation, transport and look for merchant offers, whilst giving
merchants the ability to gain insights about and reward consumers when
they spend.
In his opening address, Ambassador Ngurah said that
since the pandemic Covid-19, the government has developed and rolled out
a comprehensive strategy for the development of the Indonesian Tourism
in line with the Cleanliness, Health, and Safety (CHS) protocol.
“The
plan to reopen is gradual and emphasizes the importance of developing
confident, safety, and quality tourism. Reopening borders has been
discussed in the ASEAN context,“ he said.
Following him, Mr.
Neil El Himam shared with attendees several marketing strategies which
tapped on digitisation to increase quality tourist visits to Indonesia
in the future. This included Indonesia Care, which taps on VR, Big Data,
and blockchain to promote virtual, seamless tourism to future tourists
to Bali.
“While we don’t hope to replace the in person
experience, tourists can now preview what they will be seeing on the
trip before they embark on it, “he remarked.
Similarly, Dr Putu
Saroyini stressed the use of mobile applications to engage the Chinese
tourist market, which accounted for close to 20 percent of the country’s
18,000 daily visitors pre-Covid. Dr Putu highlighted that the BUBU App
taps on the human desire to gain rewards for their actions, which will
encourage them to spend while travelling.
“This gamification
feature will promote a higher user engagement, which I believe will make
it the ideal choice for travellers when they come to Bali,” she said.
This
was a sentiment echoed by Mr Ping, who urged offline businesses to be
quick in adopting digitisation to reach out to potential tourists while
observing safety.
“With the help of local tourism boards and
UnionPay, we are able to engage these merchants directly and connect
them with potential customers in a contactless and hygienic way,” he
said.
Mr. Wenhui Yang, General Manager of UPI Southeast Asia
further added, “We are pleased to be part of this partnership, to bring
more value to our Cardholders, merchant acquirers, and Bali merchants
alike.
“This app makes it easier for tourists to not only find
their way around Bali, but to easily find and pay for exciting merchant
offers when visiting the famed island of the Gods,” he said.
In
Bali, the province’s success in fighting COVID-19 has resulted in the
Indonesian government expressing interest in reopening its door on 11
September 2020. This has caused much excitement for industry players,
who see this as an opportunity for business recovery and even growth.