IO, Surabaya – The Covid-19 pandemic requires everyone to carry out social distancing to break the chain of transmission, and one of the sectors affected is tourism. Departing from these problems, two students of the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) initiated the concept of tourism called “Virtual Reality (VR) Tourism”.
VR Tourism was initiated by Josua Hasiholan Munthe and Muhammad Irvansyah who are members of the Future Boss Team, guided by a lecturer at the Department of Business Management, Satria Fadil Persada SKom MBA PhD. The ideas written in this essay won second place in the 2020 National Student Competition in the Field of Business Management and Finance (KBMK), in the area of Scientific Essay Writing.
The Chair of the Future Boss Team, Josua, revealed that this idea emerged following the decline in Indonesia’s economy in the tourism sector, due to the pandemic. “We propose a new scenario through virtual reality tourism with the main focus in the development of historical tourism in Surabaya,” said the 2018 Business Management student, in a release received by the Independent Observer, Wednesday (14/10/2020).
Irvan, Muhammad Irvansyah’s nickname, explained that VR Tourism is a safe, healthy, and cost-effective way for people who want to travel during a pandemic. Many community members suffer restlessness as a result of having to stay at home. “So this is to boost the economy in the tourism sector and psychologically help people who like historical tours in Surabaya,” he said. Before the idea for VR Tourism emerged, they were introduced by their supervisor to an ITS alumnus who developed this system. “After seeing the prototype, with information from several media explaining community unrest, this idea was proposed to boost the economy in the tourism sector,” explained Ivan.
Based on the posters used in this competition, VR Tourism will later collaborate with various companies or with the help of travel influencers to attract public interest. The use of this tourism system will” “also be implemented using VR technology.
KBMK i s a competiti on organized by the National Achievement Center under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Culture and consists of six categories. In the Scientific Essay Writing Competition category, the five best essays were taken nationally.
Ivan revealed that they could win 2nd place because of detailed market analysis and a clear scenario analysis. Even though there was an internet connection problem when presenting the essay in the final round via zoom, Future Boss Team still did it with confidence. “At first our team was insecure because the posters and presentations were not as good as those of other campuses, but we remained calm and optimistic,” said the 2018 batch of Industrial Chemical Engineering student.
Ivan hopes that his team can convince the government to implement this system in the world of tourism in Indonesia. The opportunities provided are likely to be of great help to those who work in the tourism sector. (est)