Ancient Chinese province of Yunnan embraces facial recognition, social media to boost tourist industry
- The Yunnan tourism app has attracted more than 23 million users
Yunnan, the ancient province in southwestern China famous for hand-picked tea, snow-capped mountains and the mystical hidden paradise of Shangri-La, is undergoing a digital makeover.
The Yunnan government has made “digitisation” a key goal in upgrading the local tourism industry, according to its 2019 work report. The app, as well as a mini program on the do-everything social app WeChat, have together attracted more than 23 million users, according to Tencent.
The tourism app is just as important to Yunnan as it is to Tencent, which has pledged to help bring local governments and businesses online as part of a recent shift in direction for the operator of China’s biggest social media and gaming businesses.
“This is a significant benchmark project for Tencent to help the digital transformation of the real economy and industries,” Martin Lau, President of Tencent, told an audience of more than 5,000 on Tuesday at the company’s Global Digital Ecosystem Summit in Kunming, capital of Yunnan.