Anhui Province: BeiDou Enables Intelligent Tourism in the Tiantangzhai Scenic Area

Anhui’s Tiantangzhai Scenic Area has attracted over 160,000 tourists during this National Day golden week. Since 2013, the Tiantangzhai Scenic Area has started the program of intelligent scenic area. With the help of such technological approaches as the BeiDou system, all kinds of needs can be met online, such as ticketing, food and lodging, intelligent parking, entrance by scanning a QR code, self-service guide, etc.

On the self-service guide platform, there are self-service guide systems, which can be used by Wechat users, and BeiDou-based self-service tour guide. By pinpointing tourists’ exact location through BeiDou satellites, the system can guide tourists to nearby rest areas, commodity purchasing areas, toilets, and recommend the best sightseeing route, helping them getting better touring experience. Staff in the scenic area can monitor tourists’ location through a backstage application of the self-service guide, timely discover tourists that have got out of the safe touring footpath and to such danger zones as the top of a waterfall and the side of a pond, and warn them to pay attention to their safety by pushing a button on the intercom.

Before getting to the scenic area, tourists can ask for information about the scenic area on its official website, micro blog, and Wechat official account, and then plan the route and time of sightseeing. Upon arriving in the scenic area, tourists can find the parking lot with information provided by its intelligent and green parking lot. After paying for tickets online, tourists can receive ticket information on their mobile device and enter the scenic area by scanning the QR code or their second-generation ID cards, which can save time spent on queuing for tickets.