Experts shed light on how Thailand can use Metaverse for tourism, business and education
At a forum hosted by Spring News on Friday, many speakers explained how the Metaverse can be used to make Thailand a leader in the tourism industry as well as promote its indigenous products.
Metaverse Thailand’s co-founder Parin Panichpak told the virtual forum, entitled “Spring News Special Forum Metaverse”, how this new technology can be used to impart knowledge in school. He said children can be taught lessons using virtual games and edutainment.
Parin also said that the Metaverse offers many job opportunities like people can display the art of Muay Thai to potential visitors or sell real estate.
However, he said, there may be a problem with ethics and transparency, so the government must come up with laws and the private sector should comply. Yet, he said, too many restrictions may stop the private sector from reaching its full potential.
As for tourism, he said the Metaverse can play a key role in promoting the country and its unique products to tourists.
Kitti Pornsiwakit, president of Smart Tourism Committee, said that if the Metaverse is used correctly, it can help make Thailand a leader in the tourism industry again. However, he added, tourism operators need to learn how to do this and he has joined up with two government agencies to develop a course on the application of Metaverse in tourism.
He said initially a pilot project will be created to promote two minor provinces, adding that the picture will be clearer in two months.
Pathom Indarodom, vice president of the Digital Council of Thailand, said though the country’s digital infrastructure is as good as any other nation, Thailand is still ranked 53 among 65 countries when it comes to preparing for the future.
He blamed this on Thai people’s lack of interest in learning new things and adopting new technology for application in the business sector.
Pathom said Thailand is still in the Metaverse 1.0 era when we have to wear heavy virtual reality (VR) glasses, yet companies like Elon Musk’s Neuralink have broken barriers by creating an interface between the human brain and computers.
He said very soon everything in the real world will be available in the virtual world and people will be able to enter the Metaverse without any equipment.
However, he said, he was worried about Thailand’s inability to compete with other countries due to local people’s attitude towards the digital world.
Blockchain Prime Holding’s co-founder Pongbol Iemvicharana lauded the development of the Social Bureau: Decentralised Justice System, saying the Metaverse will make it difficult to identify people and will open the door to hacking. With this justice system in place, the bureau can hunt down culprits and punish them, but he said, information should be made available to the public as well. This way, he said, the public can have data in hand and protect themselves when conducting transactions.
Trikun Srihongse, country manager for Zipmex, said his company’s goal is to revolutionise investment in digital assets for decentralised financial services. They will apply blockchain and crypto technology to access finances more easily, while NFTs (non-fungible assets) will play a bigger role once the Metaverse has grown.
