ITS Campus, ITS News – COVID-19 pandemic requires all people in Indonesia and even the world to work from home and carry out social distancing to break the chain of virus transmission. As a result of this regulation, one of the sectors affected in the tourism sector. Departing from these problems, students of the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) initiated a virtual reality (VR) tourism concept.

The initiator, Future Boss Team, formed by two ITS students, Josua Hasiholan Munthe and Muhammad Irvansyah. Both were supervised by the Department of Business Management lecturer, Satria Fadil Persada SKom MBA PhD. The ideas written in this essay won 2nd place in the National Student Competition for Business Management and Finance (KBMK) 2020, in the Field of Scientific Essay Writing.

The Future Boss Team leader, Josua Hasiholan Munthe, presented a scientific essay on the Virtual Reality Tourism scenario

The Future Boss Team leader, Josua Hasiholan Munthe, revealed that this idea emerged from the decline in Indonesia’s economy in the tourism sector due to the current pandemic. “We propose a new scenario through virtual reality tourism with the main focus being the development of historical tourism in Surabaya,” said the batch 2018 student of Department of Business Management.

His colleague, Muhammad Irvansyah, explained that VR Tourism is a safe, healthy and cost-effective way for people who want to travel during this pandemic. Moreover, there is a problem in community unrest due to having to stay at home. “So this is to boost the economy in the tourism sector and help the psychological level of people who like historical tours in Surabaya,” said the student who is often called Ivan.

Muhammad Irvansyah shows a scientific poster for the Virtual Reality Tourism scenario by his team

Before the idea for VR Tourism emerged, they were introduced by their supervisor to ITS alumni who had previously developed this system. “After seeing his prototype, with information from several media explaining public unrest, this idea was proposed to boost the economy in the tourism sector as well,” said Ivan.

Based on the posters used in this competition, VR Tourism will later collaborate with various companies or travel influencers to attract public interest. The use of this tourism system will also be implemented using VR technology.

The KBMK itself is a competition organized by the National Achievement Center under the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemdikbud) and consists of six categories. In the category of Scientific Essay Writing Competition, they took the five best essays nationally.

A scientific poster from the Virtual Reality Tourism scenario initiated by the Future Boss Team from ITS

Ivan revealed that they could win second place due to detailed market analysis and precise scenario analysis. Even though there was an internet connection problem when presenting the essay in the final round through Zoom, the Future Boss Team continued to make the presentation confidently. “At first our team was insecure because the posters and presentations were not as good as other campuses, but we remain calm and optimistic,” the batch 2018 Department of Industrial Chemical Engineering student.

Ivan hopes that this essay can serve as a suggestion to the government to implement this system in Indonesia’s world of tourism. The opportunities provided are likely to be of great help to people working in that sector. “What is certain is that they (tourism business actors, red) have tried to innovate in this sector so that the Indonesian economy can improve again,” he hoped. (ri/sel/ITS Public Relations)