Oracle Cloud has been chosen by the City Government of Baguio to help them manage its interstate visitor traffic application process in support of their cautious re-opening of tourism activities.
The Baguio Visitors Information & Travel Assistance (VISITA) online registration system and mobile application are enabling the local government unit (LGU) to register and trace visitors more accurately to ensure the safety of its 360,000 residents and interstate tourists. VISITA is powered by the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, which delivered 55% cost savings to the city as compared to running the system on-premise.
“As with many places around the world, seeing the City devoid of tourists was very hard. Wanting to welcome them back and protect our residents at the same time we turned to technology for the answer recognizing the efficiencies it could bring. We selected Oracle Cloud for the Baguio VISITA program due to its enterprise-grade performance, rapid scalability, and simplicity of integration which enabled the system to go live in just one week. Since moving to the cloud, we have seen significant cost savings as compared to previously,” according to Alec Mapalo, Division Head, City Tourism and Special Events Office, City of Baguio.
Dubbed as the Philippines’ Summer Capital due to its refreshing summer climate, Baguio City attracted more than a million visitors each year prior to the ongoing pandemic. At its peak, the website saw approximately 13 million hits per week. Wanting to improve efficiency and be better able to record visitors’ details, track their movements and impose local health and safety protocols, the LGU decided to develop an integrated visitor management system. But with movement restrictions in force, the City found implementing the system challenging and looked for an alternative cloud provider.
Funded and supported by the Department of Tourism and Tourism Promotions Board, the Baguio VISITA (Visitor Information and Travel Assistant) is the online registration system for Baguio tourists and travelers. It has become an instrumental tool for the city’s cautious re-start of tourism activities and gradual re-opening of the local economy.
To support the rapid implementation of the visitor system, Oracle Cloud Native Services including Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes was used. This approach in the development of the system using Oracle-managed container orchestration service reduced the time and cost needed to build a modern cloud-native application such as Baguio VISITA.
The Baguio VISITA was designed as a general digital system that can regulate entry and monitor mobility of visitors through a ticketing system using a QR-coded Tourist Pass (QTP), and at the same time implementing the city’s health and safety protocols, from the mandated triaging up to digital check-ins for contact tracing. According to Mapalo, they are in the process of integrating the Baguio VISITA’s built-in contact tracing feature with the government-mandated StaySafePH app.
Baguio City also used Oracle Cloud Guard to add another layer of protection to the built-in security of the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Oracle Cloud Guard detects misconfigured resources and insecure activity so they can be triaged and resolved immediately. For threat intelligence with consistent rule enforcement Oracle Web Application Firewall has been implemented to protect the application from malicious and unwanted internet traffic.
“The pandemic has accelerated the pace of digitization. In the Public Sector, the government departments and organizations have had to pivot quickly to provide services remotely to the citizens while ensuring their services are secure, reliable, and compliant with local regulations. With the adoption of a strong cloud foundation the City of Baguio has been able to adapt quickly to serve the tourists while ensuring their physical safety and deliver on its smart city goals,” said Mina Lim, Country Managing Director of Oracle Philippines.
Know more about Baguio VISITA via https://visita.baguio.gov.ph/.