Vietnam embarks on developing online tourism

The new tourism promotion website, www.vietnam.travel, was recently launched by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Hanoi (VNA) – With a growing number of Internet users in the country, Vietnam has begun to apply information technology (IT) to develop online tourism, which is also a current global trend. More than 50 million Vietnamese people, or 53 percent of the country’s population, are using the Internet, higher than the averages for the Asia-Pacific region (46.64 percent) and the world (48.2 percent), according to the Authority of Information Security under the Ministry of Information and Communications. However, the Vietnam E-commerce Association said that strong international brand names are dominating Vietnam’s online tourism market with a market share of about 80 percent. Le Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said there are about 10 e-platforms for tourism in the country, including ivivu.com, mytour.vn, chudu24.com, gotadi.com, and tripi.vn. However, these sites only serve about 20 percent of the total online tourism demand. Meanwhile, a survey of foreign tourists last year showed that up to 71 percent of visitors had searched for information about Vietnamese destinations on the Internet, and 64 percent had booked and bought services for their trip online. Tourism insiders said that in order to turn tourism into a key industry, many solutions must be carried out simultaneously, including developing online tourism. They said online tourism will create the best possible conditions for visitors to enjoy their trips, as well as boosting business-to-business… [Read full story]