Tourism app helps promote Vietnam’s image to international visitors

The app integrates many necessary features. (Photo: Vietnamtourism.gov.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has officially kick-started a mobile app named “Du lich Viet Nam an toan” (Safe travel in Vietnam) in a bid to support travelers in searching information on safe destinations and interacting with tourism service providers.

The app is hoped to help promote Vietnam's image to international visitors.

The VNAT and the General Department of Market Surveillance on October 30 signed a document on coordination in promoting the application of digital technology in receiving and handling feedback from tourists.

At the event, the organisers introduced and guided how to use the app “Safe travel in Vietnam”, which support tourists in connecting with tourism service providers and State management agencies in the field.

The app, which aims at more than 43 million smart phone users, is available in both Vietnamese and English at http://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/live.

It is designed to make it easier for visitors to check information related to safe destinations, including a digital map containing information on restaurants, hotels, apartments, entertainment places, transport providers, hospitals and pharmacies.

Visitors can also look up information about the current COVID-19 situation as well as details about infection cases and the number of recovered patients there.

Tourists are free to send their feedback and comments on the service quality of places they visited as well as whether places met the safety standards which they laid out on the app.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has requested the VNAT to take immediate measures, such as accelerating the application of digital technology for tourism marketing, smartly managing tourist destinations, building big data and information systems, and popularising digital technology to all sectors to support Vietnam’s tourism development.

Previously, the VNAT, the General Department of Market Surveillance and relevant agencies have coordinated in introducing a number of digital technology applications, such as “Du lich Viet Nam” (Vietnam Travel), “Huong dan du lich Viet Nam” (Vietnam travel guide), and “Du lich Viet Nam an toan” (Safe travel in Vietnam).

To promote the role and responsibility of each agency in promoting the application of digital technology in an effort to improve the position of Vietnam tourism in the international arena, the two agencies focused their coordination on sharing information, documents, data on methods and tricks infringing the interests of tourists, promoting the application of digital technology, assisting in receiving and handling feedback from tourists, and developing shared applications based on digital platforms and advanced technology to receive and handle feedback from visitors.

A man experiences on-the-spot travel via new digital platforms (Photo: VietnamPlus)

The coordination between the two agencies is an important milestone, contributing to improving the efficiency of State management, ensuring a healthy tourism business environment and protecting the interests of tourists in Vietnam.

According to statistics from the VNAT, Vietnam’s tourism sector recorded breakthrough growth in the last five years, with the number of international visitors to the country increasing by 2.3 times. The total revenue from tourists rose by 2.2 times. The sector directly contributed about 9.2 percent of GDP.

Amid the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, the sector has been paying special attention to ensuring interests of tourists and improving the quality of products and services./.