Vietnamese tourism and efforts to “change blood” amid 4.0 era

(Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Not only international visitors but domestic holidaymakers are using services of foreign online travel platforms. The fact forces some Vietnamese enterprises to "change blood."

Although they cannot regain the market share of online travel platforms in the "home market", several Vietnamese businesses have made flexible and suitable steps on the path of development amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In addition to strong resources, these enterprises have been brave and determined to change because they understand that only new thoughts and actions can ‘re-paint" the Vietnamese tourism “picture”.

From multi-channel development strategy...

Most businesses are aware that doing business on online platforms is a way to help them not only improve competitiveness but also increase sales and brand reputation.

Saigontourist, for example, began to develop smart travel technologies and applications in the travel business in 2004. In recent years, the firm has stepped up the application of online travel and investment in technology with the establishment of an online business division.

As a result, 80 percent of its marketing activity has been shifted to digital marketing. Sales activities on its "fanpage" grew strongly. Personnel in this segment increased by up to 200 percent. Online sales account for 30 percent of total revenue (equivalent to over 1.37 trillion VND).

A Saigontourist representative said that since 2018, this unit has poured nearly 10 billion VND into online business development, including investments in technology, equipment, human resources and server infrastructure.

Images of Vietnam promoted by users on an application. (Photo taken from the screen)

For online business, Saigontourist has focused on seeking and serving customers to increase the numbers of customers and transactions. As a result, its growth in this segment climbed to 150 percent.

“In e-commerce activities, Saigontourist measures the effectiveness of each channel and each staff to evaluate the effectiveness and adjust its strategy. The company also regularly updates new techniques in developing distribution channels and cooperates with domestic partners. With its multi-channel development strategy, Saigontourist expects to approach more customers,” the representative said.

... To comprehensive travel experience solutions

Not only the “big fish” Saigontourist, Vietravel, as one of the pioneers in applying technology in tourism, has also recorded impressive growth. On average, in 2017-2019, the firm saw a steady growth with nearly 20 percent of customers booking services online and revenue from online services expanding by over 30 percent on average, particularly 40 percent in 2019.

A booth of Vietravel at an travel expo (Photo: VietnamPlus)

According to Vietravel's representative, for fast and strong development, the company has focused on selling online tours at travel.com.vn; established and developed member units such as WorldTrans - the largest air ticket trading floor in Vietnam and the "Your Trip" Travel Center – TripU. It has also launched the tourism service booking software Vietravel App and the VietravelPlus programme, which presents points to loyal customers.

In particular, Vietravel has invested 30 billion VND in developing TripU - a tourism application born on the basis of smart technology and profound understanding of Vietnamese tourism.

Nguyen Vu Hoang, co-founder and General Director of TripU Tourism Service Center, said: “We want to bring a comprehensive tourism service solution to Vietnamese people and redefine tourism experience in digital technology.”

With this app, users just need to choose a destination, then book all services from A-Z, wait until the departure day and experience the trip. In particular, to compete with the previous applications, TripU has a prominent feature: online visa service. Thanks to support of Vietravel, which boasts 24 years of experience in the Vietnamese tourism industry, applying for a tourist visa through TripU becomes simple.

Nguyen Vu Hoang, co-founder and General Director of TripU Tourism Service Center (Photo: VietnamPlus)

TripU has also cooperated with Agoda to expand its international markets, giving consumers more choices. said Hoang.

... And "personalized" flights

In 2019, Vietnam Airlines Group (including Vietnam Airlines, Jestar Pacific, Vasco) transported over 28 million passengers, including over 15 million foreigners.

Identifying air transport as a channel to promote the image of Vietnamese tourism to the world, in late December 2019, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) signed the minutes on strategic cooperation for the 2020-2022 period with Vietnam Airlines, focusing on tourism promotion.

A attendant serve drinks on a Vietnam Airlines flight (Photo: VietnamPlus)

The agreement, according to VNAT General Director Nguyen Trung Khanh, General Director, aims to reshape the new model of cooperation, focusing on apply technology and new marketing methods to promote Vietnam's tourism and attract more and more international tourists.

In the plan, the two sides will join hands to introduce publications and documents, exchange market research information; cooperate in participating in international tourism fairs abroad; organise programmes to introduce Vietnamese tourism overseas; conduct destination surveys and collaborate to hold tourism events at home, Khanh said.

In particular, to meet the increasing requirements of passengers in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the national flag carrier is determined to become a digital airline after 2020, with plans to be realized from later this year.

“We hope to give passengers, especially travellers, new experiences in the digital era and in the entire Vietnam Airlines service chain from booking tickets to the whole journey on aboard," said Deputy General Director of Vietnam Airlines Le Hong Ha shared.

Sharing Vietnam Airline's digital experience, Ha said the carrier will build a 'big data' to understand who its customers are and what they want, thus carrying out more personalized promotion activities for passengers. And after the journey ends, the airline continues to have exchanges with customers based on digitalization. It is also the trend and desire of modern customers./.