Vietnam to have digital map of relic sites, tourist attractions

MCST Deputy Minister Hoang Dao Cuong said at a hybrid seminar on digital transformation in the culture, sports and tourism sector in Hanoi on October 26 that his ministry will build a digital platform and infrastructure in the time ahead, while implementing projects on the digitalisation of cultural heritage and digital transformation in the tourism industry.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung, member of the National Committee on Digital Transformation, noted that digital transformation is necessary as it helps the sector better optimise the market of nearly 100 million at home, along with other 8 billion potential customers worldwide, and improve its service quality.

On this occasion, organisers debuted the MSCS’s information system connected with that of the Government.

From 2015 to 2019, online searches for tourism information surged over 32-fold in Vietnam. Up to 88% of domestic travellers looked up information on the internet, and there were over 5 million searches in Vietnamese for tourism products each month, according to the Vietnam Tourism Association.

However, the effectiveness of digital transformation within Vietnamese travel companies remained modest during that period, with up to 80% of the domestic online tourism market held by foreign online travel agents (OTAs) such as Agoda.com, Booking.com, Traveloka.com, and Expedia.com. Local OTAs like Vinabooking.vn, Chudu24.com, Ivivu.com, VNTrip, Mytour.vn, and Gotadi only made up 20% with a limited number of transactions.