The tourism digital economy means digitizing 3,000 travel firms, 30,000 tour guides, 38,000 accommodation establishments, 550 restaurants and eateries, 41,000 relics and landscapes, 3,000 transport firms, 162 museums, and millions of check-in points.

Nguyen Duc Thanh, Deputy CEO of Vietsens Technology Group JSC, said that after a period of deployment, the digital transformation process at Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam (the Temple of Literature) has been completed with the launch of the electronic ticket system and non-cash payment system, using smart tourism cards.

Thanh said the systems were unfamiliar to people, which confused them. Some travel firms and tour guides are not used to electronic invoices and have raised many questions about vouchers for payment. At first, there were problems with the sale and use of tickets. However, it did not take much time to get familiar with the new model. 

The biggest problem lies in travelers. The electronic ticket system requires travelers to queue up, read the instructions on how to use tickets and keep distance. However, most travelers don’t pay attention to the regulation. 

“It is necessary to guide tourists to help them gradually get used to new civilized habits such as queuing, yielding, self-respect and bigger responsibility; and at the same time, more proficiently use digital transformation tools,” he said.

Nguyen Trong Duong from the Ministry of Information and Communications said the tourism digital ecosystem not only offers convenience and helps cut costs, but also enhances travel experience, so it’s necessary to bring tourism digital economy to each citizen through apps on digital platforms.

In Vietnam, a program on national digital platform promotion has made breakthroughs. Thirty-five national digital platforms have been used to serve digital transformation, putting people and businesses’ activities into the digital environment with Vietnam-made digital platforms. 

Of these, two platforms are in the culture, sports and tourism sector, including tourism business administration and digital museums.

“Every person can become a tour guide, and each house can become an accommodation establishment and each school can become an excursion site,” Duong said.

At the forum titled ‘Green passage for tourism to take off’ held some days ago, Duong related a story which shows existing problems. Tourists who sightsee on Ha Long Bay cannot ask for permission to visit Lan Ha Bay online, though it is near. They need to go ashore and ask for permission before departing for Lan Ha Bay.

According to Nguyen Quyet Tam from Vietnam Software & IT Service Association, the application of IT and digital transformation in the tourism sector is spontaneous, ‘every man for himself’. 

He said the biggest problem in digital transformation is human resources, not technology and the success of the digital transformation much depends on the leaders.

Ngoc Ha