The Astra tourism social network is launched on September 21, 2019. (Photo: vovworld.vn)

Each member of the network will be an ambassador to introduce and promote their country, its culture and people.

Astra is Vietnam's first tourism social network, helping domestic users connect, interact, share experiences, places, and cuisine, and explore tourism potential at home and abroad. The network has features to connect the global online travel market, share travel experiences and reviews with others, and purchase travel services.

“Astra’s highlight is promoting Vietnam’s image to the world and bringing the world to Vietnam. Whenever a user is in a country, the national flag of that country will appear at the corner of that person's avatar photo," said Astra CEO Nguyen Tiep.

"Astra is a social network contributed by users who are rewarded corresponding to the values they have contributed to us. The payout is based on the quality of users’ articles. The rewards can be redeemed for travel products, vouchers, flight tickets, and movie tickets,” he added.

One of Astra’s highlight features is creating a schedule for each trip. At the end of the trip, the schedule is saved and an album of the trip is created. When a holiday maker live-streams the places they visit, the live-stream is supported with light, music, and sound effects.

Astra also has features to find friends, invite friends to join your trip, provide a travel guide map, and search for nearby hotels, restaurants, and bars. Outstanding members of the Astra community are automatically honored in the system.

Miss World Vietnam 2019 Luong Thuy Linh, the network’s ambassador, said: “Astra helps the community, especially young travel lovers, who, through the network, can find useful information for their trips, even new fellow-travellers for future journeys. Astra is a catalyst helping people learn about tourist attractions and boost the development of the hospitality industry in Vietnam and the world.”

Astra users can access quickly and accurately reference information they need on tourist destinations, store and share beautiful moments, and save information about restaurants, hotels and transportation services.

Through Astra, users can contact service providers directly, reducing the cost of their trip. They can also feel more secure about purchasing products which have been reviewed by others.

“I think the network is useful and will be used widely. It will save me time in looking for information,” said Lan Huong, an Astra user.

In the first year, Astra hopes to attract 1 to 2 million users with a goal of promoting Vietnam, its land and people, to the world, bring the world to Vietnam, and create a community of travel lovers./.VNA

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