Tourism recovery following the heavy impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the important tasks of the tourism industry in particular and the whole economy in general.

Tra Su melaleuca forest. (Photo: Quoc Dung)

In the context of digital transformation covering all fields, the exploitation of added value from digital environment is one of the possible solutions, contributing to helping the tourism sector overcome all difficulties, restore the market and continue its sustainable development.

The application of digital technology in tourism development is an inevitable trend and a priority orientation of global tourism, including in Vietnam.

Recognising the importance of digital transformation, over the past years, Vietnam’s National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has developed digital platforms to support tourism activities including the application entitled “Vietnam Travel”, the platform “"Tourism Management and Business”, the Vietnam tourism database system, electronic ticket-card system, smart travel card, multimedia guide and social media platform.

In particular, the application of “Safe Vietnam Tourism” with its many utilities has supported the linkage among tourists, tourism service providers and state management agencies on a common platform.

This application also gives recommendations about safe destinations and safe service facilities as well as updates information and activities of the tourism industry.

In addition, tourism businesses have implemented digital transformation in management as well as across all forms of marketing, consulting, sales and customer care through online platforms. They have also created and developed many new products, meeting the diverse needs of tourists based on technological advances, especially virtual reality travel models with new and unique experiences.

In fact, digital technology application activities have contributed to tourism recovery and development. However, tourism has not really developed sustainably, competitiveness is not high, and products have not yet created their identity.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has a lot of potential for tourism development with unique cultural heritage resources, diverse and rich natural resources that are of great attraction to tourists.

In order to maximise this potential on the basis of sustainable development, besides the essential issues of infrastructure foundation, high-quality human resources for tourism and the improvement of the quality of advanced and modern services are one of several urgent requirements.

Therefore, the tourism industry and businesses should further promote the exploitation of added value from the digital environment by proactively approaching new and innovative technologies in transforming operational methods and developing new products that are attractive and imbued with national identity, meeting the increasing and diverse demands of travelers.

Today, the use of technology devices has become popular in all tasks including finding information online to choose destinations, booking online and reflecting opinions through online review channels.

On the other hand, the younger generation is gradually becoming a potential customer in the future. For them, technology and social platforms are the most suitable approaches.

Moreover, thanks to the exploitation of added value from the digital environment, tourism businesses can access more customers, take better care, reduce costs and increase business efficiency, thereby improving their capacity.

The effective implementation of technology solutions is expected to create a new impetus for the tourism industry and bring Vietnam into the group of 30 leading tourism competitive countries as required by the Prime Minister at the National Online Conference on Tourism in 2023 themed “Accelerating recovery - Accelerating development” held on March 15.

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