Vietnam Online Tourism Forum (VOTF), held the first time in 2017 by Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), drew an enormous attention among the community. As the consequence, VECOM in cooperation with Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) organized VOTF 2018 in Hanoi, March 29th 2018. This is one of the most outstanding events in Vietnam International Travel Mart 2018 (VITM).
According to Vietnam eBusiness Index Report, the growth rate of Vietnam e-commerce in 2017 was over 25% and would be stable for the next term 2018-2020. Noticeably, the speed of online tourism business development is over 50%, double as general e-commerce growth. A survey in 2017 done with international tourists to Vietnam showed up to 71% had looked for information through the Internet and 64% booked online tour or purchased online services to Vietnam. Along with the developing trend of e-commerce and travel, these numbers are expected to keep growing in the future.
Organized at the same time with Vietnam International Travel Mart, Vietnam Online Tourism Forum was participated by a number of agencies, organizations, enterprises and individuals which work in either travel or e-commerce sectors. The event was a special occasion for those parties to exchange new tendencies in doing online businesses, technologies, and creative business ideas, as well as to introduce new market studies in relation with online travel industry in Vietnam and on the world.
The Forum consisted of 2 discussion sessions about 2 typical topics. The first session was about " Challenges before booming of online tourism", with the participation of guests from Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Institute for Tourism Development Research and pioneer travel companies, discussed about the trend of online travel development, significance of investment in information technology and law/regulation about online tourism.
"Online travel business in digital era" was the main topic of the 2nd session. Technology evolution has formed various types of online travel businesses, especially with the appearance of cloud computing, big data, mobile platform, social network, sharing economy and mobile applications utilizing GPS, all of those have increased customer experience and brought tremendous opportunities to companies if they can catch the trend. Online payment also witnesses sharply change, as mobile technology and QR help the payment of domestic and international tourists become easy than ever. In the 2nd session, speakers discusses with attendants to recognize deep impacts of technology on business process of travel companies.
This year, the Forum drew big attention of organizations and individuals with considerable influence on online businesses, including representatives from Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Institute for Tourism Development Research, Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency, BIG SAGOTA, Vietnam Airlines, VnPost, Vinaphone, Grab, Zalo Business, Traveloka, Hi-Tek, Netco, Saigontourist, hanoitourist, Gotadi, Tripi, Tugo, Haravan, Vinalink etc.
Details of the Forum can be found at: https://otd.vecom.vn/
Vietnam E-commerce Association and Vietnam Tourism Association would like to give many thanks to media and presses which had accompanied with the 2 organizations for years and released posts about the Forum. Vietnam Online Tourism Forum 2018 wouldn't have achieved such success without the support from those agencies and journalists.
VECOM and VITA welcome all organizations, enterprises, media and individuals to join in Vietnam Online Tourism Forum 2018, with the firm belief that the Forum would practically contribute to the successful development of travel industry.
Images of the Forum:
VECOM
