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| A stall at the event |
Vu The Binh, vice chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA), cited the Google-Temasek report on the internet economy in Southeast Asia which showed the size of Vietnam’s online tourism market grew 15 percent to 3.5 billion USD in 2018. The figure is projected to be 9 billion USD in 2025.
However, Vietnam was placed 5th among six Southeast Asian nations mentioned in the report, meaning potential of the market is yet to be fully tapped.
A highlight of the Vietnam Online Tourism Day was a forum with four thematic sessions discussing the boom of online tourism, tourists’ online behaviours, relevant support services, and human resources.
It was a chance for local travel companies to gain an overview of the online sector as well as learn from and connect to their international peers.
Also in the framework of the online tourism day, the VITA and Vietnam E-Commerce Association signed an agreement to collaborate on human resources training serving online tourism.
There was also an exhibition displaying tourism support services and online tourism applications.
Close to 7.3 million foreign tourists visited Vietnam in the first five months of 2019, up 8.8 percent against the same period last year. The country aims to receive about 18 million foreign visitors this year.
