Digital transformation of the tourism industry - An inevitable trend in the current context

In the current context, digital transformation of the tourism industry has become an inevitable trend, helping to increase competitiveness and support sustainable development for businesses operating in this field. In the article below, 1C Vietnam will introduce in detail useful information related to digital transformation applications in the tourism industry including concepts, benefits as well as some opportunities and challenges faced. .

1. What is digital transformation of the tourism industry?

Digital transformation of the tourism industry is the process of comprehensive change from traditional business and marketing models to modern business models, focusing on customer experience according to a data-based digital value chain model. Thanks to that, visitors will experience convenient and fast travel services.

2. Why should you convert travel numbers?

Digital transformation of the tourism industry brings many benefits to businesses, including:

• Improve customer experience: Digital transformation helps customers easily book rooms, book tours, and pay conveniently and flexibly. Thanks to that, visitors can save time and money, and have a better travel experience.
• Improve operational efficiency: Applying effective digital technology allows businesses to optimize operating processes, save time and costs, and improve management efficiency.
• Create new products and services: Successfully implementing digital transformation will support the company in creating new products and services, suitable to customer tastes and modern development trends such as tourism. virtual, simulation tourism, virtual reality tourism,...
• Respond flexibly to new challenges: Helping businesses be more proactive in responding to specific objective conditions such as in the context of a global epidemic, tourism businesses can use technology to reduce Minimize direct contact, thereby ensuring the safety of employees and visitors.

3. How is the digital transformation of Vietnam's tourism industry taking place?

Vietnam's tourism industry is clearly aware that digital transformation is an inevitable trend, bringing many benefits and great potential for the country's development. Therefore, agencies, organizations, and travel businesses have been actively implementing many technological solutions as well as establishing appropriate policies to accelerate transformation.

Specifically, right from 2018, according to Decision No. 1671/QD-TTg, the Prime Minister approved the "Master plan for applying information technology in the field of tourism in the period 2018-2020, oriented to 2025" [1] emphasizes the importance of digital tourism and smart tourism. At the same time, the Prime Minister also set specific goals and tasks to promote digital transformation in the tourism industry.

In 2022, digital transformation in the tourism industry will be promoted in the direction of being people- and business-centered, inclusive and inclusive. Accordingly, the program to promote the national digital platform strategy [2] has provided adequate information and online experiences for tourists in many localities.

This driving force has spurred a strong wave of technology businesses investing in the tourism industry, developing digital platforms that connect supply and demand. At the same time, digital transformation in the tourism industry has also become an attractive and trendy specialty in the digital era.

Across the country, localities have simultaneously deployed and applied many digital transformation applications to adapt to trends and improve efficiency.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the tourism industry has made great strides when applying smart software on both Android and iOS platforms. This software provides visitors with detailed information about locations, services, transportation, etc. In addition, the city also deploys 3D technology applications to help share information and promote tourism. , vividly recreates the elevated city space and gives visitors interesting experiences in a visual and vivid way. [3]

In recent times, Hanoi has always been a pioneer in the field of digital transformation and technology application in tourism. Applications for buying sightseeing tickets, paying for services remotely, using automatic interpretation systems, exploring heritage with 3D technology, etc. have been deployed. At many relics and attractions, technology has also been applied to build smart tourism products. [4]

In Da Nang city, many businesses and units have been gradually digitizing to promote and promote tourism products to a large number of tourists. Specifically, many businesses have begun to digitize craft village products and apply technology to build a sustainable customer base. In addition, the city's tourism industry also built a tourism database and digital culinary map integrated into the Da Nang tourism map... to improve business efficiency and keep up with global tourism trends. . [5]

4. Opportunities and challenges in digital transformation of tourism in Vietnam

Digital transformation of the tourism industry brings many opportunities, but also poses many challenges for businesses and organizations in Vietnam. Immediately read the information below to better understand the opportunities and challenges facing businesses operating in the tourism sector:

4.1. Opportunity

Digital transformation in the tourism sector is an inevitable trend, bringing many opportunities for businesses in the industry including:

• With the development of technology, travel companies can take advantage of new opportunities to enhance their position, improve customer experience and optimize costs.
• Travel businesses can also automate processes, optimize operational efficiency, and provide more personalized and relevant customer service.
• Blockchain helps ensure the safety and security of customer information, creating new opportunities for cooperation between tourism business units.
• In addition, digital transformation also helps tourism businesses create new products and services to meet the diverse needs of the market. For example, virtual tourism, simulation tourism, and virtual reality tourism services are increasingly popular, bringing customers new and attractive experiences.
• Facing new challenges, digital transformation helps tourism businesses be more proactive in responding. For example, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation has helped tourism businesses continue to operate and serve customers, even expanding their markets.

4.2. Challenge

Besides many development opportunities, the digital transformation process of the tourism industry in Vietnam today still faces many difficulties and challenges. Specifically:

• The difference in technology development conditions between regions causes the digital transformation process to take place unevenly and inconsistently. Areas with good conditions for digital transformation in tourism are mostly in large provinces and cities.
• Digitalization activities in the tourism industry are still sporadic, fragmented, and have not yet been connected and have not built a synchronous database. This leads to many difficulties in the process of management, control, reporting and data statistics.
• Lack of resources is one of the biggest challenges of digital transformation. Specifically, the tourism industry is lacking modern technology, finance as well as digital human resources with sufficient knowledge and skills.
• Vietnam's current training system still has many shortcomings in keeping up with the trend of nurturing talent and developing digital tourism human resources. Most restaurants, hotels, travel agencies, stores, and tourist attractions in the country have not yet arranged experienced personnel to meet digital transformation requirements.

5. New trends in implementing digital transformation in the tourism industry

In recent years, Vietnam's tourism industry has made many significant strides in applying digital technology, contributing to improving business efficiency and customer experience. However, besides the established trends, the tourism industry still has much potential to exploit and apply digital technology in the future. Below are some new trends in implementing digital transformation in the tourism industry that businesses should pay attention to:

5.1. Apply advanced technology to improve customer experience

Like other industries, travel and hotel businesses are also being strongly impacted by the digital transformation process. Among the rapidly developing technological solutions are some of the following trends:

Mobile application

Mobile applications are suitable for the characteristics of travel customers who are often far away from the service provider. At that time, the smartphone application allows customers to exploit information, perform transactions and integrate many other utilities. For example, smartphones can be used to open room doors, order meals, and place orders Additional services in the hotel,...

Artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming mainstream, especially in the tourism sector. A chatbot is a pre-programmed computer program that interacts with humans through text or voice. This type of technology has many advantages, including the ability to work continuously, be ready to answer many different types of user requests, can work anytime, anywhere and use any language .

IoT connection

IoT is increasingly developing and being applied in many fields, including tourism. Businesses can exploit data from IoT devices to better understand customers' needs and travel habits, thereby providing more suitable services and enhancing consumer experience.

Rating and Review

Rating and Review are two important tools to help customers share opinions about tourism products and services. Through platforms such as social networks and travel websites, customers can easily express their feelings about the quality, service, price,... of accommodation establishments and tourism businesses.

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that simulates the real environment through VR devices, helping users to experience it realistically as if they were there. In the field of tourism, VR is applied to create virtual tours for tourists.

Through the use of images, videos, sounds, etc., this technology allows visitors to have a visual view of tourist destinations, thereby being able to choose destinations that suit their interests. your likes and needs.

5.2. Optimize business operating processes through digital transformation

Tourism businesses are one of the units most strongly impacted by digital transformation. To keep up with trends and develop sustainably, tourism companies need to focus on building and perfecting operating processes.

For small businesses, operating processes play an important role in ensuring the efficiency and quality of business operations. If there is a lack of standardly built and managed processes, the unit will easily encounter conflicts in activities and operations, thereby affecting progress and target results.

For medium and large-scale tourism businesses, the operating process is often more complex, includes many steps and involves many departments. Using digital transformation solutions helps standardize processes, thereby reducing friction and improving productivity and work efficiency.

For example, the booking and operating process of a tourism business. This is a complex process that requires many steps and includes the responsibilities of many departments. When putting this entire process on software, all information and tasks are displayed visually, helping businesses easily manage and control.

Thus, digital transformation of the tourism industry is a strategic process, requiring determination and effort from businesses. To successfully implement digital transformation, each business unit needs to have a long-term vision, invest properly in resources, build a workforce with digital skills... Besides, to learn and grasp To add useful knowledge about corporate governance, don't miss other information on the 1C Vietnam website.

References:

[1] Government Electronic Information Portal. "Master plan for applying information technology in the tourism sector for the period 2018 - 2020, oriented to 2025". 2018, from: https://vanban.chinhphu.vn/

[2] Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. "Decision Approving the Program to promote the development and use of national digital platforms to serve digital transformation, development of digital government, digital economy, and digital society of the Ministry of Information and Communications". 2023, from: https://vass.gov.vn/

[3] TheVnEconomy. "Ho Chi Minh City applies technology to develop smart tourism to "attract" tourists." 2023, from https://vneconomy.vn/

[4] Communist Magazine. "Hanoi tourism applies digital technology towards sustainable development". 2021, from https://www.tapchicongsan.org.vn/

[5] Da Nang Newspaper. “Digital transformation for tourism development”. 2023, from https://baodanang.vn/