According to data from the Statistics Office, in 2025, the number of Vietnamese people leaving the country reached 6.7 million, an increase of 26.4% compared to 2024. With each trip, tourists always have many concerns from hunting for air tickets, finding accommodation, exchanging money, how to pay, how to book a car at the destination or how to order food...
In the context of Vietnamese people going further and further, digital utilities are starting to change the way they prepare and experience an international trip.
From the suitcase to the phone
At the "Expatriation Club: Creator Meetup" event held on September 12 in Ho Chi Minh City, more than 300 travel creators (tourism content creators) shared experiences about trips from Vietnam to the world. The common point in the stories is not only new landmarks, strange dishes or cultural experiences, but also very practical issues during travel.
For people going abroad for the first time, preparation often involves a series of applications and paperwork: An application to book tickets, a place to buy eSIM, a banking application to track money, a map to find directions, a car booking application, train ticket booking or finding information about attractions.
That is also why technology platforms are looking for ways to turn phones into a "digital passport" for travel, where many needs can be processed right on the application.
Faced with the reality, ZaloPay introduces a product ecosystem for Vietnamese people traveling internationally, focusing on three main needs: booking air tickets, buying e-SIMs and international payments. In which, payment is considered one of the stages that easily generates the most inconvenience.
No longer having to be too dependent on cash
In many Asian destinations, QR codes have become a familiar part of payment life. For Vietnamese tourists, this opens up another option instead of having to carry a lot of cash or constantly looking for places to exchange foreign currency.
Currently, the international payment feature of this platform is available in some markets such as China, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Japan... and this network is expected to expand to 60 countries and territories by the end of 2026.
The usage method is relatively familiar to Vietnamese people: At the payment acceptance point, users can scan the store's QR code or give the QR code on the application to the cashier.
What is noteworthy is the growth rate of this demand. According to data provided by this online payment platform, the number of users making international payments through the platform has increased more than 11 times in just 6 months, from December 2025.
This figure partly shows that international payments are no longer too unfamiliar a need for Vietnamese users, especially when traveling abroad is becoming increasingly popular.
Instead of having to think too much about "how much cash to bring", tourists have another option to pay right on the phone they always carry with them.
More luggage for Vietnamese tourists
According to Lao Dong's research, in the near future, this online payment platform will launch 8 integrated features with in-depth experiences, including utilities such as online customs declaration, direct AI translation tools, auto-translated command code scanning, or a local public transport ride-hailing platform.
When fully integrated, this approach can help reduce the number of applications that a traveler has to install and use on a trip.
This is also a notable change in the way technology enters the tourism industry: not only helping users book a trip, but also continuing to accompany them when they are already at the destination.
With a digital platform that almost fully meets the most basic needs, eliminates language and cash barriers, plus the guiding role of travel creators, it promises to open an era of smart international tourism for Vietnamese people.
