The digital age changes the game
Today, along with the development of digital technology, social networks have become a source of inspiration to start travel plans, especially for Gen Z. According to research published in 2024 by the Booking platform. com about the motivation for promoting Vietnamese Gen Z to travel, 69% of respondents use platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or YouTube to find ideas for their next trip.
Pham Duc Anh, a content creator with more than 6 million followers on TikTok, said that many years ago, when traveling to beautiful destinations, he often found impressive camera angles, made videos to introduce, and share his feelings about that destination on his personal page.
The male TikToker shared: From check-in content, introducing beautiful scenery or interesting and fun stories at the destination, videos have begun to attract comments and millions of views from local people and tourists. Most viewers are excited, even eager to come and experience it themselves.
From there, I have the opportunity to cooperate with brands and communication campaigns with the orientation of promoting domestic tourism, bringing positive effects. For example, in the series of content about the beauty of Da Nang, there is a video that reached more than 5 million views, many young people left comments "After seeing it, I want to go to Da Nang right away! ", "Da Nang is beautiful but chill!... makes me really happy and proud".
Most recently, Duc Anh participated in the campaign "Innovation and preservation of heritage in the digital world", introducing her hometown Ninh Binh through the hashtag #Di SanVietNam. As a content creator and project consultant, he hopes the campaign will bring a positive effect, bringing Ninh Binh closer to domestic and international tourists.
Talking to Lao Dong, Mr. Bui Van Manh - Director of Ninh Binh Department of Tourism - said: "Currently, Ninh Binh is also promoting communication on social networking platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram..., with videos earning tens of millions of views. These platforms help Ninh Binh tourism reach domestic and foreign tourists, causing the number of visitors to increase by 15-20% in the past few years.
In addition to building short clips on digital platforms, Ninh Binh has built a digital information system, virtual tour guide applications, virtual reality technologies... bringing more experiences to tourists. Mr. Manh also highly appreciated the contributions of KOLs, celebrities, content creators...
For Vietnam tourism to transform in the digital space
Mr. Nguyen Lam Thanh, representative of TikTok Vietnam, said that social networking platforms play an important role in supporting the promotion and spread of the beauty of the country and heritage of Vietnam, connecting closer to the younger generation and the community.
Through experiencing culture, cuisine, natural landscapes... as well as listening to historical stories from landmarks, content creators or tourists can contribute to strongly promoting the beauty of Vietnam on digital platforms, inspiring Vietnam tourism to audiences at home and abroad - Mr. Thanh said.
In order for Vietnam's tourism industry to actually transform itself in the digital era, social media expert Nguyen Ngoc Long said that the most important thing is to convert the whole industry thinking - from how to make products, access to markets, to interacting with tourists and the community.
"The starting point must be to build a digital communication mindset from the root, not just follow superficial trends. That is, from industry leaders to local units, service businesses, tour guides, people working in tourism... all need to understand that today, the "digital experience" of tourists takes place in parallel and sometimes more important than practical experience.
A journey now starts with a phone: from surfing TikTok, searching Google, watching reviews, to booking services, taking photos, checking in, sharing online. If we do not invest in digital experience, it will be considered a loss of more than half of the customer's journey" - Mr. Long commented.
In the current period, experts expressed the view that Vietnam should prioritize four major groups of solutions including: serious investment in the digital content ecosystem of the tourism industry; Upgrading digital technology for comprehensive travel experience; Re-training the tourism team with digital thinking and especially supporting potential KOCs, so that they can play the role of "wave leader" in promoting Vietnam tourism.
Mr. Long emphasized: For Vietnam to not only keep up but also make a breakthrough in the digital tourism communication race, what needs to be done is to build a modern, flexible and unique content - technology - human ecosystem. When these pillars operate smoothly, the tourism industry will not only transform - but can become a true spearhead industry in the post-digitalization era".
