Rewiring tourism for the digital traveller era

Announcement ceremony for the Vietnam Tourism Development Cooperation between Vietnam National Authority of Tourism and Mastercard

Vietnam is recognised as one of the fastest-growing tourism markets in the region. How do you evaluate the five-year strategic partnership between Mastercard and the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT)?

The collaboration between Mastercard and VNAT is a five-year partnership designed with a clear and multidimensional vision to support the development of Vietnam’s tourism sector.

As part of this collaboration, Mastercard is working closely with VNAT across multiple areas of focus. One of the key priorities is promoting Vietnam as a destination across the globe, particularly in select travel corridors identified as strategic by the government of Vietnam and the tourism authority. This targeted approach ensures that promotional efforts are aligned with national priorities and evolving international travel trends.

In parallel, Mastercard is leveraging its globally recognised experiences platform to curate and introduce unique, high-quality experiences within Vietnam. These tailored offerings are designed to enhance the country’s attractiveness to international visitors by delivering more immersive and memorable journeys.

In addition, both sides are actively engaging in joint communication campaigns aimed at raising awareness of Vietnam as a destination. Campaigns such as the one introduced today highlight a coordinated effort to amplify Vietnam’s presence across global media channels, reinforcing its positioning as a dynamic and increasingly competitive tourism market.

How will this partnership advance digital transformation and payment solutions to strengthen Vietnam’s tourism competitiveness in the coming years?

A major focus of the partnership will be on advancing digital transformation across the entire tourist journey. The objective is to create a seamless, end-to-end tourism experience that is digitally enabled, thereby enhancing both the overall journey and the in-country experience for visitors.

This includes developing solutions that allow tourists, from the moment they arrive in Vietnam, to interact with a tourism application that can serve multiple purposes. In the future, such an application could evolve into a comprehensive platform where travellers not only access information about destinations, attractions, and activities, but also use it as a tool for making payments conveniently and securely.

Beyond digital platforms, Mastercard is also working with the VNAT in areas such as workshops, seminars, and international engagements. These initiatives aim to strengthen collaboration, share expertise, and promote Vietnam’s tourism offering in overseas markets.

A particularly important pillar of this collaboration is data. With its global network, extensive reach, and the volume of transactions it processes, Mastercard is uniquely positioned to provide highly precise, tourism-related insights across industries, cities, and destinations.

By working closely with the VNAT, these data-driven insights can be translated into more effective strategies and targeted initiatives that support the growth of the tourism sector.

In this context, data is expected to play a central role in shaping the direction and impact of the overall strategic collaboration.

Sharad Jain, country manager of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia at Mastercard

How is Mastercard leveraging data and technology to support Vietnam’s tourism development, and what untapped growth opportunities do you see based on your experience in other markets?

Mastercard has extensive experience working with international companies, government agencies, and tourism boards across multiple markets. For example, the company collaborates closely with the Ministry of Tourism in Thailand, as well as with tourism authorities in Malaysia and the Philippines. These partnerships focus on leveraging international data analytics and traveller insights to support specific use cases and unlock targeted growth opportunities within each market.

In Vietnam, Mastercard adopts a similar approach by combining multiple data sources, including publicly available tourism data and anonymised transaction data from international travellers using Mastercard. This integrated dataset enables a deeper understanding of travel patterns and consumer behaviour.

From a practical perspective, this means Mastercard can generate highly granular insights. For instance, when analysing visitors from a specific market such as Korea, it is possible to identify where these tourists are travelling within Vietnam, what categories they are spending on, their dining preferences, and the types of accommodation they choose. These insights provide a strong foundation for designing more effective campaigns, improving service offerings, and aligning tourism products with actual demand.

The concept of digitising the traveller journey builds on this data-driven approach. It refers to the creation of a fully integrated ecosystem where technology supports every stage of the travel experience, from pre-trip planning and arrival to in-destination activities and payments.

While the implementation timeline will depend on coordination with local stakeholders and infrastructure readiness, the direction is clear: to move towards a more seamless, personalised, and frictionless travel experience.

Vietnam’s tourism sector still holds significant untapped potential, particularly in the application of data analytics and digital solutions. By leveraging these capabilities and aligning with global best practices, Vietnam is well-positioned not only to sustain its current growth momentum but also to strengthen its competitiveness as a leading destination in the region.

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