At the meeting, MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung highly appreciated the results Agoda has achieved in recent years, especially in the context that the whole world is transforming digitally and applying knowledge economy instead of traditional economy. Agoda has been successful in building an online platform that provides services to tourists and has taken initiatives to protect the environment. Agoda has initiatives to protect rare animals, including elephants, of which Vietnam is also a responsible member to carry out conservation work. With the motto of promoting responsible tourism, Agoda has made great strides and gained the trust of tourists.

Mr. Omri Morgenshtern, Chief Executive Officer of Agoda expressed his gratitude at the strong developments of Vietnam tourism in recent times, especially the number of international visitors. He said he had been to Vietnam as a tourist and was excited to experience travelling around the country. He also knows that Vietnam's important source market is Korea and that the Agoda platform is also very popular in Korea, about 50% of Korean customers travelling abroad book services through Agoda. Agoda is a company specialising in technology, digital transformation and also a travel and tourism services company. Agoda has the ability to offer very typical local products, conveying unique local cultural values to tourists. Mr. Omri Morgenshtern expressed the desire to participate in promoting Vietnam's tourism development faster and stronger.

Expressing his impression of Agoda's products and projects, MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung acknowledged Agoda's responsible cooperation. Through Agoda's platform, many international tourists have come to Vietnam, contributing to accelerating Vietnam tourism in 2023.

Suggesting the direction of cooperation in the future, the Minister said that currently, Vietnam's tourism industry is in need of technology and skills to make service reservations fastest and most responsibly. Agoda can work with large Vietnamese tourism corporations such as Saigontourist and Hanoitourist to link and coordinate the implementation of these technologies and apply digital transformation in business activities. Agoda can promote representative offices in Vietnam to deploy support activities. This will help Agoda access the local culture and unique cultural values of each region, thereby building attractive product packages for tourists and posting them on Agoda's platform.

​Secondly, Agoda can pilot the development of green tourism and sustainable environmental protection in some destinations in Vietnam such as Phu Quoc, Da Nang, Ha Giang, and localities will support Agoda to deploy these green tourism projects.

Third, the Minister enquired Agoda to coordinate closely with the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism to share research, forecasts, and analysis on market trends and tourist preferences. From there, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will have appropriate tourism promotion policies and plans, working with other countries to promote visitor exchange. For example, for the Korean market, the Ministers of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the two countries have exchanged solutions based on analysis and forecasts, so that the number of tourist exchanges can increase. Therefore, data, assessments, analyses and forecasts are very important for management levels and Agoda can contribute to this activity.

Tourism Information Technology Center