The percentage of Vietnamese tourists using smartphones for pre-trip tourism information search is higher than that in the U.S. though the Vietnamese mobile phone penetration rate is lower than in America, according to a report by Google’s Consumer Barometer in 2016.

An attendee speaks at a seminar held by Google and Tuoi Tre newspaper on April 18

The report, which was presented at a seminar held by Google and Tuoi Tre newspaper in HCMC on April 18, said 48% of Vietnamese smartphone users search for hotel information compared to 18% in America. 

The respective rates for destination and flight information in Vietnam were 42% and 37% versus 25% and 18% in the U.S. respectively.

A majority of international visitors to Vietnam come from the Asia-Pacific region, where online bookings by smartphone users are on the rise. 

Online bookings by smartphone users in China, the largest source market for the Vietnamese tourism sector, are expected to account for 61% this year, up from 49% in 2015. 

India is expected to see online bookings by smartphones rising from 37% in 2015 to 47% this year and Japan from 30% to 39%.

However, the websites of most travel firms in Vietnam are slow to load and not friendly to smartphones, thus affecting online tour bookings.

“Up to 53% of consumers will leave a website if it takes over three seconds to load,” said Ha Lam Tu Quynh, country communications and PR head of Google Vietnam. 

“But normally websites in Vietnam need up to 10 seconds to load.”

SGT