Each member of the network will be an ambassador to introduce and promote their country, its culture and people.

The Astra tourism social network is launched on September 21, 2019.

Astra is Vietnam's first tourism social network, helping domestic users connect, interact, share experiences, places, and cuisine, and explore tourism potential at home and abroad. The network has features to connect the global online travel market, share travel experiences and reviews with others, and purchase travel services.

"Astra is a social network contributed by users who are rewarded corresponding to the values they have contributed to us. The payout is based on the quality of users’ articles. The rewards can be redeemed for travel products, vouchers, flight tickets, and movie tickets,” he added.

One of Astra’s highlight features is creating a schedule for each trip. At the end of the trip, the schedule is saved and an album of the trip is created. When a holiday maker live-streams the places they visit, the live-stream is supported with light, music, and sound effects.

Astra also has features to find friends, invite friends to join your trip, provide a travel guide map, and search for nearby hotels, restaurants, and bars. Outstanding members of the Astra community are automatically honored in the system.

Miss World Vietnam 2019 Luong Thuy Linh, the network’s ambassador, said: “Astra helps the community, especially young travel lovers, who, through the network, can find useful information for their trips, even new fellow-travellers for future journeys. Astra is a catalyst helping people learn about tourist attractions and boost the development of the hospitality industry in Vietnam and the world.”

Astra users can access quickly and accurately reference information they need on tourist destinations, store and share beautiful moments, and save information about restaurants, hotels and transportation services.

Through Astra, users can contact service providers directly, reducing the cost of their trip. They can also feel more secure about purchasing products which have been reviewed by others.

In the first year, Astra hopes to attract 1 to 2 million users with a goal of promoting Vietnam, its land and people, to the world, bring the world to Vietnam, and create a community of travel lovers.

Bac Giang invests in tourism development infrastructure

(BGO) – Investment in infrastructure construction is one of the key factors to boost the tourism growth. Thus, many localities in Bac Giang province have mobilized all sources to upgrade and improve the grass root infrastructure to help change and beautify the landscapes as well as link the utilities among the tourism destinations.

Tourism market hoped to recover in summer

The tourism market is expected to recover this summer after the outbreak of the acute respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Lai Chau province develops community-based tourism

Authorities in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau are promoting policies for community-based tourism to develop the local economy and create jobs.

Alliance launched to stimulate tourism demand in Vietnam

The Vietnam Tourism Association (VTA) debuted a tourism demand stimulus alliance on February 21 in an effort to help shore up Vietnam’s tourism industry, which has been strongly affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

F1 race to help develop Vietnam’s sports tourism

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and the Vietnam Grand Prix Corporation (VGPC) on February 21 inked a cooperation agreement on promoting the country’s tourism in association with the Formula One race.

Source: VNA