DigitalTourism

From the perspective of an innovation ecosystem like KisStartup, travel tech is not merely about “building a travel app” or “digitizing bookings”. At its core, it is a challenge of designing business models based on data, value flows, and scalability in an industry characterized by thin margins and strong dependence on seasonality, policy, and consumer behavior.

1. Global travel tech: from transaction platforms to data and operations platforms

Over the past decade, the dominant business models in global travel tech have revolved around commissions and transaction fees. OTAs, travel marketplaces, and booking platforms grew rapidly thanks to their ability to aggregate demand, standardize experiences, and optimize distribution costs for suppliers. However, this model has also revealed its limits: fierce competition, high marketing costs, heavy reliance on scale, and vulnerability during market downturns.

A notable shift in recent years is the move from “earning per booking” to “earning across the entire travel lifecycle”. Subscriptions, B2B SaaS, APIs, anonymized data, post-booking revenue, and white-label models are increasingly becoming more sustainable revenue sources, less dependent on pure traffic. Travel tech is no longer just about selling tickets, but about becoming the operational infrastructure behind the tourism industry.

2. Common models in the Vietnamese context

In Vietnam, simply “copying” global OTA models is highly risky. The domestic market is moderate in size, average spending remains relatively low, while international platforms already dominate in brand recognition, data, and budgets. Pure commission-based models easily fall into price wars and cash-burning cycles.

Subscription-based B2C models are also difficult unless the added value is very clear. Vietnamese users are accustomed to “free – indirect payment” models, while willingness to pay is higher among businesses, destinations, and service providers.

By contrast, B2B SaaS, data, and APIs remain a largely untapped space. Tens of thousands of small and medium tourism businesses, homestays, community-based tourism initiatives, and local tour operators lack tools for operations management, customer data analysis, dynamic pricing, digital marketing, and channel integration. This is a gap where Vietnamese travel tech startups can compete more effectively than global platforms.

3. Positioning Vietnamese travel tech within national tourism strategy

Vietnam’s tourism strategy emphasizes green tourism, community-based tourism, local experiences, visitor dispersion, higher spending, and longer stays. This requires travel tech to go beyond booking optimization and instead help local ecosystems create and retain value.

In this context, suitable business models should not start with the question “what percentage do we take per transaction?”, but rather: who does the travel tech help make better decisions, which costs does it reduce, which revenues does it increase, and what data is generated in the process?

4. Strategic directions for Vietnamese travel tech

First, prioritize B2B and B2G2B models. Instead of competing head-on with OTAs, Vietnamese travel tech can provide SaaS tools for local tourism businesses, destinations, community tourism cooperatives, or local governments managing tourism data. Revenue can come from subscriptions, add-on modules, and implementation services, rather than short-term booking volume.

Second, design hybrid models from the start. A planner or discovery platform can be free for end users, while monetizing through affiliates, anonymized data, APIs for partners, or fees for visibility in curated experience packages. Hybrid models help startups survive early stages and unlock “hidden” revenue streams with higher margins.

Third, treat data as a product, not just a by-product. Behavioral, seasonal, pricing, demand, and experience feedback data—when standardized and anonymized—can become valuable insights for businesses, destinations, and policymakers. This aligns well with Vietnam’s data-driven tourism direction and creates long-term competitive advantages.

Fourth, tightly integrate sustainability and inclusiveness. Travel tech can generate revenue by measuring impact, providing certifications, ESG reporting, experience traceability, or smart visitor distribution. These values are hard to replicate and well-suited to community-based tourism and remote destinations—areas where Vietnam has strong advantages.

Finally, do not start with technology—start with the business model. Many travel tech startups fail because they build beautiful apps but cannot answer the question: “who pays, and what do they pay for?” In a more cautious venture capital environment, clear, multi-stream revenue models tied to real needs of businesses and localities will determine survival.

5. KisStartup’s perspective

From its experience working alongside tourism enterprises, agricultural businesses, and local destinations, KisStartup believes Vietnamese travel tech must shift from a “service booking platform” mindset to a “capability-building platform” approach. Those who help local businesses better understand their customers, operate more effectively, and sell higher-value offerings will build more sustainable models.

In the next 5–10 years, successful Vietnamese travel tech may not be OTA unicorns, but rather “invisible infrastructures” supporting green tourism, community-based tourism, and data-driven tourism—where revenues are quiet, but resilient and hard to replace.

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