The Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA) and global market research agency GfK announced Thursday a partnership to introduce a new reporting currency for the local travel industry.

Under the partnership, the two will produce a set of predictive analytics, the first of its kind in Vietnam, thanks to the live, forward-bookings contributed weekly by VISTA members, GfK said in a press release.

The GfK Travelscan, which is based on consolidated and aggregated industry booking data, is used by the travel industry to better anticipate market developments and to help businesses in the sector run more efficiently, according to GfK.

Travelscan is one of a suite of specialized solutions for the travel and hospitality industry developed by GfK, one of the world’s leading market insights companies.

“Vietnam unlocks a great potential for the travel and hospitality industry and GfK is very glad to have the support of VISTA and its members,” Laurens Van Den Oever, global industry lead for travel & hospitality with the market research agency said.

“Travelscan will serve to benefit all parties in the tourism sector and we are definitely looking forward to play a key role supporting the further growth of this exciting market."

GfK has established similar partnerships in Europe and other parts of the world with Travelscan being accepted as the currency for tourism research in these markets. Vietnam is the fourth market in Asia Pacific where Travelscan is being launched.

“The Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) and VISTA value and appreciate the importance of having real-time travel industry insights,” VISTA president Vu The Binh remarked.

“While our government statistic office are already collecting and publishing Vietnam’s general inbound and outbound tourism data each month, we have not yet managed to obtain a regular multi-dimension and in-depth report from travel agents—a new and valuable resource that will be provided by GfK Travelscan.”

Travelscan is already being implemented in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia in the last two years, with more markets to be added to this list in the near future, according to GfK.

“GfK’s Travelscan study has already proven its advantage in Europe, and we are excited to be able to access similar reports for Vietnam,” Binh said.

“We are certain that it will help the travel community here gain a better understanding of the travel market, and the actionable insights will help drive strong growth in this dynamic industry.”

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