On 23 June, Vietnam Airlines and Visa, a world leader in digital payments, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at enhancing the customer experience throughout their journey while also enhancing Vietnam Airlines’ digital capabilities. This represents Visa’s endeavors to strengthen its commitment to empowering digital payments, reinforced by a visit to Vietnam by Oliver Jenkyn, Visa Group President, Global Markets.

As part of the agreement, both Visa and Vietnam Airlines are committed to collaborating on other opportunities, including enabling digital acceptance capabilities and leveraging Visa Consulting Analytics to create clear customer segments while analyzing customer spending behavior to identify areas of enhancement.

The partnership aligns with the long-term commitment of both partners to promote the consumer experience, especially in digital payment transformation. Visa’s goal is to facilitate the growth of people, organizations, and economies around the globe by creating the most advanced, user-friendly, trustworthy, and secure payments network possible, contributing to creating a cashless society. Meanwhile, Vietnam Airlines aims to become Vietnam’s first digital airline by 2025 while focusing on three key factors: digital technology, digital data, and digital culture. Vietnam Airlines also strives to be a digital transformation leader in ASEAN’s aviation industry.

As we progressively reinstate and establish new routes that link Vietnam with the rest of the world, we eagerly anticipate collaborating with Visa, the word leader in digital payments, to guarantee a convenient and secure digital payment experience for all our passengers,” stated Nguyen Sy Thanh, Director of Lotusmiles, Vietnam Airlines. “This partnership with Visa signifies a significant milestone on Vietnam Airlines’ digital transformation expedition, encompassing not only operations, services, and customer care but also the creation of a comprehensive and triumphant digital ecosystem.”

“Visa constantly strives to reaffirm our commitment to enhancing cashless payments in Vietnam, and our partnership with Vietnam Airlines is an important step toward this goal,” said Ms. Dung Dang, Visa Country Manager of Vietnam and Laos. “We are particularly excited to launch our unique co-branded product with Vietnam Airlines and enhance digital capabilities in the near future. By working together, we will ensure that passengers can enjoy a convenient, secure digital experience throughout their journey.”

The partnership also comes as Vietnamese embrace travel following the pandemic. According to the 2022 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study, over half of Vietnamese consumers have taken a trip since 2021, with popular overseas destinations including Japan, Australia, and South Korea. A majority, meanwhile, plan to travel in the next year, indicating strong demand for convenient flight options. Notably, 48% of Vietnamese respondents expect overseas travel to go fully cashless moving forward, highlighting a widespread desire to pay for travel through digital methods.

Furthermore, the Visa Green Shoots Radar research from September 2022 shows promising positivity among Vietnamese consumers regarding the current and future health of Vietnam’s economy. This will inspire confidence in companies focused on attracting new customers. For example, 68% of Vietnamese believe the economy is better compared to during the pandemic, while 84% believe it will be better in a year. Both of these figures are the highest among surveyed nationalities. Another 23% of Vietnamese respondents believe their travel plans will be unaffected by rising prices in the sector.