VNAT Deputy Head Hà Văn Siêu highly appreciated the projects of the contest during the awarding cremony. — VNS Photo Đỗ Phi

HÀ NỘI – BedLinker, the first B2B e-commerce platform for hotels and resorts in Việt Nam received top prize at a competition for startup projects in the hospitality industry, held by the Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

The awarding ceremony took place on June 18 in Hà Nội.

The competition kicked off since March. Nine of the best contestants from Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng and HCM City entered the final round.

The contest aimed to gather initiatives for applying IT to development in tourism, spreading the startup in line with the 4.0 Industry and promote the formation and development of national tourism startup ecosystem.

BedLinker is a website launched in 2017. It allows travel companies directly connect to a large number of hotels, resorts and other types of accommodation. Tourists can also easily check and book instantly with the hotels.

The award-winning project will be introduced to investment-linked programmes with the opportunity to receive an investment worth US$1 million.

Founder of BedLinker, Đào Quang Thuận, has 15 years experiencing hospitality industry. He built up the website with aim to help people book rooms more conveniently and savingly.

VNAT Deputy Head Hà Văn Siêu highly appreciated the projects with practical, creative and diverse application, including helping tourists discover and enjoy food, connecting tourists with local services, booking rooms online, renting cars, and travel experience sharing.

“I acknowledge that these projects will add more values to tourism market. I expect that these ideas will be completed soon to bring amazing experiences for tourists,” said Siêu.

Steven Schipani, Project Administration Unit Head of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Việt Nam said the competition showed the support of the Government to startups.

“I was impressed by the creativity and activeness of Vietnamese startups,” said Schipani.

“This year, ADB will host a contest for startups of the Mekong Sub-region, we suggest that Vietnamese startups should participate to the contest. Through it, you can promote tourism of Việt Nam and contribute to the development of the region.” VNS