As part of the Mekong Initiative for Startup Tourism, the Mekong Innovative Start-up Tourism Hackathon 2016 has recently concluded in Da Nang. 

DNES Director Khuong speaking at the event

The 2-day event was jointly organised by the Da Nang Entrepreneurship Support Company (DNES), the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office, the Mekong Business Initiative, and the Seoul Global Start-up Centre.

The event attracted around 60 contestants from start-up companies, business incubators, and other relevant organisations in Viet Nam, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, the US, and some European countries.

The participating contestants were divided into 5 teams, and they were introduced to the tourism in Da Nang and Hoi An.  Then they were required to develop their innovative ideas about how to help these localities promote their tourism events, build their tourism community, and advertise their tourism images.

In the end, the first prize went to the team E-marketing for their innovation to link the Instagram social network with the recent-introduced mobile application called ‘Danang FantastiCity’ which provides visitors with useful tourism information about the city.

In his address at the event, DNES Director Vo Duy Khuong remarked “The contest offers a good opportunity for participating start-up businesses to share their mutual experiences.  In addition, it will help Da Nang’s start-up companies to enhance their capacity, and allow them to access international solutions for the sustainable development of local tourism”.