Three factors help Vietnamese tourism have a successful Tet season

Favorable weather and traffic during Tet, businesses and localities doing a good job of organizing and providing services have stimulated tourists to travel during Tet this year.

Statistics from the National Tourism Administration show that during the 7-day Tet holiday, the tourism industry is estimated to welcome 10.5 million domestic visitors, up nearly 17% over the same period in 2023. About 3.5 million of these are overnight guests, up 75%. Average room occupancy is estimated at 45-50%, up slightly from 40-45% last year.

Most localities have seen growth in tourists, with Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang leading in revenue, followed by Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau .

This result also reflects the domestic business situation of many travel companies during the Lunar New Year. Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu, Marketing and Communications Director of Vietluxtour, said that the revenue of the domestic segment (domestic and inbound customers) was 3 times higher than the outbound segment (customers traveling abroad).

Mr. Pham Anh Vu, Director of Communications for Vietnam Tourism, said about the company's revenue, domestic tourism accounts for 60%, the rest is foreign tourism. Mr. Vu said that besides the increasing demand for spring travel from domestic customers, the company also benefits from overseas Vietnamese customers during this Tet holiday.

Tourists visit the Tet flower street in Tan Phu district on the evening of the 30th of Tet. Photo: Quynh Tran — Tourists visit the Tet flower street in Tan Phu district on the evening of the 30th of Tet. Photo: *Quynh Tran*

Travel agencies noted that the crowded spots coincided with previous forecasts. Convenient transportation is considered one of the reasons for promoting tourism. Some agencies pointed out that Phan Thiet, Da Lat, and Khanh Hoa welcomed more visitors thanks to their proximity to Ho Chi Minh City, and the transportation system was more convenient than last year when many highways were completed in 2023. In addition, Quy Nhon and Phu Yen also attracted visitors because these two locations have advantages in price, good service quality, and can be traveled by both road and air. In Da Lat, visitors did not encounter congestion or overloading even though they traveled during the two peak days of the 2nd and 3rd days of Tet.

Explaining the reason for the successful Tet tourism season, Mr. Vu added that an important factor is the favorable weather . The Southern provinces are sunny while the Northern provinces are cold and still sunny during the day, convenient for tourists to have fun and experience.

Mr. Bui Thanh Tu, Marketing Director of Best Price, said that "thanks to the nice weather, customers can travel more spontaneously". During Tet, the company received many requests for hotel reservations in destinations near big cities, easy to travel by car such as Da Lat and Ninh Binh. However, the company could not meet the demand because it did not have a ready room fund during this time. In return, the company also earned a good profit by providing car rental services for customers who want to travel to Ninh Binh.

According to the Department of Tourism, the number of international visitors to Vietnam increased compared to the same period last year thanks to the effect of favorable visa policies , the right direction in restructuring the tourist market, and the efforts of businesses and localities. This also made domestic destinations more vibrant, for example, Phu Quoc welcomed 34,000 international visitors from the 28th of Tet to the 3rd of Tet, a many-fold increase compared to last year's Tet.

Before Tet, high airfares were considered by many businesses to be an obstacle to domestic tourism. Anticipating this problem, some businesses have taken measures to stabilize product prices by finding partners to provide competitively priced services and creating flexible policies for customers.

Since the beginning of the year, Viet Travel has provided a flight booking portal with more than 150 domestic and international airlines for tourists to choose from according to their needs. In addition, they also provide land tours (tours at the destination) that do not include airfare so that tourists have more freedom in deciding their schedule.

Not all companies record higher domestic revenue than outbound because each unit has its own strategy, like BenThanh Tourist. The company's statistics show that revenue from domestic and international visitors only accounts for 20% of total revenue, the rest is Vietnamese tourists traveling abroad. This difference partly comes from the correlation between domestic and international tour prices.

However, Ms. Tran Phuong Linh, Marketing and Information Technology Director of BenThanh Tourist, also commented that the number of domestic tourists during Tet this year was much higher than last year when the economy was still sluggish, which opens up many expectations for the market in 2024.

After completing the Tet tourism business plan, the company continues to launch more than 100 new tourism programs for the first phase of the year. The number of customers coming to consult and book tours right after Tet is increasing day by day.

After this Tet season, Vietluxtour also noticed that domestic tourist destinations are changing when receiving positive reviews from customers about service quality, less overloading, and overcharging. Following the success of the Tet season, the unit is currently receiving much attention from customers for festival and pilgrimage tourism products.

"Although there are still many objective factors due to the general economic situation, I think Vietnamese tourism has many good signs in early 2024," Mr. Vu commented.

Tu Nguyen

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