Race to attract domestic customers

According to Mr. Le Hong Ha, General Director of Vietnam Airlines , it is necessary to have a strategy to build competitive advantages for Vietnam's tourist destinations with a long-term vision of over 1 year, such as organizing or bidding for international sports tournaments and music programs... to enhance the ability to promote destinations and attract tourists.

Foreign tours still dominate

A survey on Vietnamese tourists’ summer travel trends recently released by the Booking.com platform shows that international destinations in Asia and beyond are of interest to tourists. Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore, Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (Korea) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) are on the list of favorite summer destinations for Vietnamese people. At the same time, tourists are also eyeing further destinations this summer, with Paris (France) and London (UK) making the top 4 and top 8 on the list.

The Outbox Company's Overseas Travel Trends Report for Vietnamese Tourists - Summer 2024 also shows that up to 79.7% of Vietnamese tourists plan to travel abroad within the next 12 months.

Vietnamese tourists visit and shop at destinations in Fukushima - Japan

Grasping this trend, some travel companies have "joined hands" and linked with foreign service providers and airlines to build preferential tourism products to stimulate demand. Mr. Tran Thanh Vu, Director of Vinagroup Tourism Company, said that the company is selling tours to Korea with the schedule Seoul - Nami - Everland 4 days 4 nights, departing in early September 2024, priced at only 11.99 million VND/person. This price is reduced by 5 million VND compared to the regular tour even though the destinations, schedules, hotels, etc. remain unchanged.

"This tour price is based on the company's work with its airline partner, T'way Air (Korea), and partners providing transportation services, hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, etc. The low-season stimulus price helps Vietnamese tourists have the opportunity to explore destinations in Korea, but the important thing is the connection between the travel company and foreign partners when they accept discounts and support to have the most reasonable tour cost. The Korean Tourism Administration also regularly has stimulus programs, incentives, and gifts to help attract Vietnamese tourists," said Mr. Tran Thanh Vu.

Need a "conductor" for domestic tours to compete

While many tourism markets are increasing promotion, advertising or connecting with Vietnamese businesses to create competitively priced tourism products and programs to attract visitors, the Vietnamese tourism industry is still struggling with costs and solutions to improve product quality.

Mr. Pham Quy Huy, Director of Kiwi Travel, said that airfares have remained high in recent times, but connecting with airlines to create programs and tours with attractive prices that are competitive is not easy. In particular, the tourism industry is lacking a "conductor" in the role of connecting airlines and tourism businesses. Even regional connections are no longer as effective as in the past.

"It is very difficult for travel companies to create products that are both high quality and competitively priced if there is a lack of connection between transportation, accommodation, restaurants, etc. and the "conductor" role of the management agency. Immediately after the story of high airfares, companies shifted to promoting train tours, but recently it has been difficult to book train tickets for groups; customers also complained that the quality of service on trains is not good. It is so difficult!" - Mr. Huy said.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Y Yen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saigontourist Travel Services Company, commented that in the tourism industry, the relationship and cooperation between travel companies and airlines is inevitable, along with other important links such as accommodation services, restaurants, entertainment venues, shopping... to jointly build and expand tourism products.

"Without the cooperation of tourism and aviation, the market will shift and change the habits and behaviors of customers. Tourism routes and flights will be affected. Aviation and tourism need to coordinate closely in building new routes based on careful analysis of market demand; together with a commitment to long-term promotion and business to ensure the effectiveness of two-way tourism exploitation, increasing the competitiveness of domestic tourism" - Mr. Yen said.

To remove bottlenecks in the story of tourism promotion and destination promotion in Vietnam, Mr. Le Hong Ha proposed that there should be a comprehensive program on tourism development in Vietnam led by the state management agency. From there, the components of the tourism industry can gather and operate together within a common message framework. In recent years, it has been very common for enterprises and provinces and cities to carry out independent promotion activities, most clearly seen in enterprises participating in and renting booths at international fairs to promote themselves and seek opportunities.

"Having an overall agency in charge and providing guidance to tourism businesses in promotion activities will help promote Vietnam's destinations in general to be more focused, more cost-effective and have more promotional power than each unit doing it individually," said Mr. Le Hong Ha.

Intensive promotion and promotion

From June 15 to July 31, the Malaysia Mega Sale 2024 campaign will take place with the participation of leading shopping malls and retailers across Malaysia. The Tourism Malaysia Promotion Board said the program is designed to attract both domestic and international tourists, with the country's tourism industry looking to welcome more Vietnamese visitors.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) representative office in Vietnam, in the first four months of this year, there were more than 233,000 Vietnamese visitors to Japan, a further increase compared to the record number of the same period last year. Vietnam is also in the top 10 largest tourist markets of Japan.

Recently, the Spanish Tourism Board has organized a number of exchange activities, introducing new tourism products and destinations with many travel companies in Ho Chi Minh City. Representatives of the Spanish Tourism Board in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand said that statistics from 2022 to 2023 show that Vietnamese visitors increased by more than 200%, so it is a market with a lot of potential. Therefore, Spain is building and developing a promotion program to promote many places in Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/chay-dua-hut-khach-noi-196240613211008628.htm