Compete by product diversification
Vietnam possesses rich tourism resources that make many countries in the world jealous. However, the development of tourism products has not been focused on. Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung, head of Vietnam's tourism industry, admitted that current destinations still lack the attraction for tourists, we only approach what we have available but not what tourists need. The system of products and services in many localities has been invested in to be more diverse and classy, but has not been widely replicated, popularized, and has not created the attraction to attract visitors to come or return, and spend a lot.
According to the General Statistics Office, the average daily spending of international visitors to Vietnam, although growing in the period 2009 - 2019, from 91.2 USD to 117.8 USD, is still very low compared to other countries in the region. To achieve the goal of making tourism a key economic sector, contributing over 10% of GDP according to the vision to 2030, diversifying the system of classy and unique products is the top priority.
Vietnam needs more unique tourism products to attract international visitors.
Ms. Tran Nguyen, Deputy General Director of Sun World - Sun Group, affirmed: Developing unique tourism products is becoming an irresistible trend. No matter how beautiful a destination is, on a world scale like Ha Long and Bai Tu Long; no matter how rich in tradition a community is, if it only stops at experiencing available resources, it will become boring very quickly for tourists. Most tourists today are not just looking for a trip but an experience. The richer and more quality the experience is, the more excited tourists will be, wanting to come back to explore more and not hesitate to "open their wallets".
Citing the stories of the world's tourism powers, Ms. Tran Nguyen analyzed: Thai tourism knows how to enhance the experience for tourists, creating attractive products. In Bangkok, a city that does not have many advantages in terms of forest and sea resources, it has created many "specialties". These are diverse tourism products from cuisine, spirituality to ecology... and also commercial complexes - high-class, high-quality tourism products. Shopping complexes combined with entertainment, luxury restaurants such as Icon Siam, Asiatique, Siam Paragon... all have unique, distinct colors, creating highlights to attract customers.
Or the story of the "miraculous" development of Korean tourism is also evidence. By using cultural products to elevate destinations, the "Korean wave" - Hallyu has contributed to stimulating tourism especially effectively. According to a survey after the Kpop music festival in France, up to 9/10 people expressed their desire to travel to Korea, 75% of whom immediately planned the trip. Croatia owns a tourism asset that makes the whole world jealous. However, the Croatians themselves, when the Covid-19 pandemic passes, are realizing that they cannot live forever on the fame of a UNESCO heritage. Most recently, in the Mediterranean and Caribbean regions, despite rich natural resources, countries are pouring billions of dollars into developing new tourism products.
"From the successful models of other countries, it can be seen that good tourism products will create a foothold for the destination. Even in the world's top destinations, iconic lands, governments have long identified a long-term strategy: diversifying tourism products. We often say that Vietnam's tourism industry is weak in promotion and advertising, but in fact, destination promotion and advertising activities will only be truly effective if there is a foundation of good products," said a representative of Sun Group.
Every field has advantages but full of gaps
Discussing the issue of diversifying product systems and upgrading tourism services, Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, a member of the Vietnam Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), assessed that this is an issue that has been raised for decades and the Vietnamese tourism industry has also recorded certain progress. Regarding sea tourism, before Vinpearl Nha Trang, Vietnam almost did not have the concept of "resort" in the true sense. However, currently, along the coast from North to South, the system of resorts and beach resort hotels has developed remarkably.
These are all high-end resorts and quality hotels. The experience park segment has also recorded breakthrough development with the emergence of impressive destinations such as Ba Na Hill in Da Nang, Sun World Ba Den Mountain complex in Tay Ninh, Sun World Fansipan Legend in Sa Pa (Lao Cai)... The entertainment complex product system is diverse and attractive, but there are no "sledgehammers" yet, lacking "big products" capable of competing with Disneyland or Universal Studios in Singapore. According to Mr. Nam, if this gap is filled, the attraction will increase a lot.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has many advantages to develop high-end sea tourism and yachts that attract the super-rich, but it is currently almost completely empty. Luxury yacht activities are almost zero. Similarly, festivals in many countries are very attractive products, such as the Carnival in Brazil, the bullfighting festival in Spain, the beer festival in Germany or the cherry blossom season in Japan, which attract millions of tourists each year, "forcing" international visitors to plan to visit that country, at that time. Vietnam has thousands of festivals from small to large each year, but none of them has created international appeal. Events and festivals are spread across the country but are not elaborately programmed, not widely promoted and not really attractive. From the script, program to the promotion stage, they only stop at the level of "making our people watch", not to attract international visitors.
Similarly, Vietnamese people abroad spend a lot of time going to museums. There are many stories told in museums that tourists want to hear. A small coffee museum or a railroad museum in Sacramento (USA) with only old locomotives and carriages are also made extremely attractive. While Vietnam has many museums, the number of attractive museums can be counted on the fingers. We have the strength of war relics, world-famous battles, even creating a brand for Vietnam, but we do not have the technology, have not created products to turn that advantage into an attractive war tourism brand.
"Giving a few specific examples like that shows that, when discussing the product story, we have to go into each small area to see which ones we have done well and continue to promote; which areas are still empty, we have to see if there is an opportunity for development or not, if so, what to do. Developing tourism products must have a national program, have specific people to make detailed projects, clearly assign roles to each ministry, industry, what to do, what businesses must do, what localities must do, what investors must do... Most importantly, when businesses are free to be creative, propose investment ideas, from the local to the central level, we must encourage, create conditions, roll out the red carpet, and encourage turning ideas into unique and attractive products," emphasized Dr. Luong Hoai Nam.
The northern region of Vietnam has winter, so many localities develop tourism only focusing on the 3 summer months. Thus, the tourism economy is unstable, the quality of human resources and services is also difficult to maintain. To truly have a diverse product system and good services, tourism business must be a year-round business. Ha Long Bay used to be just a summer tourist destination, but Quang Ninh has created many winter products such as Onsen bathing. Other localities must do the same. The winter in the North is not as cold as Korea and Japan, and not as hot as the South, so it has a great advantage in developing golf tourism, creating "off-season" products. Diversifying products to have tourism activities all year round is the key for localities to increase the proportion of tourism economy and services in a stable and sustainable manner.
Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, member of Vietnam Tourism Advisory Board (TAB)
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