A new boost for the tourism industry.

To create a breakthrough in the tourism industry, inspiring campaigns are needed, focusing on strategic segments, avoiding broad and general tourism promotion and marketing.

Media expert Le Quoc Vinh stated that, in order to create a breakthrough for the tourism industry, inspiring campaigns focusing on strategic segments are needed.

The prerequisites for a breakthrough in Vietnamese tourism.

In 2023, Vietnam welcomed 12.6 million international tourists, far exceeding the initial target of 8 million. Domestic tourism also reached 108 million, surpassing the plan by 5.8%. Although not yet returning to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels, these results are quite impressive, demonstrating Vietnam's rapid recovery and ability to adapt to changing conditions.

Some markets have recovered, such as South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, while others show attractive growth signs like Thailand and India. However, the traditional Chinese market remains below its potential for several reasons. Overall, we can be confident in good growth in 2024. Several significant events attracting tourists include the River Festival in Ho Chi Minh City and the Fireworks Festival in Da Nang.

Over the past year, several new hotels and resorts have opened, or resumed bustling operations after a period of stagnation due to the economic crisis and the pandemic. Travel agencies, accommodation providers, and airlines have undertaken numerous activities to stimulate tourism demand.

However, there are still some areas for improvement. For example, businesses focus more on price reductions to compete, while investing less in upgrading quality and diversifying products. High-end services for high-spending customers are not numerous, or have not attracted the attention of target customers. Tourism promotion and marketing activities remain scattered, lacking inspiring campaigns and focusing on strategic segments, thus failing to create breakthroughs.

Businesses have not had the opportunity to coordinate with the government in communication and promotional activities, resulting in significant resource waste. The visa issue is expected to improve considerably this year. The widespread implementation of e-visas will significantly reduce psychological barriers for foreign tourists. This will be a new boost for Vietnam's tourism industry.

With the impressive acceleration of the tourism industry since the end of 2023, especially the positive signs at the beginning of 2024, this lays the groundwork for Vietnam's tourism to "break through" in 2024. However, in its recovery journey, Vietnam's tourism still faces many challenges and gaps in policy as well as the competitiveness of domestic businesses.

International tourists explore Hanoi's Old Quarter by cyclo. (Source: Hanoimoi)

The advertising campaign needs innovation.

2024 will offer many reasons to attract foreigners to Vietnam, such as the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory and the liberation of Hanoi, and it will be a pivotal year leading up to the 50th anniversary of peace and national reunification. Despite the ongoing economic challenges, I believe that demand for tourism to Vietnam will increase. Even domestic tourism will see new breakthroughs.

However, to achieve growth expectations, tourism promotion efforts must be innovative, with resources focused on key markets and in-depth marketing campaigns. For example, knowing that the Chinese market plays a crucial role in the tourism acceleration strategy, a dedicated promotional campaign targeting this market and the middle- and high-income segments is necessary.

The European and US markets are also expected to experience significant breakthroughs and require specific marketing campaigns. In my opinion, we need to reduce general, widespread, and unfocused promotional activities. We shouldn't promote tourism through generic images of the country and its people anymore. Instead, we must focus on outstanding values ​​within a long-term brand-building strategy. Simultaneously, we should select unique characteristics for each short-term campaign, targeting specific potential customer segments. Communication campaigns must be focused, with a simple message promoting a single, distinctive value to create a strong appeal.

In particular, each tourist region has its own unique strengths. Therefore, it is necessary to understand whose problems those strengths solve, where, and how, and to design specific tourism products to serve those purposes. Of course, these new products must be part of the existing tourism ecosystem, enriching the tourism products that are already strengths.

In reality, the needs and preferences of tourists have changed, so the tourism industry must also change accordingly, creating more suitable products. To increase the rate of repeat visitors, Vietnam's tourism industry needs to understand and leverage its advantages in cultural heritage, cuisine, and natural beauty, thereby building high-quality destinations. I have observed that countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia have modern, well-structured, and constantly innovative tourism promotion systems. They are flexible in making quick decisions and directly implementing them to target markets. Therefore, Vietnam's tourism industry needs to quickly innovate and seize opportunities to achieve breakthroughs.

In 2024, the tourism industry aims to welcome 17-18 million international visitors; serve 110 million domestic tourists; and achieve total tourism revenue of approximately 840 trillion VND. Vietnam still has to compete with other countries in the region, so tourism products will need strategic adjustments. I believe that products targeting the high-spending segment will yield significant results. For the domestic market, cultural and sporting events will be a driving force for young tourists.

Hoi An Ancient Town - a tourist city ranked among the world's cultural heritage sites. (Source: VGP)

Mr. Vu The Binh, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, believes that to attract tourists, we must work harder and promote more aggressively. Tourist needs before the Covid-19 pandemic are different from current needs; tourist preferences have also changed, so the tourism industry must adapt accordingly, meaning it must create more suitable products. In addition, we need to intensify efforts to promote products that can be sold more widely in foreign markets.

At the same time, according to Mr. Binh, the linkages between tourism units, businesses, airlines, travel agencies, and destinations are no longer as strong as before. This makes Vietnamese tourism products less attractive, with many domestic tours having higher service prices than international tours. Therefore, to increase competitiveness, alliances and linkages are needed to create quality products at good prices, increasing attractiveness to both international and domestic tourists.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Hoan, Head of the Communications Department of the Vietnam Tourism Association and CEO of Flamigo Redtours Joint Stock Company, shared: “The image of Vietnam and its people is very peaceful, beautiful, and safe. These are favorable factors for Vietnam to promote and attract tourists, and are necessary conditions. However, to achieve the target of over 20 million visitors, we still have a lot of work to do. This includes developing products, promoting and advertising, actively implementing better measures in immigration and customs procedures, and connecting and boosting air travel demand. To attract tourists, besides attracting international visitors, we must still focus on attracting domestic tourists because the domestic market is considered a very important foundation and support for Vietnam's tourism industry.”

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/cu-huych-moi-doi-voi-nganh-du-lich-257814.html