"Single" just because of plane tickets?
Half a month has passed since the last day of the April 30 - May 1 holiday, and the leaders of Kien Giang province and Phu Quoc city are still disappointed with the "bottom" results of the province's tourism industry. During the 5-day holiday, the total number of tourists visiting the province decreased by 9.4% compared to the same period in 2022, with Phu Quoc city alone decreasing by 11.5% in visitors, and revenue from tourism services decreased by 24.3%.
Not only the domestic market, the number of international visitors to Kien Giang is gradually decreasing. The only flights connecting to Phu Quoc are currently from Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand; the flight from India to Phu Quoc is temporarily suspended due to lack of passengers; charter flights connecting Taiwan to Phu Quoc are also temporarily suspended (only 10 flights); the flight connecting Hong Kong to Phu Quoc scheduled to depart on April 27 did not take place as planned.
In fact, before the holiday, the People's Committee of Phu Quoc City predicted that the number of visitors could decrease by up to 30%, the main reason being that airfares to Phu Quoc in the recent period were much higher than the same period last year. At a recent meeting to discuss tourism development issues organized by the People's Committee of Phu Quoc City, Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Quoc City Huynh Quang Hung once again affirmed that the main reason why Phu Quoc "lost its position" during the April 30 - May 1 holiday season was due to the extremely high airfares. In addition, the Covid-19 epidemic has tended to increase again and students everywhere are preparing for their year-end exams.
"Therefore, we hope that airlines will find a solution to bring airfares to the most reasonable level so that travel companies can offer a suitable package price for tourists, in order to attract visitors back to Phu Quoc," said Mr. Hung.
According to the reality from businesses, Mr. Nguyen Minh Man, Director of Communications - Marketing and Information Technology of TST Tourist, said that tours from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc are still popular but the number of customers is not as dense as before. Meanwhile, tours from Hanoi have recorded a serious decrease.
Mr. Man also agreed that if only considering the recent holiday, the high airfare was the main reason for the decline in the number of visitors to Phu Quoc. Specifically, visitors to Phu Quoc have mainly come from 3 sources: charter flights from abroad bringing international visitors; visitors from the north flying directly from Hanoi to Phu Quoc and visitors flying from Ho Chi Minh City. After the pandemic, although international flights have fully recovered, there are not many charter flights from Russia anymore, the nature of charter flights from other countries has also changed, clearly shown through the decline in international visitors. At the same time, the cost of long-distance flights from Hanoi to Phu Quoc has increased suddenly, causing a large number of visitors from the northern market to change their decisions.
"In such an objective picture, the sharp decline in the total number of visitors to Phu Quoc is inevitable," said Mr. Nguyen Minh Man.
However, internally, the situation of overcharging, chaotic service prices, environmental pollution, and social security are also issues that Mr. Man believes Phu Quoc needs to resolve soon if it wants to attract tourists back, especially international visitors.
From a tourism hub, Phu Quoc is facing many problems causing the number of tourists to decline.
"Sleeping" on high-end products
It is worth mentioning that, if looking at the summary of the tourism industry across the country, Phu Quoc - Kien Giang is a rare locality that recorded a serious decline in the number of visitors this holiday season. At the time when Phu Quoc leaders "held their breath" watching the aviation industry, Khanh Hoa was also worried that the increase in airfares could cause the number of visitors to Nha Trang to only reach about 70% compared to 2022. However, at the end of the holiday, Khanh Hoa accelerated to a big win when attracting nearly 800,000 visitors, nearly 3 times the result of the April 30 - May 1 holiday in 2022, even though the holiday was only 1 day longer. Da Nang, one of the localities that also suffered great pressure from high airfares, still recorded an increase in the number of visitors of more than 26%.
Mr. Phan Dinh Hue, a tourism consultant for the Mekong Delta provinces, acknowledged that the role of aviation in attracting and developing tourism in Phu Quoc cannot be denied. In terms of supply, Phu Quoc has many types of developing services. 70% of the 3-star hotels in the Mekong Delta are concentrated in Phu Quoc. The number of 4-5 star rooms is very large. In the tourism value chain, accommodation accounts for about 40-50% of guests' spending, but most hotels and resorts in Phu Quoc have room rates of about 2 million VND/night, accounting for more than 50% of guests' daily spending.
That means Phu Quoc tourism is aimed at high-end customers with "full" wallets and often those traveling by plane. The already high price of accommodation, combined with the sudden increase in airfare, makes the pearl island an extremely expensive destination. Phu Quoc tours have become unaffordable for many customers in the current difficult economic times. After the period when tourism demand rebounded like a spring after Covid-19, people now have more time to consider and prices have a significant impact on their decisions.
However, evaluating the whole process, Mr. Phan Dinh Hue commented that Phu Quoc tourism industry still has many shortcomings. The uncontrolled increase in airfares is a manifestation of the loose connection between service providers in the tourism value chain, the responsibility of which lies in the organization and connection of the locality. In addition, the negative images of prices, environment, and social security recently have made the pearl island gradually lose its image as a safe destination, a resort paradise, where you just need to play and not worry about anything.
Instead of doing things slowly and moderately, the pressure of supply has caused Phu Quoc's planning to be "overwhelmed" with projects. Forests and seas are what tourists need, what attracts tourists to Phu Quoc. It is the failure to maintain good planning for many years that is making Phu Quoc tourism pay the price.
Mr. Phan Dinh Hue, tourism consultant for the Mekong Delta provinces
In particular, the strategy for developing Phu Quoc tourism destination is not good. While Hoi An, no matter how much it expands its diverse tourism products, still focuses on promoting the "soul" of Hoi An ancient town; Da Nang advocates strongly promoting MICE tourism through a system of accommodation facilities and events serving this type... Phu Quoc has not yet built a destination with a unified theme, and has not created a unique destination image.
For many years, Phu Quoc tourism has been associated with forests and seas, but in recent years, this locality has continuously licensed projects to encroach on forests and seas. Wherever you go in Phu Quoc, you see concrete, no different from other cities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Illegal and unlicensed constructions are everywhere. This island is even considered an attractive place for real estate speculation.
Phu Quoc's story is also a lesson for many destinations if they do not learn from their experience in sustainable development right now.
Source link
Comment (0)