Tourism awaits 'gold mine' of Middle Eastern tourists

Boost for Vietnam tourism

In addition to the Vietnam-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed on October 28, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visit to the UAE also brought about 10 cooperation documents between businesses of the two sides, including cooperation agreements on high technology, artificial intelligence, logistics, services, trade, etc. To pave the way for seamless “handshakes”, Vietjet and Emirates airlines signed a cooperation agreement to expand connections between major cities of Vietnam and Dubai, UAE, as well as global destinations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh 's visit to the UAE and Middle Eastern countries opens up great opportunities for Vietnam's tourism industry to welcome visitors from this market.

Under the agreement, Emirates passengers can conveniently connect to Vietjet's flight network via Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. At the same time, Vietjet passengers can easily access Emirates' global flight network via the Dubai hub, with seamless services and itineraries. The two airlines will also cooperate in developing technology and digital innovation in the aviation industry. Mr. Adnan Kazim, Emirates' Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, assessed Vietnam as a market with great potential to promote tourism and trade. The cooperation with Vietjet not only expands Emirates' footprint in Vietnam but also supports the world's most expensive and luxurious airline to seek more cooperation opportunities in the future. This means that a series of business travelers and tourists from Middle Eastern countries will come to Vietnam.

In fact, since the Covid-19 pandemic, the Middle East has been the market that the Vietnamese tourism industry has focused on conquering. Initially, India, with its billion-strong population, including many Muslims, was targeted by Vietnamese tourism as an optimal choice to fill the gap left by the sluggish recovery of traditional Chinese tourists. However, Vietnam has not only quickly won the hearts of Indian visitors but also "caught the eye" of many billionaires from the UAE. Luxurious weddings, meetings and "huge" teambuilding events taking place in many provinces and cities from North to South have officially put Vietnam on the track to welcome wealthy visitors. This is also in line with the orientation of becoming a high-class destination for Vietnamese tourism. Therefore, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the National Tourism Administration and airlines and tourism businesses have quickly promoted, advertised and enhanced the image of Vietnam in the eyes of Middle Eastern tycoons.

Looking back two years ago when talking about attracting Middle Eastern tourists to Vietnam, Vietnamese Ambassador to Qatar Tran Duc Hung admitted that many tourists from countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) did not even know about Vietnam. When discussing tourism cooperation, they were surprised: Where is Vietnam? What is there? The reason is that information about Vietnamese tourism to Middle Eastern countries is still very limited. We have not promoted tourism promotion and advertising activities to this market in a systematic and regular manner. Before the pandemic, although Vietnam had a favorable geographical location, home to many countries with the largest Muslim population in the world, tourists from Middle Eastern countries accounted for an insignificant proportion. Meanwhile, the tourism markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. strongly attracted tourists from Muslim countries, mainly luxury tourists with high spending ability.

Up to now, the majority of Muslim visitors to Vietnam are Indian, while the number of visitors from the Middle East such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE is still quite modest. Therefore, experts believe that the official upgrading of the Comprehensive Partnership, along with strategic agreements between leading economic groups in Vietnam and the UAE, will be a new boost for the Vietnamese tourism industry to welcome visitors from this special market.

Muslim tourists are increasing in Vietnam. In the photo: Muslim tourists visit Yen Tu cultural space (Quang Ninh)

Many advantages to become a new destination

Speaking to Thanh Nien, an official from the National Tourism Administration said that the Middle East and India are very large markets, with the number of tourists traveling abroad increasing rapidly in recent times. Specifically, the Middle East consists of 17 countries, 1 territory, and nearly 400 million people. Not only is it famous for oil and gas, financial resources, and science and technology with prestigious and largest public investment funds in the world, it is also a market with great potential. With a strong economic development and an increasingly wealthy class, the tourism demand of the Middle East market is forecast to increase rapidly in the coming time, reaching 165 billion USD by 2025 with the leading markets being Saudi Arabia, Iran, Türkiye, and Israel. The above four countries have contributed 68% of the total number of tourists in the region. Currently, the number of Middle Eastern tourists to Vietnam has only reached a few tens of thousands. Therefore, Vietnam still has a lot of room to promote the exploitation of this huge market.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported that tourists from GCC countries spend 6.5 times more than the global average, with 40% of individual tourists spending more than 10,000 USD per trip. This is considered a "gold mine" that many countries focusing on tourism development want to target. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia... are having the advantage of leading Vietnam thanks to having exploited this market very early, but are somewhat weaker than Vietnam in terms of novelty.

Specifically, Middle Eastern tourists prefer to visit world heritage sites; seek business opportunities; cultural tourism, learn, explore, experience traditional handicrafts; medical tourism and health care. With good security and order; rich tourism resources, Vietnam is a very suitable destination for the interests and needs of tourists from the Middle East.

Prayer room for Muslim business passengers at Tan Son Nhat International Airport Departure Terminal

In addition to available resources, the representative of the National Tourism Administration acknowledged that Vietnam has also had initial experience in serving Halal tourists, basically meeting the essential needs of this group of tourists. Many restaurants have deployed to serve tourists in separate dining areas with food prepared according to Halal standards... making Muslim tourists satisfied. Almost every locality has a mosque, the most concentrated of which can be mentioned in Ho Chi Minh City. This is a favorable condition for tourists to visit and worship.

Visa exemption breakthrough to welcome rich guests

After 4 years of focusing on exploiting the Indian market and GCC countries, Vietravel Corporation Chairman Nguyen Quoc Ky assessed that this is an extremely large, potential, and favorable market but not easy to conquer. During the promotion process, Vietravel realized that Vietnamese consulates and diplomatic agencies in the GCC are very interested in tourism development cooperation activities and strongly support businesses in organizing destination promotion events. There have even been campaigns to bring farmtrip and presstrip groups from other countries to Vietnam to learn, promote, and research products. However, so far, only the Indian market has brought back many positive results; while visitors from the GCC are still very modest. Commercial flights opened or charter flights still mainly send more Vietnamese visitors there than bring them back.

The reason that Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky pointed out is that Vietnam's tourism infrastructure has not met their needs. Middle Eastern and Indian tourists are collectively known as Muslim tourists. This is a very special type of tourist with specific requirements for cuisine, shopping, and accommodation. It is true that Vietnam currently has Halal-standard restaurants and hotels with prayer rooms, but the number is very small and mainly concentrated in some major tourist cities. Halal food standards and regulations have not been widely regulated and announced. Food sources are not clearly traceable.

Vietjet representative (third from left) accompanied the working delegation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, attending the 8th Future Investment Initiative Conference held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 30.

Regarding shopping, Vietnam also does not have suitable products to meet their needs. Middle Eastern customers are rich and famous, they shop a lot, but in their country there is no shortage of branded goods, and the prices are cheaper than in Vietnam. They like silk, but Vietnam does not have reputable and quality brands. They like gold, but our gold production cannot compete with theirs. Spa, sauna, beauty care, and health care services are getting better and better, but they are still not suitable for the customs and practices of Muslims. They demand privacy, discreetness, sophisticated and different designs...

“Middle Eastern businesses that come to Vietnam for surveys all praise the beautiful scenery, the weather, the landscape, and the delicious seafood of Vietnam; but in terms of the depth and breadth of the services provided, we have not been able to meet them. Up to now, our products have mainly served the traditional customer groups with the largest number of visitors, not paying attention to specific customer groups. When Malaysia came to Vietnam to develop cooperation, they also raised the issue of supply infrastructure, but at that time we could not convert in time, so the number of Malaysian visitors to Vietnam was difficult to grow. The Muslim population accounts for about 1/3 of the world's total population, concentrated in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, South Asia and the South Pacific, very close to Vietnam. That is a big advantage in competing to attract this group of rich customers,” Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky suggested.

During the meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Vietnamese community in the UAE on the evening of October 27, Ms. Nguyen Thi My Tan, CEO of Desert Harbour Tourism Dubai, said that recently this company has brought many Vietnamese people to travel in the UAE. Currently, the company is also making efforts to bring wealthy customers from the UAE in particular and the Middle East in general to Vietnam for tourism. To do this, Ms. My Tan suggested that the Government should loosen visas for UAE tourists to Vietnam. Currently, the UAE passport is among the most powerful passports in the world with the right to enter nearly 200 countries without a visa. If visa exemption is possible for this market, Vietnam will have more competitive advantages to break through in tourism.

Golden opportunity to exploit big customers

Currently, the Government is orienting to develop the Halal industry into a strong industry, making Vietnam an indispensable destination on the global Halal map. In addition, we have also done a very good job of connecting infrastructure, opening many direct flights between the capitals of India and Middle Eastern countries to Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. In general, Vietnam has everything that Middle Eastern tourists need. We are in a golden opportunity to effectively exploit this quality tourist stream.

Representative of Vietnam National Tourism Administration

The government has paved the way, the tourism industry now only needs to build a systematic strategy, reorient the service system, and build additional product criteria specifically for this group of customers. By doing so, we will not only welcome a large flow of customers from the Middle East market but also immediately receive two markets of 300 million Muslims, Malaysia and Indonesia, right next door.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky, Chairman of Vietravel Corporation

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/du-lich-cho-mo-vang-khach-trung-dong-185241031235155033.htm