Vietnam tourism cannot be less

Businessman Ngo Minh Duc, Chairman of HG Holdings: Vietnamese tourism cannot be inferior. Although difficulties still exist, Mr. Ngo Minh Duc, Chairman of HG Holdings, believes that Vietnam is a truly attractive destination in the market. "Opportunities always exist, the problem is the determination and efforts of those working in tourism."

Vietnam has many attractive destinations for tourists. In the photo: Hoi An is ranked in the Top 10 destinations in the world by TripAdvisor.

Businessman Ngo Minh Duc, Chairman of HG Holdings.

“Next March, the world's largest international tourism fair, ITB Berlin (Germany), will not have a joint booth for Vietnam,” Mr. Ngo Minh Duc is worried. Last year, for the first time in many years, Vietnam also did not have a joint booth at the 2023 World Tourism Fair in London.

Having worked in tourism for nearly 30 years, Mr. Duc clearly sees the changes in the tourism market after the Covid-19 pandemic and the new demands. The flow of Chinese tourists, which accounts for more than 30% of visitors to Vietnam, may not recover when China's campaign to attract domestic tourists is very large. The difficulties of the US and EU economies certainly have a significant impact on people's spending decisions, including tourism. Vietnam's very large tourist market, Japan, has many negative signals when the yen continues to depreciate, down 6% compared to the USD since the beginning of this year, meaning a decrease of more than 20% in the past 2 years, causing Japanese people to still choose the option of "tightening their belts".

Countries in the ASEAN region such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, etc. are increasingly showing their determination in promoting and attracting tourists back. Mr. Duc said that businesses in these countries are vigorously promoting policies to attract tourists, along with efforts to connect and reduce costs for tourists.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere of promoting Vietnam as a destination does not seem to be strong enough, despite many attractive new policies such as from August 15, 2023, Vietnam will issue electronic visas (e-visas) to citizens of all countries and territories, the e-visa duration will be increased from 30 to 90 days. The government has extended the temporary stay period from 15 to 45 days for citizens of 13 countries that Vietnam unilaterally exempts visas from...

We need to do a lot of work in promoting destinations so that Vietnamese tourism can quickly return to the 2019 milestone. Businesses cannot stand aside.

In particular, in early 2024, according to the assessment of many international travel consulting platforms, Vietnam continues to be an attractive destination with many places mentioned in the must-visit list. In addition to Hanoi and Hoi An being named in the Top 10 destinations in the world, Ha Long Bay and Sa Pa are two famous landmarks of Vietnam, ranked 3rd and 5th respectively in the list of trending destinations of TripAdvisor. Hanoi ranked first with dishes that attract diners in the culinary category...

“The appreciation of tourists and the issuance of e-visas to tourists from all countries helps the tourism industry increase its competitive position, but we need to do a lot of work in promoting destinations so that Vietnamese tourism can quickly return to the 2019 milestone. In particular, tourism businesses cannot stand aside,” Mr. Duc shared when mentioning the number of more than 18 million international visitors to Vietnam and 8.6 million visitors to Ho Chi Minh City in 2019 as a target to return to.

HG Holdings is one of the first units to lay the foundation for direct flights between Vietnam and India, bringing Indian tourists to Vietnam right after Vietnam reopens international tourism activities.

This is also the fastest recovering customer stream of HG Group in the past year, Mr. Duc said. Partly because HG Group is the representative of IndiGo Airlines - the largest Indian airline in Vietnam since IndiGo officially entered the Vietnamese market with a direct flight connecting Kolkata and Hanoi, operating since October 2019. Partly because he also gained valuable experience in implementing the method of "gradually closing" each cabin to survive the pandemic, instead of closing everything and stopping completely, so he also has experience in finding niches to reopen part by part.

Currently, Mr. Duc said, connecting the Buddhist community in Vietnam with important religious cities in India is creating a new source of tourists for tourism in the two countries, as well as businesses in the industry. After the pandemic, IndiGo Airlines returned to the market first with direct flights between Vietnam and India...

"It is difficult, but this is an opportunity that businesses are determined to take advantage of, even though it is not a good time for large investments. Therefore, this is a time when the Government and the tourism community need to participate in promoting Vietnam as a destination," Mr. Duc shared his opinion.

This year, in addition to the traditional markets of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, in Mr. Duc's plan, HG Holdings will appear more densely in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, after expanding to the Indonesian and Philippine markets in 2023... The plan to open sales offices in the UK, France, US, Australia... markets has also been put on the launch pad.

In particular, Mr. Duc is interested in a deeper strategy in Thailand, especially since last October, Thai Airways decided to close its office in Vietnam and switch to cooperating with HG Group in exploiting flight routes. Frankly, Thailand is a large market with a lot of potential. Thai Airways has a wide flight network around the world, with many direct flights connecting to Europe and America.

Print Mr. Duc's calculations, this is an opportunity for Vietnam to attract visitors from distant markets. Through the region's leading aviation hub, Thailand, businesses will develop ASEAN into a common destination, promoting the attraction of high-spending tourists, as well as MICE groups to Vietnam to organize many large activities and events...

However, Mr. Duc admitted that although it is an opportunity, this is the stage when business leaders must be alert and use cash flow most effectively...

Vietnam has many attractive destinations for tourists. In photo: Hoi An is ranked by TripAdvisor in the Top 10 destinations in the world.

Up to this point, the Gotadi travel booking app has taken a lot of Mr. Duc's energy.

Nearly 10 years ago, in September 2014, the Gotadi brand officially went into operation after 2 years of preparation and building the system and data. This is an online service, a comprehensive OTA (Online Travel Agent) product, purely Vietnamese, exclusively for Vietnamese people.

In the mindset and direction of founder Ngo Minh Duc, Gotadi provides comprehensive and online travel services on only one website with the determination to create modern online travel habits exclusively for Vietnamese people.

However, Mr. Duc admitted that Vietnam's OTA market is developing very quickly, there has been a few famous domestic brands that are consciously looking for solutions to regain market share (such as Gotadi, iVivu, Chudu24, or Mytour Vietnam) but no less than 80% of the market share is in the hands of foreign "giants".

“OTA is like a difficult and expensive “subject,” Mr. Duc frankly said. In this game, businesses must have both technology and force to compete with foreign businesses that have many advantages, from technology, experience, brand reputation and especially money. Some information shows that foreign OTA sites spend no less than 60 USD to get a customer.

This is the reason why Mr. Duc determined that Gotadi must be different in its approach to customers and growth. Focusing on serving businesses, because this is a sustainable customer group with high loyalty, is considered a core strategy. From 2022, Gotadi launch the Gotadi Business Travel Management (BTM) tourism management and growth solution set, to serve businesses and promote economic growth. This model is not new in the world, but in Vietnam, businesses need to issue invoices and foreign OTAs, most of which only have representative offices in Vietnam, cannot perform this function. In other words, choosing this niche strategy not only avoids the red ocean happening in the B2C segment, but also creates space for Gotadi to freely explore in the future.

However, by the end of 2023, Gotadi's founder said that the market that the platform exploits is experiencing a decrease in demand, increased competition with foreign OTAs, and not many policies to protect Vietnamese businesses, causing Gotadi's growth to remain negative. HG Holdings is having to nurture Gotadi from other sources.

“This year, we set a key goal of strongly restructuring the technology sector, finding new directions with niche markets, such as exploiting pharmaceutical, financial, oil and gas businesses, etc., thereby promoting our strengths more and continuing to invest to maintain our brand in an economy that still has many difficulties,” Mr. Duc shared.

specifically, in 2024, HG Group aims to grow from 10% to 15% as the company increases investment in countries in the region, develops tourism and aviation businesses, and restructures Gotadi.

"Vietnam's tourism cannot be poor, because we have many advantages and always have opportunities. The problem is the determination and efforts of those working in tourism. I believe in this," said Mr. Ngo Minh Duc.

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