International visitors to Ho Chi Minh City in May 2025 - Photo: QUANG DINH
According to the analysis report of Saigon - Hanoi Securities Joint Stock Company (SHS) on the macro economy in May 2025, including a picture of Vietnam tourism.
This report assesses: "Vietnam has advantages in terms of landscape, culture and a relatively affordable standard of living. But a major obstacle is gradually emerging: the total cost of a trip, especially international airfare, is worryingly high, causing Vietnam's advantages to be overshadowed by competitors in the region."
Vietnam is falling behind in the luxury tourism segment.
According to SHS analysis, the duration of the trip is divided into two groups of tourists. The first group, from the West such as the US, Europe with a long vacation of about 14 days. The second group, from nearby countries such as Japan, Korea, China, short-term travel, about 7 days.
Regarding airfare, the report said that this is a key factor influencing the decision to choose a destination.
SHS is based on the synthesis of round-trip economy class fares from the beginning of the year until now from round-trip fare aggregator websites such as Kayak ( the world's leading travel information search engine).
For the first group, visitors from the US, Germany, France to Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The results show the average ticket price (USD) for these four destinations, if going to Vietnam it costs 1,063 USD, to Thailand it costs only 1,050 USD, Malaysia 1,037, Indonesia is 1,200 USD.
Total tourism expenditure by tourist group and segment in the ASEAN region in 2025 is calculated by Saigon - Hanoi Securities Joint Stock Company (SHS), citing sources from tourism information search engines - Screenshot: TT
For the second group, visitors from Japan, Korea, China to Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia; the average ticket price for the four destinations is 358 USD for Vietnam, 433 USD for Thailand, 426 USD for Malaysia, and 466 USD for Indonesia.
Regarding the cost of eating, playing, traveling, and having fun at the destination every day, SHS cites data from BudgetYourTrip (a source that aggregates actual travelers' budgets), divided into 3 spending segments: economical, mid-range, and high-end.
In terms of average spending per person per day in countries for tourists in groups 1 and 2, in all three spending segments, Vietnam is lagging behind in the high-end segment (only reaching 3,639 USD - lowest in group 1), the highest is Malaysia at nearly 5,500 USD.
While Vietnam's accommodation and entertainment costs are competitive (about 30% lower than Thailand), international airfares to Vietnam are relatively higher, especially from distant markets.
"This makes the total cost of a trip to Vietnam equal to or higher than that of a trip to Thailand or Malaysia for European and American tourists, even though the on-site prices are cheaper.
The very large proportion of airfare in tourists' budgets is reducing the competitiveness of Vietnamese tourism in the high-value long-haul European and American tourist segment," the report said in general.
"Tonic" used for a long time will cause illness, the aviation industry needs to return to its natural state
SHS's report also analyzed the reasons for the increase in airfares such as increased fuel prices, weakening of the domestic currency against the US dollar (about 12% from the beginning of 2022 to present) causing increased operating costs; shortage of aircraft, scarce air transport supply...
However, according to this report, this is not the root, the root lies in people, in the way of operating and creating the market.
“The main reason is the lack of real competition, which slows down and pushes up prices,” the report said.
SHS cited evidence that currently, most international flights to and from Vietnam are still operated by a few domestic airlines along with a few foreign airlines, making the market closed and not open to many parties. Meanwhile, Thailand has Thai Airways, AirAsia, Thai Lion and dozens of foreign airlines.
Although the aviation industry has applied some special preferential measures, this report compares the solutions to "tonic" but long-term use will cause illness. Therefore, the aviation industry must be returned to its natural state, to self-regulate competition and the market, especially to encourage new airlines to enter the market.
In addition, it is necessary to adjust seasonal price ceilings, subsidize large-scale charter flights from Europe and the US; expand aviation cooperation with major airlines from the Middle East or Europe to open more direct routes...
Airfare costs account for 75% of the budget for tourist groups.
According to an analysis report by Saigon - Hanoi Securities Joint Stock Company (SHS), in Vietnam, the cost of air tickets accounts for up to 75% of the budget for budget passengers, and remains high even in the mid-range and high-end segments.
In other words, most of customers' wallets are "locked" in travel, making other expenses, which bring high profits to the service industry chain such as accommodation, food, shopping or entertainment, become tight.
"Compared to other countries in the region, for the same passenger segment, the cost of flying to Vietnam is 6 to 10 percentage points higher.
The difference, although small in number, is large because it skews the balance of choice in the hearts of tourists, causing Vietnam to be at a disadvantage when comparing the overall value of a trip package, which is what they consider first, not last," the SHS analysis report emphasized.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/gia-ve-may-bay-quoc-te-la-nut-that-co-chai-cua-du-lich-viet-nam-20250517103355112.htm
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