What gifts do foreign visitors buy when coming to Vietnam?

Surprise with a gift of a votive horse

Mr. Arnaud Zein El Din, a Mexican architect, came to Vietnam for a 3-week vacation . When he returned from Hanoi in early August, he brought a paper horse as a gift for his daughter. Unfortunately, the paper horse, for various reasons, was left at Noi Bai airport, causing a stir in public opinion in recent days.

Many people are surprised when tourists buy colorful paper horses as gifts, which in Vietnamese culture are not meant for living people. He said he bought a paper horse when he accidentally saw it in Dong Anh for 100,000 VND, because in Mexican culture, there are similar paper horse gifts. In addition, he also collects many unique souvenirs made in Vietnam such as conical hats, water pipes, sedge mats, masks, fishing rods, stone mortars and pestles, beer mugs, etc. to bring back to Mexico.

Gifts Mr. Arnaud bought in Vietnam and brought back to Mexico

The story of tourist Arnaud Zein El Din's items makes many Vietnamese people wonder whether there are many gifts for foreign visitors in Vietnam?

Mr. Tran Tuyen Son, an international tour guide in Da Nang , said that there are currently quite a variety of gift products for foreign tourists on the market. For example, in Hoi An, tourists can buy lanterns, pictures, hand-embroidered paintings, silk; in Da Nang, there are stone items in Ngu Hanh Son stone village, candy or coffee in Con market or Han market... "Depending on each customer market, there are suitable gift products. For example, Asian tourists will like candy, coffee, tea; European tourists choose silk, lacquer, hand-embroidered fabrics, especially tailor-made costumes in Hoi An ancient town. Souvenir products are now also beautifully packaged, with designs suitable for foreigners, so they attract tourists to shop," said Mr. Son.

Airline speaks out about why votive horses were left at Noi Bai

Similarly, at Ben Thanh Market, where tourists gather in large numbers not only to explore the traditional market but also to eat and shop, the stalls selling traditional handicrafts, tea and coffee, nuts, gold and silver, clothes printed with beautiful images of Vietnam, etc. have the most customers asking to buy.

On foreign travel advice sites, 10 items from Vietnam that tourists often buy to bring back home include: coffee, silk, fine art ceramics, handmade jewelry, lacquerware, conical hats, lanterns, sewing clothes, propaganda posters (made of paper, can be rolled up) and hand embroidery.

The unlucky paper horse was left at Noi Bai airport.

From Thailand thinking about Vietnam

"Vietnam's gift market for foreign tourists is diverse and attractive, but the organization and marketing to customers is not effective," said Ms. Huynh Doan Thuy, a tourism expert.

Ms. Thuy and her family just traveled to Thailand for 5 days, during the 5 days the tour company took the group to 5 shopping spots. One day, the whole group went to a mattress production and sales center, advertised as the place that makes mattresses for the Thai Royal Family. It was noon, the tour guide said they went in to rest, it was hot and tiring from playing, so everyone lay down to try sleeping. "When leaving, many people said they slept so well, the mattresses and pillows were soft, so they ordered them, the center shipped them to Vietnam. Another day, the whole group went to see a snake circus, then bought medicine extracted from snake venom, priced at 4 - 5 million VND/box, and many people kept buying. Not only that, the guests had to walk around the building when getting off the bus, and buy more candy of all kinds. The special thing is that no guest felt uncomfortable, whether they bought or not, they were all happy," Ms. Thuy said.

In Bangkok, there is a whole system of souvenir shops for tourists, from cheap to high-end. Thailand is characterized by hot weather, so souvenir shops are concentrated in cool centers. Tourists go there to buy and don't want to leave. On the bus, tour guides often promote their country's goods. All of this is a complete process to get the goods to tourists in the best way.

"In Vietnam, we do not have such a process, even though we have a full range of typical products. Tea and coffee factories, silk factories, and agricultural processing factories are spread throughout the provinces and cities, but they are almost outside the sales chain for tourists. The products are brought to Ben Thanh market, Binh Tay market, Dong Ba market, Dong Xuan market... and tourists mainly shop there. They have almost no experience with the product story," Ms. Thuy added.

Foreign tourists buy conical hats at Han market

According to Mr. Tran Tuyen Son, the product story is important to tourists' purchases. In Hoi An, when customers tailor clothes, they usually go on a tour of the silk weaving village, learn about silkworms, mulberry trees, and visit the weaving workshop... Or to buy stone art items, customers will visit Ngu Hanh Son and visit the workshop. As for gifts sold at the market, most customers come to visit, not many to shop.

Tourism expert Nguyen Duc Chi said that gifts for tourists play an important role in developing tourism at destinations because they increase income for local people and businesses. Therefore, the industry and trade sectors of localities need to coordinate with the tourism sector to promote on-site exports through international tourists.

"Main destinations in Vietnam such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, Can Tho... should build gift shopping centers specifically for foreign tourists, where local and regional products are fully concentrated. It would be great if large businesses participated, such as Trung Nguyen, because the coffee products of this brand are of particular interest to tourists. Currently, gifts for tourists are mainly spontaneous, without big brands, and on a small scale, although we have unique products," said Mr. Chi.

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