Vietnamese tourists choose to travel to Japan and Europe in autumn

The autumn "golden routes" in Japan and Europe are still the top choices of Vietnamese tourists.

According to many travel agencies, autumn is considered the low season so the prices of tourism products are not as high as in the summer. This year, the autumn foreign travel destinations of Vietnamese tourists are still the traditional "golden routes" such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Europe.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Cuong, General Director of Trang An Travel, said that foreign travel products for the fall have been sold for many months, with good sales. Since July, the company has sold out all tours to Europe and China in September. Tours running in October and November in other markets are having pre-bookings reaching about 80% of the company's target.

According to Mr. Cuong, in the European market, tourists mainly aim for tours through France, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands. Therefore, the company also rebuilt products through these countries with many new experiences such as visiting the Zaanse Schans windmills (Netherlands), the filming location of "Crash Landing on You". (Switzerland) or the ancient town of Colmar (France).

Jozankei hot spring village in Hokkaido. Photo: Expedia — Jozankei hot spring village in Hokkaido. Photo: *Expedia*

Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu, Marketing and Communications Director of Vietluxtour, said that the company's autumn business results have reached over 50% of the plan. Northeast Asia tours (Japan, Korea) are selling well. The company is promoting tours designed specifically for each group of customers, in addition to traditional tours. According to Ms. Thu, autumn-specific products are always the top choice for Vietnamese customers because they are widely advertised and marketed.

In addition to traditional products, some companies are exploiting new itineraries to reach customers who have traveled to many places and need to find new places. Mr. Pham Duy Nghia, General Director of Vietfoot Travel, said he had chartered a 270-seat charter flight, flying directly from Hanoi to Hokkaido (Japan) in October.

"The Golden Route of Japan is still the top choice for tourists, but there are also those who are looking for something new," said Mr. Nghia.

According to Mr. Nghia, Hokkaido has a pristine, natural beauty, different from traditional destinations such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, with a price of about 34 million VND per person for a 6-day, 5-night trip. Previously, the price of each tour to Hokkaido was usually 44 million VND per person due to having to fly via Tokyo.

Flamingo Redtours is currently offering traditional autumn tours but at lower prices, such as a 4-day Tokyo, Osaka tour for 10 million VND per person (including airfare, 3-star hotel, visa, tour guide). Ms. Vu Thi Bich Hue, a company representative, said this is a product line aimed at busy customers or those who want to optimize costs.

The company's records show that customers tend to be most interested in Japan tours (35%), followed by Taiwan (25%), Korea (20%), China and some other routes (20%). However, the fall travel season has just begun, so these statistics may change.

A corner of Paris in autumn. Photo: Talk In French — A corner of Paris in autumn. Photo: *Talk In French*

The autumn tour products offered by many travel agencies have a diverse price range, depending on the destination, the lowest price is the tour to Phoenix Ancient Town (China), Taiwan, Korea (10-15 million VND per person), the higher price is Japan (17 million VND to more than 30 million VND per person), Europe (50-80 million VND per person), the most expensive is the US tour with a price of more than 120 million VND per person.

However, many travel agencies said that this year's fall tour prices have increased by 15% compared to last year and 20% compared to before the pandemic. Although it is currently the low season, tourist demand is not high, airfares have cooled down, and other service costs have "escalated", pushing up tour prices.

A representative of Vietfoot Travel said that although he believed that this year's autumn tours would be filled, the company's actual product sales decreased by about 30% compared to last year. Mr. Nghia said that he had seen the problem of weak purchasing power in the market, so he proactively reduced the number of products sold.

A representative of Trang An Travel said that the risk of economic recession and high inflation affects the psychology and directly affects customers' spending on tourism. "This makes tourists want to find truly new destinations but ensure reasonable costs," said Mr. Nguyen Huu Cuong.

Tu Nguyen

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