When will the peak of 18 million international visitors return?

These days, many destinations across the country have entered the season of welcoming international visitors with high expectations. In 2023, the Vietnamese tourism industry set a target of welcoming 8 million international visitors and by the end of August 2023, this number had exceeded 7.8 million.

Falling out of the top 4 countries receiving the most visitors

Agoda has just announced that Vietnam tops the list of destinations prioritized by Asia- Pacific tourists in the first 6 months of 2023. Leading the list are visitors from Thailand, Australia, South Korea and Singapore.

Mr. Vu Ngoc Lam, Director of Agoda Vietnam and Indochina, commented that the increasing interest of international tourists in Vietnam as a top tourist destination has been reflected in Agoda's flight booking data.

Khi nào trở lại đỉnh cao 18 triệu khách quốc tế? - Ảnh 1.

The recently held Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair is an opportunity for the tourism industry to promote Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam to international visitors. Photo: BINH AN

However, speaking at the Vietnam Tourism Conference 2023 with the theme "Goals and Recovery", organized by The Outbox Company in collaboration with Saigontourist Group on the afternoon of September 21, Ms. Nguyen Anh Thu, Research Director of The Outbox Company, presented some noteworthy research.

Accordingly, in 2023, Vietnam tourism aims to welcome 8 million international visitors - a recovery of only 44.4% compared to the 18 million international visitors of 2019. At the same time, Thailand set a target of 25 million visitors and has raised it to 30 million for the whole year - a recovery of 75.2% compared to the number of visitors in 2019. The same picture also happened for Singapore, Cambodia, and Malaysia, when they all set a target of attracting more international visitors and adjusted their targets up.

After countries in the region raised their visitor arrival targets, Vietnam fell out of the top four markets receiving the most international visitors - after Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia.

"The question is that the tourism industry can easily achieve its target this year, but when can it return to the number of 18 million international visitors like in 2019 - the time before the COVID-19 pandemic? Tourism has recovered, but the picture is still very difficult when statistics from The Outbox Company show that many 4-5 star hotels have low room occupancy rates and not many visitors," Ms. Nguyen Anh Thu wondered.

Waiting for a breakthrough from Chinese customers

The most anticipated international tourist market is China, but recently, the international flight capacity between Vietnam and China is still 46% lower than September 2019. South Korea has become the busiest international flight route for Vietnamese tourism, with more than 1.6 million visitors from this country arriving in the first 6 months of this year.

Mr. Nguyen Dong Hoa, Deputy General Director of Saigontourist Group, said that in 2023, everyone thought they would "continue to win" after tourism recovered strongly in the previous year. In fact, international visitors were few, while domestic visitors stagnated, so it was disappointing. The corporation's target for the first 7 months of 2023 has now been completed.

In the coming time, the tourism industry has the greatest expectation on the new visa policy when implementing electronic visa (evisa) for all markets. "Although this policy takes effect from August 15, it will take time to penetrate the market. This is the most important issue. If the bottleneck of the tourism industry is removed and evisa is implemented well from the technical point of view, the website of the Immigration Department will be the highlight to welcome guests next year" - Mr. Nguyen Dong Hoa acknowledged.

Responding to the question of whether to expect the Chinese tourist market, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, General Director of Trip.com Vietnam (an online travel platform that before the COVID-19 pandemic had 90% of its revenue coming from Chinese tourists), said that up to now, about 47% of the company's revenue comes from Chinese tourists and there are positive signs. Since August 15, when the evisa policy was applied, Trip.com has recorded a sharp increase in Chinese tourists, most of whom are business travelers and independent travelers. Vietnam tourism expects more from the increase in Chinese tourists in the coming time.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tieu Thanh Hoang, Marketing Director of Fusion Hotel Group, said that 90% of his company's guests come from Korea and in September, all rooms were fully booked. His company does not welcome Chinese or Indian guests but focuses on Korean guests, so he has set aside budget and resources to invest in and promote this market.

Headache due to lack of tour guide

According to Mr. Vo Viet Hoa, Director of International Tourism Division - Saigontourist Travel Services Company (under Saigontourist Group), in the context of international tourism recovery, businesses are having a headache because of the lack of human resources. His travel company has reduced about 30% - 40% of its staff compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic when they changed industries and did not return. There is a serious shortage of tour guides, including the most popular English tour guides, who are now "looking for them with red eyes".