How to attract high-end tourists to Vietnam?

Kinhtedothi - Vietnam and world tourism are gradually recovering as the number of high-end tourists increases sharply. However, currently, Vietnam's tourism's attraction of this high-end international tourist group is still quite modest, not really commensurate with its inherent potential.

Billion dollar market

Information from the National Tourism Administration shows that in 2023, the global luxury tourism market size will reach over 2,100 billion USD, and is expected to reach over 3,000 billion USD by 2032.

In the past 9 months, the Vietnamese market has welcomed 12.7 million international tourists, an increase of 43% over the same period. This result shows that Vietnam is becoming a destination for billionaire guests from around the world such as India to explore , relax, and hold weddings. At the end of August 2024, Vietnam welcomed a group of 4,500 Indian guests to travel and hold conferences.

High-class tourists visit the Temple of Literature. Photo: Hoai Nam

According to Flamingo Redtours General Director Nguyen Cong Hoan, luxury tourism used to be aimed at a small group of people but now it has expanded to a wider range of customers. Instead of going to many places, tourists are more interested in in-depth, highly personalized experiences during their journey.

According to research by the global economic consultancy Oxford Economics, high-end customers are interested in unique and highly competitive service quality. Oxford Economics representative Liam Cordingley informed that the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the needs of tourists in the direction that tourists need more value for each trip. This is the reason why more and more people choose high-end travel with the desire to enjoy new, unique and classy experiences.

“In the culinary field alone, tourists are willing to pay an additional 10% service fee for premium services. In fact, tourists can spend 250 USD/day for premium service experiences,” Mr. Liam Cordingley stated.

The reality of serving domestic tourists of Vietnam tourism in recent times shows that not only international tourists have demand for luxury travel but also Vietnamese people have similar demand because their income is also increasing. This also brings opportunities for the tourism industry to develop high-end service industries, attract new markets, and meet the increasing demand of consumers.

High-class Korean tourists visit Fansipan peak (Lao Cai). Photo: Hoai Nam

Speaking about the potential to attract high-end tourists, Director of the National Tourism Administration Nguyen Trung Khanh stated that Vietnam has great potential to become a quality destination, welcoming high-end groups of tourists such as its rich and diverse cultural traditions and cuisine. At the same time, it also has many famous landscapes such as Ha Long Bay and the world's top beautiful beaches.

Improve quality to attract customers

According to tourism experts, although Vietnam has great potential to attract high-end tourists, to attract this number of visitors requires the participation of localities and businesses in linking products and perfecting processes and standards of high service.

Regarding attracting high-end tourists to Vietnam, Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism Tran Trung Hieu said: high-end tourists are the target that the capital's tourism industry is aiming for by taking advantage of its strength as a major cultural center of the country, diverse tourism products in addition to sightseeing spots, cultural experiences, MICE tourism products, eco-tourism, and resorts in Hanoi are meeting the needs of this high-end customer segment.

Luxury tourists visit Hanoi's Old Quarter. Photo: Hoai Nam

“In the coming time, Hanoi will focus on attracting and building 4-5 star luxury hotels; upgrading high-quality tourist destinations; training and fostering skilled human resources with good service skills and promoting digital transformation in tourism to promote the attraction of high-end international visitors,” Mr. Tran Trung Hieu stated.

To attract the high-end customer segment, a customer base that always requires unique and personalized products to Vietnam, Ms. Ngo Thi Huong, Deputy General Director of Sales and Marketing of Vinpearl Joint Stock Company, shared that with the high-end segment, customers always require unique and personalized products. Therefore, Vinpearl aims at one destination but with many experiences, especially experiences that are the first in Vietnam, especially green tourism such as Vinpearl Safari Phu Quoc, Vinpearl River Safari Nam Hoi An models...

“To attract high-end tourists, the Vietnamese tourism industry needs to focus on developing products related to health care, green tourism, and sustainable tourism. Depending on each customer segment, there needs to be “tailor-made” products for them. For example, Korean tourists like golf tourism, so there needs to be a promotion policy and a quality golf product development for this type of customer,” Ms. Ngo Thi Huong suggested.

Representative of the Oxford Economics Research Organization Liam Cordingly also recommended that cuisine is one of the factors attracting high-end tourists, so Vietnamese tourism should focus on developing high-end culinary experiences, including building essential domestic and foreign supply chains, thereby improving the quality of tourism experiences.

High-class Indian tourists visit the Temple of Literature. Photo: Hoai Nam

Contributing solutions to help Vietnam tourism attract high-end tourists, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh suggested that Vietnam needs to have policies to support the development of a number of new tourism products that are capable of attracting high-end international tourists such as golf tourism...

“In 2019 alone, out of 5 million Korean tourists coming to Vietnam, more than 1 million came to play golf, helping tourism revenue increase by 2-3 billion USD. Therefore, the Association recommends that the Government apply a policy of exempting or reducing special consumption tax for golfers who are international tourists (from 20% to 10% or 5%) to improve the ability to attract high-end tourists for Vietnam tourism" - Mr. Binh proposed

Adding solutions to attract visitors, Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration Nguyen Trung Khanh suggested that units and localities research the market, grasp the needs of high-end guests; Focus on uniqueness, individuality, and sophistication in service style. In addition, units need to continue to improve the quality of human resources; Build standards for serving high-end guests; Promote promotion in depth in each market, thereby positioning Vietnam as an attractive destination for high-end guests.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/lam-the-nao-de-thu-hut-khach-du-lich-cao-cap-toi-viet-nam.html