Tourism linkage to avoid "everyone doing it their own way"

At the discussion "Solutions for the tourism industry to create breakthroughs" recently organized by the Lao Dong Newspaper, one of the issues that many guests mentioned was the story of connection. In which, the most important is the connection between tourism businesses and airlines to have package tours with competitive costs, limiting the negative impact of high airfares.

Worry about domestic customers "going abroad"

According to the reporter of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, at this time, airfares on many domestic routes have cooled down because it is the low season for tourism, and travel demand after Tet has decreased quite sharply.

For example, with the busiest flight route being Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi , on March 13, the round-trip ticket price was around 3 million VND/way, a sharp decrease of 50% compared to the time before and after Tet. However, the airfare only cooled down for a short time and will increase again during the April 30 holiday as well as the upcoming summer peak.

Many travel companies say that the high airfares have caused domestic tour prices to be fiercely competitive with other destinations in the region. A paradox is that while the tourism industry is trying to attract international visitors, it is worried that domestic tourists will "invite each other" to travel abroad because of high domestic airfares.

Mr. Tran Van Linh, Head of Tourism Management Department - Kien Giang Province Department of Tourism, said that airfares have increased the most on routes from major tourist markets such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc. Prices have increased even on normal days, not just during holidays and Tet. "At the peak time, round-trip fares from Hanoi to Phu Quoc were up to 10 million VND/way, and from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc were 6-8 million VND/way. Ticket prices have now decreased but are not stable and fluctuate over time," Mr. Linh stated the situation.

Ms. Ngo Huong, Deputy General Director of Sales and Marketing at Vinpearl JSC, acknowledged that the highest proportion of domestic tourists’ expenses are for transportation between destinations. This has caused many tourists to shift to neighboring destinations in the region with similar climates and cultures but with more attractive promotions and much more reasonable costs.

Liên kết du lịch để tránh — A “handshake” between tourism and travel businesses and airlines is needed to reduce costs for domestic tourism. Photo: LAM GIANG

Reduce domestic travel costs

One of the solutions to help reduce domestic travel costs is to lower airfares. Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Tourism, suggested that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism study and establish an information channel, and regular, official exchanges between the ministry, airlines and localities. Through exchanges and consultations with state tourism management agencies, airlines can regulate airfares and flight schedules to ensure the best service for tourists.

"Coordinating with airlines helps localities attract tourists during the local low season, thereby limiting the current seasonal tourism situation," Mr. Minh analyzed.

However, linking is not a simple matter. Mr. Nguyen Le Vinh Lynh, Director of the City Sightseeing Joint Stock Company branch in Ho Chi Minh City, reflected that businesses have proactively linked together but it is not easy to comply with the linkage. "Some businesses propose ideas but before they can implement them, other businesses have exploited them and developed them into their own products. It is very difficult for businesses to maintain the linkage and produce products for joint implementation," Mr. Lynh pointed out.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietravel Company, said he once proposed establishing an alliance of corporations and businesses in the tourism and aviation industries to develop a stimulus plan and develop together, but it was not easy to agree on the direction.

The leader of this company, which is both a travel company and an airline, suggested that travel companies and airlines consider jointly offering charter flights instead of buying airline tickets in series bookings (reserving a large number of seats in advance and having to pay a deposit in advance). This solution helps both aviation and tourism benefit, stabilize the number of passengers and achieve the highest efficiency.

Need a "conductor" for domestic tourism

Enterprises propose that in order for domestic tourism to develop faster, stronger and more sustainably, a "conductor" is needed to connect and create a handshake between tourism - aviation and travel.

According to Ms. Phan Thi Thuy Dung, representative of Sungroup Corporation, the Government and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism also play the role of "conductor" to build breakthrough stimulus programs at this stage with the participation of all localities, the tourism business community and related parties.

Ms. Dung proposed implementing a comprehensive domestic tourism stimulus program with the theme "I love Vietnam", thereby encouraging Vietnamese people to travel to Vietnam. All businesses participating in tourism activities, including transportation, restaurants, hotels... will join hands to apply special preferential prices while maintaining the same service quality or increasing new experiences.

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