In contrast to the bustling scene at the same time every year, travel businesses are currently worried about a drop in revenue during the upcoming summer peak season.
A representative of a travel agency based in Thanh Xuan district (Hanoi) said on May 14 that every year, about 70% of the company's summer tourists will travel in June and July. This group of tourists will book in advance from May, while the group traveling in July and August will book in June. This year, the company's June schedule is 40% empty and July is 30% empty.
"If we sell out like every year, we will have time for other work. But right now, the company still has to worry about how to sell summer tour products," said a representative of the company in Thanh Xuan.
Ms. Hoang Tuyet, General Director of Top One Travel, also confirmed that the annual pattern of Vietnamese guests has changed this year. Ms. Tuyet said that at the same time every year, the company's employees have to work at full capacity to find rooms for guests on summer vacation. Sometimes they have to ask 7-8 hotels to find a room for guests. This year, the atmosphere of booking rooms is not bustling, most hotels are empty.
Cu Lao Xanh is about 40 minutes by motorbike from Quy Nhon. Photo: Nguyen Chi Nam
According to experts, the number of tourists in May is always low. The reason is that family groups have just experienced the April 30 holiday and this is the time when students take their semester exams. The number of tourists is low, but the number of pre-bookings is high. Usually, during this period, tourists have almost booked all their tours for June and July.
Compared to the same period last year, Ms. Tran Phuong Linh, Marketing and Technology Director of Benthanh Tourist, commented that the 2023 summer tourism market has many differences in consumer purchasing and service usage behavior. Customers are no longer as eager to book tours early as before. Instead, they often decide to book quite close to the date. A large number of customers consulted about services, but the number of customers who booked tours early did not meet expectations.
Due to high domestic airfares, domestic tour prices have also been pushed up. At the same time, domestic tour products are also under competitive pressure from regional destinations, so domestic tourism has cooled down. The company predicts that land island tours and northern tours will be "hot" domestic tours this coming summer.
This also coincides with the assessment from Top One Travel when Ms. Tuyet confirmed that customers tend to choose to travel nearby. When talking with customers including large enterprises, Ms. Tuyet received the answer that their economy is currently quite difficult. Therefore, the priority for company trips is to nearby destinations such as around Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Ha Long, not traveling by plane.
The number of large group tour bookings from companies for summer travel is also not optimistic. A representative of a company in Thanh Xuan district said that the difficult economy has caused businesses to suffer. The travel and entertainment needs of employees are no longer the top priority. Based on the company's business reality, this person predicted a significant decline in MICE (teambuilding, conference, event) tourism this summer.
Every year, the company representative said that MICE groups are organized "back and forth" every week throughout June and July. The number of MICE groups booked this year is only 60% of last year, and the main reason is cost. The lack of MICE customers puts the travel agency in a revenue problem. For this company, MICE customers only account for 17% of the total number of customers booking tours during the summer, but the revenue accounts for 44% of the total. "MICE groups bring in a lot of revenue for travel agencies," this person said.
Vietluxtour's MICE tour group in the summer of 2022.
With the current economic situation, experts in the tourism industry all confirm that the purchasing power of Vietnamese tourists is weak. However, seasonal factors and changing habits make them still expect a last-minute boom.
Tu Nguyen
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