International tourist market flourishes

Guide for international tourists visiting the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam. Photo: Nguyen Quang

International visitors will increase

The new visa policy allowing visitors from some countries to be exempted from visas from 15 days to 45 days and extending the validity of electronic visas (e-visas) from 30 days to 90 days, with multiple entries, has been effective and implemented for more than a month, initially bringing about effectiveness in attracting international visitors to Vietnam. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, since the beginning of the year, the tourism industry has welcomed and about 8 million international visitors, achieving the set target. Vietnam expects to welcome about 12 million international visitors this year when the new visa policy is showing its effectiveness, especially when tourism activities are entering the peak season.

According to information from many travel agencies, the number of customers booking tours and services to Vietnam has been made many months in advance. Currently, the number of customers booking continues to increase.

Vietravel Tourism Company said that in the first 8 months of 2023, the company has completed about 75-80% of the plan to welcome international visitors, including many markets from Europe and Korea. From now until the end of the year, Vietravel will promote exploiting the Asian tourist market. According to the Director of Hanoitourist Travel Company (Hanoi Tourism Corporation) Le Hong Thai, the company has received many orders from a few months ago for this year's peak season. The flow of visitors from Asian markets such as Korea, Japan and some European countries is dominant. In addition, the Indian market is being noticed by many companies because the number of visitors has grown strongly recently.

Meanwhile, Director of Marketing and Communications Department of Vietlux Travel Company Tran Thi Bao Thu assessed that the flow of international tourists traveling by sea is expected to increase sharply this year. This is a high-spending customer stream, so businesses need to have a plan to increase profits from this customer stream.

Proactively develop plans

According to tourism experts, from now until the end of the year, the number of international visitors is expected to continue to increase, but it will be difficult to have a sudden increase, because the market is still difficult after the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic as well as fluctuations in the world economy. International visitors will tend to travel in groups, families and their spending may not be as much as before the Covid-19 epidemic. In addition to large markets such as Korea, China, the US and some European countries, some markets with high visitor numbers are Cambodia (338%), India (236%), Laos (117%), Thailand (108%) and Singapore (107%).

Hoa Lo Prison Relic - a place that attracts many international tourists. Photo: Do Tam

In order to be well prepared and welcome the number of international visitors to Vietnam during the peak season, the tourism industry has conducted many preparatory activities. Recently, the Quang Ninh Department of Tourism organized a conference on "Solutions to attract the Muslim tourist market (Halal tourism) to Quang Ninh" with the participation of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the Vietnam Tourism Association, and travel agencies nationally, in order to propose more proactive solutions to attract this type of tourist. Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Trung Khanh said that, in parallel with exploiting the Muslim tourist market such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Vietnam needs to focus on exploiting the Muslim market with high spending capacity, long-term tourism, especially focusing on the Middle East region.

Recently, the Vietnam Tourism Association and the MICE Tourism Club (VMC) organized a seminar on “MICE Tourism: Trends and Opportunities” to propose solutions for localities and units to attract this type of tourist, including the international market. Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh said that MICE tourism (tourism combined with conferences, seminars, exhibitions, and event organization) brings a lot of profit because this is a high-class tourist. Vietnam is a potential MICE tourism market chosen by many international visitors, however, compared to Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia... the number of MICE visitors to Vietnam is still modest.

“MICE tourists are often large groups, sometimes thousands of people. Therefore, it is necessary to invest properly in infrastructure and professional services to attract more MICE tourists this year,” said Mr. Vu The Binh.

In Hanoi, autumn is the peak season for visitors, including international visitors. Determining that this is a great opportunity to increase the number of visitors, the capital's tourism industry has made plans to promote and attract tourists. In addition to organizing many major events in September and October, such as: Autumn Festival, Ao Dai Festival, Gift Festival..., Hanoi will launch new tourism products. Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism Dang Huong Giang said that the Department will coordinate with units to introduce a series of night tourism products to contribute to enhancing the experience for visitors when coming to Hanoi, while creating attraction for visitors to stay longer.

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