Attracting Japanese tourists: Many potential segments

Speakers analyzed the role of the Japanese market in the recovery of Vietnamese tourism since the pandemic - Photo: QUANG DINH

On the afternoon of September 24, 2024, at the Majestic Hotel hall, Tuoi Tre newspaper in collaboration with Saigon Tourist Group organized a seminar on the topic "Promoting Vietnam - Japan tourism: The attraction of unique tourism products".

Reasons why Japanese tourists travel less

Journalist Le The Chu, editor-in-chief of Tuoi Tre newspaper, hopes to have many specific solutions to attract Japanese tourists to Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular - Photo: QUANG DINH

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, journalist Le The Chu - editor-in-chief of Tuoi Tre newspaper - recounted the story of how after COVID-19, many international visitors returned to Vietnam to explore and experience tourism, thanks to favorable policies on visas, entry and exit, improving the quality of products, services and activities to promote Vietnamese tourism to the world ...

Journalist Le The Chu cited data from the General Department of Tourism, the international tourist market to Vietnam has changed. As one of Vietnam's leading important partners in many fields, Japan has seen a decrease in the number of tourists in recent times, recovering only 60% compared to 2019. This has many reasons, such as uneven promotion of Vietnam's destinations; devaluation of the yen; the trend of short-term travel, domestic travel...

"Finding solutions and giving advice to attract international visitors to Vietnam, especially Japanese tourists, contributing to socio-economic growth is the goal of the workshop. This is also an activity within the framework of the two Vietnam - Japan Friendship Associations in Ho Chi Minh City at Tuoi Tre Newspaper and Saigontourist Group," said journalist Le The Chu.

The event was attended by Japanese diplomatic agencies, state management agencies, experts, and leading business groups in the fields of air transport and tourism.

Therefore, he expects: "The workshop will provide management agencies and tourism businesses with multi-dimensional perspectives, overcome limitations, promote effective models, especially attractive and unique tourism products, along with specific solutions to attract Japanese tourists to Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular."

Mr. Huynh Thanh Nhan, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, Chairman of Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: QUANG DINH

Mr. Huynh Thanh Nhan, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, Chairman of the Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City, affirmed the role of the Japanese market in the process of recovering Vietnam's tourism since the pandemic.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan was one of the largest tourist markets with 18 million Japanese tourists traveling each year. Of which, Vietnam used to be one of the favorite tourist destinations of Japanese tourists with approximately 1 million arrivals in 2019.

In particular, in 2024, Vietnam tourism aims to attract 17-18 million visitors, in which the Japanese market plays an important role. "With the characteristics of a large urban area, many unique cultural features, the city has many advantages to develop tourism and services.

And now, to meet this development trend, the city is being guided by the Government to develop a transportation system from air, rail, road... to develop infrastructure to attract tourists, river tourism products, high-end agricultural tourism... In addition, the city and Japan are also discussing ways to have more cultural products for the Vietnam - Japan Festival held every year.

Today's workshop is expected to help us find unique products and services that attract Japanese tourists," Mr. Huynh Thanh Nhan emphasized.

Identify attractive tourism products

Mr. Hoang Manh Dang, general director of Apex Vietnam Tourism Joint Stock Company, specializing in inbound tourism for Japanese tourists, said there are many factors affecting the number of Japanese tourists.

According to Japanese government statistics, before the pandemic, in 2019, the number of Japanese people going abroad reached more than 20 million, but by 2023 this number was only 9.1 million, less than 48% compared to the historic number of departures in 2019.

Mr. Hoang Manh Dang, General Director of Apex Vietnam Tourism Joint Stock Company, said that there are still many attractive products to attract Japanese tourists - Photo: QUANG DINH

This has shown a decline due to the impact of the epidemic, economic fluctuations, the devaluation of the yen and especially the domestic tourism stimulus policy to support Japan's service industry. Accordingly, in 2023, the Japanese government spent money to stimulate demand, so most Japanese people choose to travel domestically.

In that context, Vietnam has made positive progress by welcoming 583,470 Japanese visitors in 2023, equivalent to a recovery of more than 61% compared to the pre-pandemic figure of 951,962 visitors in 2019.

This figure is also more positive compared to other markets such as Taiwan and Hong Kong, which only reached 42.8% and 32% respectively. The recovery rate of Japanese visitors compared to 2019 in Vietnam is only behind Korea (over 70%), and higher than the US at 40%, Germany at 52%, Spain at 49%...

"We can still be optimistic about this recovery. However, the problem is the quality of this tourist recovery, which is increasing the length of stay and increasing tourist spending," said Mr. Hoang Manh Dang.

According to this business, there needs to be a different approach in promoting and marketing Japan. In particular, the peak season for Japanese tourists is from October to the end of March. The low season is from April to September. During that period, even when the Japanese have three holidays: Golden Week (late April), Obon (mid-August) and Silver Week (mid-September), very few Japanese people travel to Vietnam.

To attract Japanese tourists to Vietnam, Mr. Dang said that Vietnam's tourism promotion activities to this market need to be organized more frequently and not only in big cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. In addition, fam trips should be organized for representatives of Japanese travel agencies, airlines and media to survey new routes and tourism resources.

Another potential segment is school tourism. Many schools in Japan often organize tours for students to explore culture and learn new knowledge, especially study tours to learn about culture, history and ecology, and experiential activities related to the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations for Japanese high school students.

And finally, exploiting the market of long-term staying elderly guests. "In my opinion, this is another potential segment that Ho Chi Minh City should target: elderly Japanese guests.

Currently, the policy of long-stay visas for the elderly is still not clear, which is the biggest obstacle to exploiting this extremely potential market," Mr. Dang added.

The workshop is within the framework of activities of the two Vietnam - Japan Friendship Associations in Ho Chi Minh City at Tuoi Tre Newspaper and Saigontourist Group.

Two years after reopening tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of international visitors to Vietnam has recovered positively thanks to favorable policies on visas, immigration, innovation, improvement of product and service quality and activities to promote Vietnamese tourism to the world...

However, according to the report of the General Department of Tourism, the structure of the international tourist market to Vietnam has changed. Japan - one of Vietnam's leading important partners in many fields - has seen a decrease in the number of tourists in recent times, recovering only 60% compared to 2019. Many opinions have pointed out that the reason is due to the irregular promotion of Vietnam's destinations, at the same time the yen has depreciated,...

In order to find solutions to attract international visitors to Vietnam, especially Japanese tourists, contributing to socio-economic growth, Tuoi Tre newspaper in collaboration with Saigontourist Group co-organized the workshop "Promoting Vietnam - Japan tourism: The attraction of unique tourism products".

The event was attended by Japanese diplomatic agencies, state management agencies, experts, and leading business groups in the field of air transport and inbound tourism: Consulate General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism; Saigontourist Travel, Vietjet Air, Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City, Saigontourist College of Tourism & Hospitality, representatives of TikTok APAC, Google, Travel Blogger, etc.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thu-hut-du-khach-nhat-ban-con-nhieu-phan-khuc-tiem-nang-20240924135605344.htm