Mr. Lai Xuan Thanh, Chairman of Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), said that ACV is currently managing 21 airports, only 6 of which are profitable, 4 are not at a loss, and the remaining 11 are at a loss. According to Mr. Thanh's analysis, domestic ticket prices in Vietnam are currently lower than many other places. However, the main response from people to high ticket prices is that the proportion of low ticket prices has "shrinked" compared to before. "Previously, about 30% of the total number of tickets sold were promotional prices, but now it is only 5%," said Mr. Thanh. Therefore, Mr. Thanh believes that in order to combat unfair competition, it is not allowed to use prices below cost to beat competitors, not to take advantage of the monopoly position to increase prices excessively, and there must be a floor price to combat dumping. Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, General Director of Bamboo Airways, said that currently, the number of aircraft operating in Vietnam is about 160, a decrease of 70 compared to before Covid-19 (more than 230 aircraft). To make up for this shortage, airlines can lease planes around the world, but airlines have no business incentive because “the more they fly, the more they lose.” “The current airfare level makes it impossible to operate profitable domestic flights because it does not follow the market
economy ,” Mr. Nam said.
Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, General Director of Bamboo Airways shared at the workshop.
Therefore, according to Mr. Nam, instead of imposing a ceiling on ticket prices as it is now, it is necessary to use competition law to "treat" those units that abuse their monopoly position. At the same time, it is necessary to create incentives for airlines to bring aircraft back to supply the domestic market. When there are many aircraft, airfares will cool down. "We must create incentives for the aviation industry to resolve the paradox of increasing airfares but airlines and travel companies still facing difficulties," Mr. Nam emphasized. Sharing about the room for effective cooperation between aviation and tourism, Mr. Le Hong Ha, General Director of Vietnam Airlines Corporation, said that in recent times, Vietnamese airlines have closely coordinated, shared experiences, methods, aircraft maintenance, and supplies to ensure that aircraft are exploited as much as possible while the Vietnamese aviation industry lacks aircraft. Mr. Ha cited that in April-May 2024,
Vietnam Airlines increased many early morning and night flights. However, also in May, Vietnam Airlines had to cancel 10% of flights due to the lack of night flights, losing the flexibility for the upcoming peak period. Mr. Ha analyzed that tourists are not ready to fly at night because they will lose an extra night's stay while the check-in and check-out policies of accommodation establishments are not flexible. "I think Vietnam still has room to increase flights, there are ways to attract tourists by building new habits, traveling on night flights. We have worked with Vingroup and Sungroup corporations to have tours combining night flights, reducing 50% or even giving away the first night to reduce costs for tourists. If the parties coordinate with each other, creating attractive travel programs on early morning and late evening flights, that space is completely feasible for the present," said Mr. Ha. As for space for the future, for Vietnam's tourism industry to be truly competitive in the region, to truly be a destination, Mr. Ha clearly stated that Vietnam still has a lot to do. Because, in reality, tourism-aviation businesses today do not have a truly systematic coordination, do not have a long-term strategy, do not have a big goal, and do not have a "locomotive" to lead the implementation of this. Proposing some specific forms of cooperation between the two industries to attract and promote the demand for travel, Mr. Nguyen Cong Hoan, General Director of Flamingo Redtours said, first of all, it is necessary to promote cooperation through a series of booking tickets with competitive prices. This is a traditional form of cooperation for many years. With this form, airlines will deploy a price list, usually a low price in some stages for travel companies to deposit early. Thanks to that, the cost of flights in each tour will be reduced when air tickets are purchased at a good and stable price. “In addition, the parties can coordinate to build new tours, create promotions on the occasion of opening new routes or holidays; cooperate to build tourism products to fill up customers for some flight days, flights with low passenger rates and exploit tourism with charter flights,” Mr. Hoan added.
Proposing to the Government mechanisms and policies to help the aviation industry reduce costs . In order for the cooperation between the tourism and aviation industries to be timely and to solve issues such as reducing airfares effectively, there needs to be a comprehensive linkage plan at the national scale. The senior state management agencies of the two industries need to play the role of “conductor” to create a connection environment between localities, the aviation industry and tourism in a sustainable and harmonious way. According to Mr. Hoang Nhan Chinh, Head of the Secretariat of the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), high airfares affect many industries and local livelihoods. If airfares are resolved, many different problems can be solved. Representing the Tourism Advisory Council research team, Mr. Chinh proposed that
the Government encourage the establishment of new airlines; support tax, fee and price policies. The Government also needs to consider regulations on price ceilings. "It is necessary to apply flexible price ceilings according to fuel prices," Mr. Chinh expressed. Mr. Hoang Nhan Chinh also proposed that the Government support the construction of more aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centers; create favorable conditions for airlines to wet-lease aircraft; encourage foreign investment in Vietnamese aviation; establish a mechanism for the aviation and tourism industries to cooperate. For local authorities, there should be mechanisms and policies to compensate for losses in the aviation industry. Destinations and airlines are committed to maintaining service quality and prices.
According to Mr. Hoang Nhan Chinh, Head of the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB) Secretariat, high airfares affect many industries and local livelihoods.
According to Mr. Hoang Nhan Chinh, the units providing services at the airport, managing and operating flights need to reduce 50% of the price and fee for night flights compared to day flights. "If this can be done, airlines will be able to reduce ticket prices," said Mr. Chinh. Vietnam Airports Corporation should strengthen its operational capacity; airlines should pay for air tickets; airlines should commit to stable prices and quality with travel companies. Finally, the tourism industry should not stand aside and complain but should join hands with airlines to contribute to reducing airfares. According to Mr. Chinh, a rigid mechanism that many hotel businesses apply to check-in and check-out policies causes many tourists to be disadvantaged. “Many international corporations have applied a flexible check-in and check-out policy within 24 hours. Why doesn’t the Vietnamese tourism industry consider having hotel corporations try to introduce this flexible method? Then, tourism will join hands with the aviation industry to apply it, take advantage of night flights with cheap airfares, and have better combo packages,” said Mr. Hoang Nhan Chinh. Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky, Chairman of Viettravel Tourism-Aviation Group, said that the increase in airfares is a common situation globally. “The average world airfare has increased by 17-27%, not just in Vietnam,” said Mr. Ky. According to Mr. Ky, we have no factor that can hold down airfares without the involvement of the Government because the Government is the support and creator for businesses. “I propose that the Government really get involved. The Government has now completed the State Steering Committee on Tourism with the participation of many ministries and sectors. The Government needs to have a real policy mechanism to help the aviation industry reduce costs and have a strategic solution for aviation development,” Mr. Ky expressed. From a business perspective, Mr. Nguyen Cong Hoan, General Director
of Flamingo Redtours shared: “Programs calling on businesses and localities to get involved need to come from a voluntary basis, with appropriate mechanisms. When all parties invest and benefit together, the cooperation will be truly sustainable. In addition, aviation and tourism need to work more closely together within their own industries.” Sharing the same view, Ms. Luong Thi Hoang Lan, Director of Tourism and Resort Business of Sun Group Corporation, suggested: “There needs to be a meeting of 3 parties: locality, tourism and aviation to discuss short-term and long-term cooperation plans on the basis of sharing benefits and responsibilities between the parties. Not only aviation and tourism need to come up with good price policies, but localities also need to offer reasonable incentives (on resorts, transportation, restaurants, etc.) to create conditions for building quality resort programs and combos at preferential prices, including air tickets, hotel rooms and tours”.
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Within the framework of the workshop, a Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony was held to launch domestic tourism during the peak season.
In response to the proposal of aviation enterprises, Mr. Do Hong Cam, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, shared that in order to contribute to solving the high input costs, the Authority suggested that airlines increase the efficiency of using aircraft during the day. Localities also need to have policies to support airlines. Airlines launch promotional programs, adjust ticket prices, and implement a public and transparent ticket price structure according to the law on price ceilings. Within the ticket price range, airlines reserve a range of ticket prices from low to high for people to access tickets that are suitable for their payment level. We must re-evaluate administrative procedures and legal policies to see how they need to be adjusted so that businesses can operate effectively, aiming to meet people's travel needs. “We will sit down with relevant agencies, including the National Tourism Administration, to review the solutions that delegates have proposed at the workshop to analyze the validity of the solutions, consider the basis, resources, and which agency can take the lead to take specific actions. We hope that localities will really pay attention to aviation-tourism connectivity, contributing to supporting aviation to increase flight routes,” said Mr. Cam.
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Comrade Le Quoc Minh, member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, President of the Vietnam Journalists Association delivered a concluding speech at the conference.
Concluding the workshop, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper Le Quoc Minh shared that Vietnam has a lot of tourism potential, but why haven't we attracted it, while neighboring countries are still doing well? Airfares in recent times are only part of the story and there are many other issues related to the story of promoting the tourism industry. However, the connection between the two industries of aviation and tourism is like "two wings of an airplane" and without clear, sustainable, long-term coordination, it is very difficult to promote the tourism industry as well as the aviation industry. At the workshop, with many heated debates, state management agencies, aviation businesses, travel businesses, and localities proposed feasible solutions to recommend to relevant agencies, as well as calling for the initiative of relevant parties to find long-term solutions to remove difficulties for the aviation and tourism industries.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/tim-giai-phap-giam-gia-ve-may-bay-kich-cau-du-lich-viet-nam-post813975.html
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