Changing the structure of the international tourist market to Quang Nam - Part 1: "Special case" of Vietnam tourism

Europe is a traditional tourist market of Hoi An. In the photo: Leaders of Quang Nam province and Hoi An city welcome the Italian delegation to visit Hoi An in 2025. Photo: QUOC TUAN

LESSON 1: “SPECIAL CASE” OF VIETNAM TOURISM

The simple but attractive beauty of the land and people of Quang Nam , especially the cultural and heritage values, has helped the locality become a "special case" in the country when attracting more international visitors than domestic visitors.

"Magnet" attracting international visitors

Compared to many key localities in tourism development across the country, the Quang Nam tourism brand may be “born later”. The Quang Nam tourism industry only really had a breakthrough leverage in 1999 when Hoi An Ancient Town and My Son Sanctuary were recognized by UNESCO as World Cultural Heritage.

As the only locality in the country that owns 2 world cultural heritages (even up to now), in a relatively short time, Quang Nam has advanced very quickly to regularly be in the top 5 provinces and cities that welcome the most international visitors in Vietnam from 2010 to present.

According to the annual report of Vietnam tourism industry, in 2019 Quang Nam ranked 4th in the country in welcoming international visitors (with more than 4.6 million arrivals), only behind Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Quang Ninh. On average, out of every 100 international visitors to Vietnam, about 25 will visit Quang Nam.

Mr. Nguyen Le Phuc - Deputy Director of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said: "Reality has proven that Quang Nam tourism always holds an important position, contributing significantly to the success of Vietnam tourism in recent years."

Having overcome the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Quang Nam is still considered one of the few destinations with the best recovery rate of international visitors in Vietnam. Photo: QUOC TUAN

After overcoming the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Quang Nam is still considered one of the few destinations with the best international tourist recovery rate in Vietnam.

In 2024, Quang Nam will welcome about 5.5 million international visitors - the highest number the province has ever achieved. Quang Nam, especially Hoi An, is one of the few familiar names in Vietnamese tourism that is regularly honored in prestigious tourism rankings on a global scale.

The interesting point that makes Quang Nam tourism different is that the structure of international visitors is higher than domestic visitors. According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, except for the period 2020 - 2022 when the COVID-19 pandemic affected international visitors to Vietnam, causing a sharp decline, almost every year international visitors always account for 55-60% of the total tourist structure of Quang Nam.

Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Trung Luong - former Deputy Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, Vice President of the Vietnam Tourism Training Association said: "All other provinces and cities have a structure of international visitors lower than domestic visitors, only Quang Nam has the opposite, this is very special".

Number of international visitors to Quang Nam over the years:

2010: 1.17 million visits; 2015: 1.4 million visits; 2019: 4.6 million visits; 2023: 3.9 million visits; 2024: 5.5 million visits.

The fact that international visitors outnumber domestic visitors in Quang Nam started around 2016, when in that year international visitors accounted for about 2.3 million out of nearly 4 million visitors to Quang Nam (about 57%). This ratio even reached 68% in 2024.

Referring to statistics, Quang Nam is the only locality with this structure. Provinces and cities with the best proportion of international visitors in the total structure such as Da Nang City only reached 37% or Khanh Hoa reached about 42%.

Mr. Nguyen Son Thuy - Vice Chairman of Quang Nam Tourism Association, Director of Duy Nhat Dong Duong Tourism Service Company Limited said that the COVID-19 epidemic is also a "test" of the attractiveness of the destination. While many major destinations in Vietnam struggled for a long time after the epidemic passed, Hoi An in particular and Quang Nam in general quickly recovered an incredible number of international visitors.

“The special feature of Quang Nam tourism, most clearly shown in Hoi An, is that the whole community, “every corner” can do tourism, not just mainly relying on big international brands. This is a sustainable factor to attract visitors,” said Mr. Thuy.

There are signs of saturation.

In terms of pure number of visitors, Quang Nam is still achieving good growth momentum in attracting international visitors (in 2024, it increased by 20% compared to 2023). However, the accompanying revenue from tourism is not commensurate, a reality that has existed for many years.

Quang Nam is the only locality in Vietnam where the ratio of international visitors is higher than domestic visitors. In the photo: International visitors visit My Son Sanctuary. Photo: QUOC TUAN

Total revenue from tourism and accommodation (statistics that are easier to quantify than social income from tourism) of Quang Nam in 2024 will only reach about 9,200 billion VND. At the macro level, there are many different perspectives on tourism statistics between provinces and cities, but in summary, tourism revenue of Quang Nam is often outside the top 10 largest localities in Vietnam.

More specifically, a survey result conducted in the project to establish Cu Lao Cham Nature Reserve recently showed that the average income of occupations directly related to tourism in Cu Lao Cham such as: homestay, tour guide, passenger boat, souvenir seller... is only about 30-50% compared to the time with the highest income (around 2018 - 2019).

During working sessions related to My Son (a destination with about 90% of international visitors), provincial leaders repeatedly mentioned that the number of visitors to this heritage is still modest; accompanying services are too monotonous, causing revenue to not be commensurate with the great value of the heritage.

Hoi An City leaders acknowledged that the products associated with Hoi An tourism brand are still mainly limited to walking streets, lanterns, a day as a farmer, etc. Photo: QUOC TUAN

Mr. Dang Manh Phuoc - CEO of Outbox Consulting Company (a unit specializing in providing tourism industry data) commented: "Quang Nam is among the top localities in Vietnam welcoming international visitors, however, tourism revenue is quite low. This is a matter worth pondering, it is necessary to soon have solutions to improve the product value chain to increase the contribution of the tourism industry to local socio-economic development".

The most attractive destination of Quang Nam and the number one destination in Vietnam for international visitors, Hoi An, is no exception. Although the number of international visitors to Hoi An has maintained good growth over the years, the average number of days of stay and the level of spending of visitors have not increased. The average number of days of stay of visitors in Quang Nam in general and Hoi An in particular has almost "stagnated" after decades (about more than 2.1 days/visitor).

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Trung Luong, the contribution of tourism to Quang Nam's GRDP in 2023 has reached about 11.6%, but the sustainability of this index cannot be confirmed.

“The worrying thing is that Quang Nam tourism destinations have not changed much recently, which will affect tourism demand. When tourism products reach saturation point without change, they will inevitably decline,” Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Trung Luong shared.

Worrying signs also appear in some international honors for Hoi An, such as "Hoi An becomes the world's cheapest popular destination for British tourists in 2024" according to the Holiday Money 2024 report published by the British Post Office.

Mr. Nguyen Van Son - Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee acknowledged that the products associated with Hoi An tourism brand are still mainly around walking streets, lanterns, a day as a farmer... and have shown signs of saturation, gradually losing their appeal compared to before. "If we do not resolutely implement synchronous solutions, especially for the destination of Hoi An Ancient Town, there is a risk that Hoi An will lose the high-spending international tourist market that once came to Hoi An in large numbers" - Mr. Son said.

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Lesson 2: Shifts in Asian and Northeast Asian tourist flows

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/xoay-chuyen-co-cau-thi-truong-khach-quoc-te-den-quang-nam-bai-1-truong-hop-dac-biet-cua-du-lich-viet-nam-3153256.html