Domestic tourism 'reigns' in search trends for destinations

Tourists experience strawberry picking during a tour of Da Lat, one of the top searched destinations in 2024 – Photo: QUANG DINH

Google has just announced the Google Year In Search 2024 list (featured searches of the year) based on Vietnamese people's search trends in 7 typical topics, including tourism.

8 outstanding tourist attractions

Eight domestic tourist destinations appeared in the “Travel” topic, showing that users are increasingly interested in domestic tourism, reflecting the growth potential of Vietnam’s tourism industry.

According to Google, Vietnamese people tend to search for information about places with unique natural landscapes that bring peace and relaxation such as Vinh Hy Bay, Hoi An Ancient Town, and Con Son Can Tho community tourism village.

For foreign destinations, “Malaysia travel” and “Europe travel” are the two keywords that made it to the list, ranking in the top 1 and top 6 respectively.

The topic of “travel” shows that Vietnamese people’s demand for travel is still growing despite the general impact of the economy. The frequency of searches for destinations, air tickets, hotels or tours also partly reflects the positive recovery of the industry.

In 2023, among the top 10 destinations with prominent search trends, 5 domestic tourist destinations that Vietnamese tourists searched for were not in big cities but were more about nature tourism, including "Ha Giang Tourism", "Can Tho Tourism", "Phu Quoc Tourism", "Con Phung Tourism" and "Buon Ma Thuot Tourism".

Over the past year, with the complete development of road infrastructure and highways, Vietnamese people tend to prioritize domestic travel. In addition, package tour services and individual services from travel companies for domestic tours also help people easily plan their trips.

Vietnamese people change the way they travel

In 2024, many tourism stimulus policies were implemented with positive results. According to a survey by Vietnam Report, the percentage of consumers willing to increase their spending on tourism has increased significantly, reaching 48.1%, compared to only 27.6% in 2023. This is an impressive improvement, reflecting the strong recovery trend of this industry and changes in consumer behavior.

Travelers increasingly prefer independent travel, traveling in small groups or alone to personalize their schedules and enjoy more flexible, in-depth experiences.

In addition to changing forms of travel, the choice of means of transport also clearly shows the need for increased experiences. While previously airplanes were a popular choice for long journeys, now many tourists are switching to using personal vehicles such as self-driving cars.

Up to 46.8% of domestic tourists prioritize personal vehicles to increase initiative, freedom and comfort, instead of depending on planes, trains or buses as before.

For international tourists coming to Vietnam, the demand for package tours is decreasing significantly. Instead, they often plan their own trips, book air tickets, rent a car and freely explore each locality according to their own schedule.

Entering 2025, the tourism industry is not only expected to be a year of recovery but also a time for the entire industry to transform more strongly, towards sustainable development.

This expectation is clearly reflected in the survey results of Vietnam Report when up to 71.4% of businesses expressed confidence in a more positive picture in 2025.

The basis for the above expectation is that the Vietnamese tourism industry aims to welcome 25-28 million international visitors and 130 million domestic visitors, directly contributing 8-9% to GDP and becoming the world's leading attractive tourist destination.

Google releases its “Year of Searches” list of Internet searches at the end of each year based on billions of searches during that year.

In addition to the Year in Search list, which highlights the top search trends of the year, the platform also says it has a number of other tools that provide an overview of past and present search trends in the region, or globally.

The One Year Search Engine does not identify the identity of the person searching for the queries, because it uses an anonymous aggregate algorithm, based on the number of searches for that same query.

These tools can always be accessed at any time, helping people in need to search and exploit the information they need, at: google.com.vn/trends.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/du-lich-noi-dia-len-ngoi-trong-xu-huong-tim-kiem-ve-diem-den-20241214175350327.htm