Tourism accelerates soon

Never before have overseas Vietnamese bought so many tours!

"Unusual" is the word that Ms. Doan Thi Thanh Tra, Marketing and Communications Director of Saigontourist Travel Company, used to describe the number of overseas Vietnamese customers who registered to book services through this company during the Lunar New Year this year. The number of overseas Vietnamese customers booking tours before Tet accounted for 80% of the total number of customers of Saigontourist Travel Company. After Tet, 60% of customers were also overseas Vietnamese.

Overseas Vietnamese returning home for Tet enter the country at Tan Son Nhat airport (HCMC). The number of overseas Vietnamese booking tours before Tet this year has increased dramatically.

"Never before has the company recorded such a large number of overseas Vietnamese, surpassing the period of 2017 - 2018 before the pandemic. In fact, Saigontourist Travel has always had a loyal group of overseas Vietnamese customers, from middle-aged to elderly. When they return to the country, they will "automatically" buy our tours. However, the company also determined that this group will become older and older, the number of people returning to Vietnam will gradually decrease, the younger generation will have new options or prioritize independent travel. Therefore, the fact that the number of overseas Vietnamese customers this year has increased so sharply, and there are many young people, including the second generation, traveling with older uncles and aunts, really surprised us," Ms. Tra shared.

According to a representative of Saigontourist Travel, overseas Vietnamese often choose long tours, at least 5 days, and can last up to 8-10 days. They focus on tours to visit, explore culture, and experience routes in the Central region (Da Nang, Hue, Hoi An, etc.) and the North (Ninh Binh, Quang Ninh, the Northwestern provinces, etc.).

These are usually package tours with quite high costs, not including the cost of buying souvenirs. Unlike domestic or international visitors, each overseas Vietnamese visitor returning to Vietnam for Tet must buy at least 2 tours. Before Tet, they may go to the Southwest region, during or after Tet, they go to the Central and Northern regions and often travel in family groups including relatives.

"The current trend is that overseas Vietnamese do not only return home during Tet but also return sporadically throughout the year. When returning to Vietnam, they prefer to buy tours from reputable companies and join other overseas Vietnamese groups. Therefore, Saigontourist Travel is also building separate products for this group of customers, serving them all year round," said a representative of Saigontourist Travel.

Vietluxtour Travel Joint Stock Company also recorded a good growth in the number of overseas Vietnamese buying Tet tours and is considered to be a surprise factor for the first peak tourist season of this year. Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu, Communications Director of Vietluxtour Travel Joint Stock Company, informed: The overseas Vietnamese customers of this unit belong to the middle-class family market, interested in and booking resort services at 4-5 star resorts. They only rest, do not have a need to visit much. This is the "niche" that travel companies are focusing on exploiting in the context of economic difficulties, families cutting their travel budgets.

Introducing images of Ho Chi Minh City

"Supporting" businesses welcoming overseas Vietnamese, this year, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese in coordination with the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee organized the Homeland Spring program in Ho Chi Minh City after a 7-year suspension. The program took place on February 1 and 2 (ie December 22 and 23 of the year of the Cat).

Within the framework of the program, President Vo Van Thuong and his wife will preside over a number of meaningful activities with overseas Vietnamese such as: Flower and incense offering ceremony to President Ho Chi Minh and President Ton Duc Thang; traditional carp releasing ceremony on Ong Cong - Ong Tao Tet holiday. In particular, Ho Chi Minh City will organize for overseas Vietnamese to experience metro line No. 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien) designed as a tourism program, along with many city tours to introduce to overseas Vietnamese an image of a city that is gradually developing, "changing its skin" every day.

International visitors flock to Vietnam

Not only busy preparing for the upcoming Lunar New Year peak season, since the beginning of the year, the tourism ecosystem has begun to bustle and bustle to welcome international visitors.

Notably, Phu Quoc's impressive "comeback" is worth mentioning. Originally considered a destination with a "failed" 2023, since the end of 2023, the pearl island has recorded a sudden increase in the number of visitors, especially international visitors. On average, Phu Quoc welcomes from 2,000 to more than 2,500 international visitors per day, of which Korean visitors account for more than 50%. In particular, the launching event of Cau Hon and the entertainment complex in Hoang Hon Sunset Town invested by Sun Group in Phu Quoc during the festival season has brought a jubilant and vibrant atmosphere to Phu Quoc in the last days of 2023.

Thanks to that, on the occasion of New Year 2024, Kien Giang welcomed more than 120,000 visitors for entertainment and relaxation, of which international visitors reached over 15,000. Room occupancy rate at tourist accommodation establishments reached 63.2%, total tourism revenue reached 369 billion VND.

Up to now, after only nearly 1 month of operation, Phu Quoc's first night market by the sea has been compared to a Western street with the witty comparison that "each square meter has up to 10 international visitors". "The atmosphere here is always bustling. From colorful signs, to music, games, shows. Here, we can drink beer, listen to live music and dance until late at night. I have been here for 3 consecutive days, this place is always fun", tourist Alexander, from France, excitedly shared while dancing with friends to the music at Gion Bar.

Vietnam is attracting a large number of cruise ship passengers.

In Ho Chi Minh City, in the days leading up to Tet, the streets are not only brilliant with yellow, green, pink, and red from the flowing ao dai of women showing off their beauty for spring photos, but are also bustling with groups of Western tourists scattered all over the streets. In the row of hotels along Ly Tu Trong, Le Anh Xuan, Le Thanh Ton streets... (around District 1), from 7am you can see families and couples of foreign guests leisurely sitting and drinking coffee right in front of the hotel lobby. Inside Ben Thanh market, many stalls selling food, candy, coffee, clothes, and accessories are bustling with international customers, mainly Indian, Korean, Japanese, and European customers.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said that during the recent New Year holiday, there were about 46,528 international visitors to the city, an increase of 86.1% compared to the 25,000 arrivals in the same period in 2023. In particular, the group of cruise passengers - high-end tourists from Europe, America, Australia, Japan... is growing very well.

In recent days, Saigontourist Travel has continuously welcomed many international cruise ships to Vietnam, stopping at seaports across the country and experiencing cross-Vietnam journeys. Yesterday morning (January 21), 3,000 multinational tourists on the super yacht Celebrity Solstice visited Vietnam. After docking at Phu My port, the group of guests participated in journeys to explore Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces organized by Saigontourist Travel.

In Ho Chi Minh City, cruise ship groups often choose to visit cultural and historical sites, cycle around the city to learn about the vibrant life, and experience cultural, entertainment and shopping activities. It is expected that in the following months of the first quarter cruise tourism season, this unit will serve 42 cruise ships, bringing cargo and cruise ship passengers to Vietnam.

Year of tourism acceleration

In summary, in 2023, the tourism industry was pleased to achieve and exceed the target of welcoming tourists set at the beginning of the year, especially international visitors reaching 12.6 million, nearly 3.5 times higher than in 2022. Along with the impressive recovery in the number of visitors, the domestic tourism market has increased by 1,175 international travel businesses, 3,709 tour guides and about 3,000 tourist accommodation establishments compared to 2022.

In 2024, Vietnam aims to welcome about 17 - 18 million international visitors, serve 110 million domestic tourists; total revenue from tourists reaches about 840,000 billion VND. In the most ideal conditions, if the figure reaches 18 million, the tourism industry will be considered to have fully recovered, returning to the record level of 2019.

Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Trung Khanh said that after nearly 2 years of implementing recovery measures, Vietnam's tourism is growing. Many localities have seen strong growth in the number of visitors; Vietnam's tourism industry has been honored to receive many prestigious international awards with 19 world-leading awards and 54 Asian-leading awards presented by the World Travel Awards (WTA). "With the achievements in 2023, 2024 will be the time for tourism to accelerate and increase its competitiveness with countries in the region," Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh expected.

Entering 2024, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the global tourism industry still faces many difficulties and challenges, especially in the context of the world situation continuing to develop unpredictably; economic growth slowing down, inflation continuing to increase; conflicts in regions showing no signs of cooling down, climate change becoming more and more evident...

According to the forecast of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), international tourism activities could fully recover by the end of 2024, equal to the level achieved in 2019. However, the recovery level is uneven across regions.

Assessing that 2024 will have many positive and bright signals for the international tourist market, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sun Group Dang Minh Truong expressed his belief that Resolution 82 of the Government (issued in May 2023) on the main tasks and solutions to accelerate recovery and accelerate effective and sustainable tourism development will continue to be a boost for Vietnamese tourism to attract more foreign tourists. In addition, the image of Vietnamese tourism continues to be highly appreciated internationally. In recent times, Vietnam has continuously won prestigious and prestigious tourism awards, typically the World Travel Awards. Many destinations in Vietnam are increasingly appreciated by the international community.

"According to a recent announcement by Travel Lemming - an online travel guide website, Phu Quoc pearl island ranked 6th in the top 50 tourist destinations in 2024. The famous American travel website Travel Off Path also recently published an article stating the reasons why Vietnam is increasingly becoming a favorite destination for "digital nomads" with its open visa policy. The Marriage Proposal event officially launched after a long wait along with many other high-class tourism projects and products such as La Festa hotel, VuiFest night market, Kiss of The Sea Show... also became the focus of public opinion and initially made an impression on the international tourism community. We can expect that international visitors will know and visit Vietnam more in 2024 as well as in the future," said Mr. Truong.

Vietnam aviation recovers impressively

Outbox Company (Outbox) - a market research and tourism data analysis company - has just released an analysis report "Vietnam Tourism Landscape 2024". The report forecasts that international passenger traffic to Vietnam will increase in 2024.

According to the report, Vietnam's aviation industry has made an impressive recovery after the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions at home and abroad, and is expected to be the fifth fastest growing aviation market globally by 2035. In addition, despite challenges in 2022 and rising operating costs in 2023, Vietnam's hotel industry has shown resilience. Typically, occupancy rates and underlying performance are trending upwards, which is considered a positive outlook for 2024. Along with that, the hotel trade is still going strong and the hotel investment market is fully recovering.

With the above signals, the tourism landscape in 2024 is developing according to key trends such as tourism segments suitable for personal experiences, health, ecology, sports... will have high demand.

SOURCE: NATIONAL TOURISM OFFICE - GRAPHICS: BAO NGUYEN

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