Play an important role in the green economy
According to the World Tourism Organization, sports tourism plays a major role in the green economy, with an estimated value of around $800 billion globally. In some countries, sports tourism contributes nearly 30% of total tourism revenue.
That is why in recent years, many countries have exploited sporting events as key products to attract tourists. For example, in August 2023, the Women's World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand generated more than 570 million USD in revenue. The 19th Asian Games held in China (September 2023) generated more than 85 million USD in revenue and received 623 million USD in sponsorship.
According to the National Tourism Administration, in the past 5-7 years, Vietnam has started to promote sports tourism products. Typically, some tours are designed to be sold with grassroots running competitions and recently, tours organized by travel companies for Vietnamese people to go abroad to watch the Vietnamese team compete.
In fact, to exploit this type of tourism, in recent times in Vietnam, the number of sports tournaments has increased, attracting a large number of sports lovers. Typical ones include the VnExpress Amazing Marathon, Ha Long Heritage Marathon; Da Lat Ultra Trail; motorcycle and off-road car racing in Ha Giang; climbing to conquer Fansipan peak, cycling race "One race, two countries" in Lao Cai...
Hanoi alone has a number of annual sports tournaments that can be linked to tourism activities such as the Hanoi International Badminton Tournament, the Hanoi Moi Newspaper Run - For Peace. In addition, Hanoi also hosts a number of international sports events of Asian and Southeast Asian stature, or a number of golf tournaments that create a playground for international tourists...
Talking about the benefits that sports bring to the tourism industry, General Director of Flamingo Redtours Nguyen Cong Hoan said that sports tourism is a specialized product line, so compared to regular tours, the organizer needs to have expertise in both travel and certain knowledge about sports such as tournament regulations, registration methods, etc., thereby advising customers to participate in activities suitable for their health.
As a unit that has been operating cycling tours connecting the inner city with the suburbs of Hanoi for many years, to the localities of Ninh Binh, Quang Ninh, Lao Cai... Director of Vietfoot Travel Pham Duy Nghia informed that this type of tourism also brings new feelings to tourists when exploring the beauty of culture, nature combined with sports.
Need connection
Although sports tourism has great potential to attract tourists, to do this requires the sports industry to closely link with tourism in promoting events and building unique tours.
According to Lux Group Chairman Pham Ha, in order to turn sports into a key product of Vietnamese tourism, it is important to have thorough research and long-term orientation to build and upgrade infrastructure in a professional and modern direction.
At the same time, there is a strategy to promote events to increase the opportunity to host many international sporting events. But the important thing is to have coordination between the tourism and sports industries, so that the products are not only for Vietnamese tourists but also bring a vibrant, hospitable image to international tourists.
Agreeing with this opinion, Director of Vplus Vietnam Tourism and Events Joint Stock Company Nguyen Duc Anh shared that in the process of building tours, businesses face difficulties due to limited information about international sporting events, so they cannot proactively build tours or connect with event organizers. This leads to a situation where by the time they know about the event, it is about to take place, making it difficult for businesses to build tours.
“To effectively exploit sporting events, travel businesses need to create an information mechanism with the sports management agency to grasp the event schedule as soon as possible, thereby linking together to build suitable products,” Mr. Anh stated.
From an expert perspective, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh informed that the interests of international tourists with this type of tourism are not the same. If Korean tourists like to play golf, European and American tourists like to go to the forest and conquer difficult roads, Japanese tourists like to experience local culture...
Therefore, to attract customers, businesses need to design tours that include different activities, not just sports tourism. But to do this, event organizers need to find travel businesses to create rich product packages, helping athletes and their relatives have the best experience when coming to Vietnam.
In order for tourism and sports to "join hands" to attract visitors, Vice President of the Vietnam Tourism Association Phung Quang Thang suggested that in the coming time, localities need to create open procedures in granting licenses to organize sports tournaments to serve tourism and promote destinations. At the same time, socialize the organization of tournaments in the direction of encouraging travel companies to form alliances to sell products related to sports tourism. On the other hand, the sports industry should promote activities to promote events, landscapes, and Vietnamese culture, thereby attracting visitors to Vietnam.
On the part of the State management agency, Director of the Hanoi Department of Tourism Dang Huong Giang affirmed that the department will create maximum conditions as well as open up many opportunities for tourism businesses and sports event organizers to discuss and agree on exploitation methods. From there, Vietnam tourism in general, and Hanoi in particular, will continue to be an attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourists.
Thus, to exploit sports tourism into a key product, it is necessary to have the coordination of management agencies, localities, service establishments and relevant parties in investing in exploiting this type of tourism.
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