Tourists choose to buy deeply discounted tours at the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival on April 4.
Must transform to survive
Sharing at the workshop "Transforming tourism business models to keep up with world trends" held on April 4 in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Dang Manh Phuoc, CEO of Outbox Consulting, said that there are currently three main tourism trends including: the intra-bloc tourism market is playing a leading role; the rise of the Asian market and especially the explosion of the independent travel trend.
"Tourists prioritize searching for information for their trips and vacations on online platforms. On the other hand, when AI (artificial intelligence) and the Internet support easier information searching, it makes independent tourism develop even more. This requires tourism businesses to transform to suit the new and developing tourism trends," Mr. Dang Manh Phuoc assessed.
Tourists often choose independent travel because of the convenience of choosing their itinerary, travel time...
From the perspective of travel agencies, Mr. Pham Anh Vu, Director of Communications for Vietnam Tourism, said that tourists currently tend to prefer short-term travel, traveling in small groups of 20 or less, this group of customers has increased by 30 - 50%. These customers often travel individually, independently, most of them choose private vehicles, leading to a decrease in the demand for public transportation (including passenger cars, tourist cars and trains). Accordingly, tourists only book a few services from travel agencies, the rest of the tourists will be proactive and not follow the itinerary of any travel agency.
"The increasing trend of independent travel has caused the role of tourism businesses to decline. Previously, package tours were the mainstay of travel companies, but they need to change in the coming time to adapt to modern trends," Mr. Phan Anh Vu worried.
The trend of independent travel is growing, so tourists often only buy a few individual services from travel agencies.
According to a survey of travel agencies, the new travel trend (self-sufficient travel) of tourists has been changing the business strategy of the travel service industry. Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said that one of the reasons for the increase in self-sufficient travel is the initiative of tourists to adapt to new circumstances, not depending on travel agencies. Not to mention, self-sufficient travel gives tourists free time, comfort, the freedom to depart at a time that suits them, can stop longer or faster at a location if needed, and the level of spending for the trip is completely self-sufficient. Therefore, travel agencies need to grasp this trend to change accordingly.
Changing the way we do business
Mr. Nguyen Chau A, Founder and CEO of Oxalis Adventure, said that inbound tourism (foreign tourists coming to Vietnam) has been following the B2B (business to business) model for many years. Accordingly, tourism businesses design and operate tourism products, while foreign partners are responsible for marketing, sales and collecting customers to send to Vietnamese partners to implement tour programs. The reason why many Vietnamese businesses follow the B2B model is because this method is both simple and cost-effective.
However, the B2B model is cost-effective, but Vietnamese tourism businesses are quite passive in developing new products to introduce to the partner market. Nowadays, the trend of independent travel is increasing, so the B2B model is becoming unsuitable.
]Nowadays, digital travel has brought many new experiences to customers.
"Therefore, to attract independent tourists, businesses need to switch to the B2C inbound tourism model (directly selling tour products). To switch to this model, businesses first need to promote the destination. When the destination brand is strong, it will attract tourists to travel. In addition, businesses need to build products that meet the needs of the target market; build a good brand; build a methodical marketing strategy; and finally build a strong sales force and customer care," added Mr. Nguyen Chau A.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, updating the world's business trends is an urgent need in the era of industry 4.0 for state management agencies and Vietnamese tourism businesses. "To meet the new tourism trend, businesses need to shift to attracting independent tourists in the direction of increasing safety by applying safety standards and procedures suitable for each destination and accommodation facility; increase searching, surveying, and launching new product sets suitable for the market, thereby adjusting tours and routes accordingly. At destinations, it is necessary to develop tourism products associated with enhancing local cultural values; at the same time, focus on promoting digital transformation, shifting to a closer product ecosystem and interacting more with customers on digital platforms," Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa proposed.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, spoke at the workshop on Transforming tourism business models to update world trends.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ho An Phong, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that in the shift to the B2C model, digital transformation plays a vital role. The application of technology and expansion Accessing the market through digital platforms will bring better opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to attract international tourists.
"In the coming time, the Ministry will coordinate with ministries, branches and localities to promote activities, campaigns, promotion and communication of Vietnam's tourism destination brands through digital technology. At the same time, the Ministry will research and develop support mechanisms, invest in building B2C fair and exhibition platforms, improve the quality of B2C tourism promotion information; develop appropriate mechanisms and policies to update the national tourism promotion database... For businesses, it is necessary to pay attention to solutions to increase the attractiveness of traditional tours, design new tour products, effectively use B2C marketing forms, innovate business models, restructure businesses associated with development according to green economy and digital economy", said Mr. Ho An Phong.
According to Mr. Ho An Phong, enterprises are the core force, pioneers leading and creating changes in tourism development, so they need to proactively restructure, innovate models, and appropriate forms of operation and business. "Transformation is a strong transformation process, requiring changes from thinking, awareness, human resources, infrastructure, strategy to technological solutions... Enterprises need to clearly identify solutions, roadmaps, and steps suitable to their conditions and capabilities," Mr. Phong added.
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