To attract billionaires to Vietnam, the organizer spends $150,000 to enter a niche market and waits five years for an exchange in the US.
The recent trip to Da Nang by American billionaire Bill Gates has attracted great attention from the media and the Vietnamese tourism industry. Responding to VnExpress , Nguyen Duc Hanh, CEO of All Asia Vacation, the unit that organized the trip for the billionaire, said that after more than 20 years of operating in the niche market specializing in serving high-end customers, the company has welcomed many super-rich customers around the world, from Hollywood stars, singers, to tennis legends, CEOs of leading technology corporations. There are no specific statistics on the number of companies serving this market in the world as well as in Vietnam. However, Mr. Hanh estimated that only about 1% of travel companies follow this path.
A group of super-rich guests enjoy a private dinner at a resort in Ha Giang in 2022. Photo: Photo: All Asia Vacation
The company's focus on a niche market, serving billionaires, comes from the 80/20 principle that is common in life and business. 20% of the largest customers will generate 80% of the revenue, while 80% of the world's wealth belongs to the richest 1% of the population, according to the anti-poverty organization Oxfam in 2017.
Mr. Hanh said the average spending of high-end guests is from 500 USD per person per day, with some guests spending up to 15,000 USD.
However, reaching them is extremely difficult because the super-rich do not directly appear. All Asia Vacation has to find ways to approach the managers and personal experts of billionaires to introduce products. The most time-consuming approach, which took up to 5 years, was to a high-end travel company based in the US. To join the community managed by this company, the initial fee to pay is about 150,000 USD, not including other annual fees. Even though they paid the fee to join, they had to wait up to 5 years for the partner to arrange an appointment, thereby opening up opportunities to approach more potential customers.
Approaching customers is difficult, creating a tourism product for them is even more difficult. Mr. Hanh said that the programs must be "tailored" according to the customer's own preferences. The most difficult "tailored" case he ever did was in April 2017 for one of the four richest people in Canada.
The group of 11 people wanted to relax in Da Nang before going to Quang Binh to conquer Son Doong Cave. At that time, they faced two problems. First, the billionaire guests did not have time to sit in a car for 6 hours to travel from Da Nang to Quang Binh. Second, the waiting list to explore Son Doong was full for a year, so it was impossible to book a schedule with the operator at that time. Mr. Hanh said that super-rich guests often do not have the habit of waiting or booking services early. They like to make last-minute travel decisions and are willing to spend a lot to have the experiences they want.
Helicopters take the company's guests from the northern mountainous region to the airport in 2024. Photo: All Asia Vacation
After discussing, they came up with a solution to use a seaplane to fly from Da Nang to Quang Binh, shortening the time from 6 hours to 1 hour. Initially, the seaplane provider refused because "there is no such route". However, with much effort, a new flight was created, serving the group of 11 people.
The seaplane flew low, so on the journey from Da Nang to Quang Binh, the billionaire and his friends were able to admire the beautiful nature along the Vietnamese coastline. The Son Doong issue was easier to solve when the company convinced the relevant parties to arrange a private tour for the group.
"Nothing is impossible. Saying no means closing the door between you and your customers," Mr. Hanh said about his efforts to meet the demands of super-rich customers.
Tourist destinations in Vietnam are no longer new to international visitors. Therefore, they have to find ways to "renew old wine in old bottles". For example, with Ha Long Bay, a wealthy customer can easily book the most expensive cruise to experience a night on the bay. Billionaires like their experiences to be unique.
Ha Long Bay has many beautiful beaches but they are not used for many reasons, including safety issues. When the tide is high, some beaches are submerged. Tourists are mainly allowed to go to Ti Top beach. Super-rich tourists certainly do not accept such crowded, mass places.
To create a unique experience, the organizers asked the relevant authorities for permission to use a pristine beach at low tide. They held a party on the beach and cleaned up after it was over. The next morning, when the billionaire woke up on his yacht, he found the beach where he had held the party the day before was underwater.
“Creativity is especially important in this industry,” he said.
Although trips are carefully planned down to the last detail, mistakes can still happen. Mr. Hanh said he once designed a cooking class for a VIP couple at a famous chef's house in Hoi An after experiencing and evaluating it himself. In fact, the guests really liked it but commented that the chef's house was too large, making them feel "lost".
Mistakes are acceptable but should not be repeated and circumstances should never be blamed, according to Mr. Hanh. Once, they organized a tour for guests to fly by helicopter from Hanoi to Sa Pa and from Sa Pa to Ha Giang. The Hanoi to Sa Pa leg went well, but when flying from Sa Pa to Ha Giang, the foggy weather prevented the helicopter from taking off.
"You can't blame the weather," Hanh said, adding that a trip for a super-rich guest always has at least two backup plans. In this case, the organizer must switch to luxury cars and add special services and experiences to "compensate."
After many years of serving super-rich customers, Mr. Hanh believes that Vietnam has many advantages to attract them, especially in terms of landscape, culture and friendliness of the people. He revealed that many billionaires prefer to experience Vietnam's sidewalk culture rather than using high-end services.
"Their bedrooms are even bigger than the presidential suite in a 5-star hotel. They came to Vietnam because they love its unique culture," said Mr. Hanh.
However, Vietnam still has many areas that need improvement, such as the lack of direct flights. The super-rich from North America who want to come to Vietnam mostly have to transit, which is tiring. Unfavorable visa policies also cause obstacles. In some cases that require creativity, such as flying from Da Nang to Quang Binh, paperwork procedures are still difficult.
Mr. Hanh hopes that Vietnam will focus more on the group of customers with high spending capacity and quality criteria, instead of just focusing on the number of international visitors. Bhutan is an example, willing to charge tourists 200 USD per night to "compensate for the impact of visitors on the environment". However, to do this, according to him, the entire Vietnamese tourism industry needs to improve quality and that is not a matter of one day or two.
Tu Nguyen
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