The tourism industry is positioning itself on the world tourism map. However, in the recent report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Travel and Tourism Development Index 2024, some tourism indicators of Vietnam are ranked at the bottom.
International tourists to Vietnam.
Are the indicators really objective?
According to WEF, the lowest-scoring index of Vietnam's tourism industry is Tourism Service Infrastructure (2.2 points, ranked 80/119). The index of Priority for Tourism and Travel reached 3.63 points, ranked 98/119. The lowest-ranking index of Vietnam is the socio-economic impact of the tourism industry, reaching 2.95 points, ranked near the bottom of the table at position 115/119.
However, some opinions say that the above rankings do not really accurately assess the capacity of Vietnam's tourism industry. According to AZA Travel CEO Nguyen Tien Dat, the data is mostly based on the final figures of 2023. Meanwhile, many of Vietnam's policies have begun to loosen in recent times. Vietnam needs more time to clearly understand the benefits of the policies. Therefore, many indicators may not accurately reflect the competitiveness of Vietnam's tourism.
Director of the Tourism Information Center (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism) Hoang Quoc Hoa also said that this ranking result does not truly reflect the reality of Vietnam's tourism and the reason may be that WEF has not fully updated the latest statistical data. For example, the index on the level of tourism openness of Vietnam is ranked 80/119, in the low-middle group of the world. This index consists of 4 component indicators, in which the entry visa requirement is assessed based on the report of the World Tourism Organization from 2015. This is too outdated, when Vietnam has made great improvements in visa policy since mid-August 2023.
Or the socio-economic impact index ranked 115/119, which is almost at the bottom, because WEF took data from 2020, 2021, 2022, the period when Vietnam focused almost all its efforts on preventing the Covid-19 pandemic, so it was inevitable that it could not invest or focus on tourism development.
However, many opinions say that the tourism industry needs to look back at itself to overcome and find solutions to "get out of the bottom", aiming to have a more positive ranking.
Extreme racing
Although there are many explanations for the decline, even the "bottom" position in some Tourism and Travel Development Indexes, it cannot be denied that Vietnamese tourism is showing signs of slowing down and starting to reveal weaknesses. In the race with countries in the region, Vietnamese tourism is showing signs of losing steam.
Many travel agencies said that even during the peak tourist season, they are still very “thirsty” for customers. Most international tourists coming to Vietnam travel independently, not buying package tours. They mainly focus on small-scale tourism products such as renting cars, hotels, motels, and tour guides, which do not bring high profits to the business.
In particular, tourism trends have changed a lot in recent years. According to some studies, Vietnam is not yet the most attractive destination for potential markets such as China, Japan, European countries, America, etc. Most Japanese tourists to Vietnam are businessmen on business trips. Although Chinese tourists have grown again after a period of "freezing" due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they have not yet reached the expected numbers.
We have talked about the reasons for this “shortage of breath”. Among them, although infrastructure has been invested significantly, it is still not enough to solve the problem of overloaded aviation, congested roads, and shortage of seaports serving tourists. Next is the number of hotels and standard accommodation facilities in localities that are not commensurate with the growth of tourists. Then the system of rest stops on the way to tourist destinations in Vietnam is still spontaneous and has not been planned synchronously.
According to Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh, we are proud that tourism has grown rapidly, but cannot be compared with countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Korea, Japan, etc. Meanwhile, Dr. Pham Trung Luong - former Deputy Director of the Institute of Tourism Research (National Tourism Administration) said that through the indicators, it shows that Vietnam's tourism industry is facing many difficulties and challenges. Tourism in recent times still has many limitations, not reflecting its inherent potential and strengths. Tourism products are not really attractive and have not achieved a difference in market development.
From there, Mr. Luong proposed to create conditions for domestic and international airlines to open direct flights connecting Vietnam with target markets and potential markets. For the lowest index related to tourism infrastructure, the tourism industry needs to coordinate with related industries to develop tourism technical facilities and service infrastructure, especially accommodation and entertainment facilities. At the same time, it is necessary to promote the development of high-end, branded and internationally competitive resorts in key tourist areas.
According to Lux Group CEO Pham Ha, there are four main criteria for a country's tourism to attract visitors, which are natural landscape, cuisine, culture and people. Therefore, in order for the tourism industry to increase its competitiveness as well as its ranking in the WEF rankings, Vietnam needs to reshape its national tourism promotion strategy. One of them is to become a high-end destination, with services that "please visitors when they arrive and satisfy visitors when they leave". Competitive prices are also a strong point to attract visitors. But instead of reducing prices, we should focus on improving the quality of service so that visitors feel that the money they spend is worth it.
Thus, to truly elevate Vietnamese tourism, a systematic strategy is needed to position the Vietnamese tourism brand on the world map.
The Government Office has issued a document conveying the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai on upgrading the tourism development index. According to the Global Tourism Development Capability Index 2024 report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), many Southeast Asian countries have dropped in rank, of which Vietnam has dropped 3 places compared to 2021. Regarding this issue, the Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and relevant ministries and agencies to research, review, evaluate and clarify the reasons for the drop in Vietnam's tourism development index, have appropriate and effective solutions to upgrade the tourism development index as well as attract international tourists; report to the Prime Minister before June 30, 2024.
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