Since the beginning of the year, Phuong has participated in races in several provinces and cities and every time she takes the opportunity to travel to the place where the race is held.
Ho Le Anh Phuong, 27, a construction worker in Ho Chi Minh City, said that since the beginning of the year he has participated in four races in Da Lat, Quy Nhon and Ho Chi Minh City. He has also run in Con Dao, Ben Tre, Can Gio and Vung Tau. Each time, Phuong "takes the opportunity to go out and explore local tourism" before or after the race.
According to Outbox, a travel market research company, the activity of combining tourism with participation in a running competition is called race-cation, a combination of the words "race" and "vacation". This is a new type of tourism, a type of sports tourism, in which tourists spend their vacations participating in amateur competitions.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) defines sports tourism as actively or passively involving the travel experience of participating in or observing a competitive sporting event, held at a specific venue.
Ho Le Anh Phuong participated in a trail race in Da Lat in March. Photo: NVCC
According to Outbox, race-cation visitors and regular tourists have "different motivations for visiting destinations". Regular tourists want to visit a destination for fun, sightseeing and relaxation, while race-cation visitors choose a destination because of the sporting events there. They want to participate in sports events to challenge themselves and improve their health, and then consider traveling.
In addition to the purpose of improving health, there are many other factors that help motivate tourists to seek out the trend of combining tourism with participation in sports competitions. Some people participate for "fun", some people want to improve their personal achievements, enjoy the scenery, experience at the tournament venue or people with the habit of trekking and hiking want to "change the wind".
For Hoang Phong, a 27-year-old engineer in Ho Chi Minh City, running somewhere is a form of "healthy travel" with his family on the weekend. "The trips combined with marathons help me both train my body and visit the destination," Phong said. So far, he has participated in three marathons.
At the Vietnam Race-cation conference, held within the framework of the Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Fair 2023, experts commented that one of the notable behavioral characteristics of Vietnamese tourists this year is the search for health values and mental balance when traveling. This trend has a market-shaping effect, especially after the pandemic, health tourism has been more clearly and widely accepted.
In 2023, Vietnam will have more than 35 large-scale races, attracting about 190,000 participants. Mr. Ngo Manh Cuong, representative of the Organizing Committee of VnExpress Marathon, one of the 5 races with over 10,000 participants, said the race was first held in Quy Nhon in June 2019. After 4 years, the race has expanded to 6 provinces and cities including Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, Hue, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Ha Long. In 2023, the race was held in 5 provinces and cities. At each destination, the race is expected to promote products, cuisine, and tourism services to participants, boosting the local economy.
According to a survey conducted by Outbox in August, nearly 45% of respondents said they often combine travel with marathons outside their home country. Race-cation trips usually last 2-3 days. Costs range from 5 to 10 million VND, including items such as accommodation at the destination, transportation, sports accessories, technology, sportswear, health supplements and entertainment activities outside of the race. Accommodation is the most spent item. Race-cation guests tend to travel with family or in groups. This creates a ripple effect in spending, bringing revenue to the destination.
However, race-cation is still quite new in Vietnam. Mr. Le Truong Hien Hoa, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said that the city has many advantages to develop sports tourism products. The group of potential race-cation customers, aged 25-27, is concentrated. The city's tourism businesses are active, making it easy to carry out promotional activities. Accommodation services meet both quantity and quality to serve sports competitions. However, there is currently no travel company in Ho Chi Minh City exploiting combos and tours to participate in the race.
Meanwhile, sports tourism is identified as one of the seven pillars of Ho Chi Minh City's tourism industry. Mr. Hoa said that Ho Chi Minh City is oriented to develop according to the "event within the event" model to attract visitors and increase tourism service revenue. Specifically, the race can be organized within the framework of the tourism week, with many other activities and festivals surrounding it. Tourists participating in the race can stay to have fun and experience. In addition to marathons, Ho Chi Minh City is developing golf tourism products and aiming to expand cycling races.
Mr. Phuoc Dang, CEO of Outbox, commented that the running movement in Vietnam is developing very quickly due to the regular organization of running races. However, "anything that is a movement will pass". The issue of concern is that parties from destinations, race organizers to tourism businesses effectively take advantage of the blooming time to shape the brand of professional running races and create the premise for future sports-related tourism activities to attract domestic and foreign tourists.
"It is not necessary to organize a race in a famous location to attract customers. To make a race-cation a sustainable attraction, it requires cooperation from many parties from the destination, the race organizer, to tourism businesses," said Mr. Phuoc.
With no tours related to races, Mr. Phong often has to follow news from running groups and communities on Facebook to register to buy tickets. Each ticket ranges from 450,000 to more than 2 million VND depending on the distance of the race. However, after buying the tickets, he still has to "design a tour" for his family.
"Having tours or combos including airfare, hotel rooms and race tickets will be convenient for race participants, reducing the steps of planning before the trip," said Mr. Phong.
Bich Phuong - Van Khanh
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