After the "rain" of awards, what does tourism get?

Vietnam tourism is regularly honored with a series of awards, but to attract more international visitors to come and return, more is needed...

At the 2024 World MICE Awards alone, Vietnam received 3 awards, including: Asia's Leading Heritage Destination, Asia's Leading Nature Destination, Asia's Leading Destination.

Ho Chi Minh City won both Asia's Leading MICE Destination and Asia's Leading Incentive Travel Destination, and ITE HCMC was named Asia's Best Trade Show. A host of cities, destinations, hotels, travel companies, and airlines were also honored.

Along with the World MICE Awards, many destinations across the country and Vietnam have also been honored by international organizations, media agencies, magazines, and travel websites such as CNN, Tripadvisor, Travel & Leisure, The Travel, etc. for their cuisine, destinations, and landscapes.

These awards contribute to promoting tourism of each locality and the whole country to international friends. According to the General Statistics Office, in the first 9 months of 2024, the country welcomed more than 12.7 million international visitors, a sharp increase of 43% over the same period last year. This figure is encouraging compared to the recovery efforts of the Vietnamese tourism industry after the COVID-19 pandemic, but compared to other countries in the region, it is still far behind.

For example, Thailand, a direct competitor to Vietnam, aims to welcome 36-38 million international visitors this year; Malaysia also wants to welcome 26 million visitors...

Attracting visitors is not just about quantity but also about quality, longer stays, and higher spending. To do so, a "shower" of awards is only a necessary condition. The sufficient condition is to have unique, distinctive products that create impressive experiences for international visitors to come and return many times.

Mr. Phan Dinh Hue, Director of Vong Tron Viet Tourism Company, believes that the awards will help the tourism industry and destinations promote, promote, and introduce their images to international friends, but to satisfy and make customers return, more factors are needed.

"A friend living in Thailand said that his friends who travel to Thailand always promise to come back next year, some 4-5 times. Meanwhile, tourists who come to Vietnam rarely come back," Mr. Phan Dinh Hue worried.

In sharing about retaining tourists, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietravel Group, always said that attracting tourists is not enough, we must find a way to make them come back. The rate of returning tourists depends on the brand and reputation of the destination. The more returning tourists, the better the quality of the destination's services. The cost of getting a new tourist is 5 times more than the cost of taking care of an old tourist to return.

"The tourism industry is limited in terms of destination marketing costs, so it must take advantage of the rate of returning visitors. The indicators that need attention are the depth, breadth, and size of the destination's products and services. In addition, there are also indicators of the brand, reputation of the destination, and quality of the service system," Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky emphasized.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/sau-con-mua-giai-thuong-du-lich-duoc-gi-196241107220352001.htm