Foreign tours with shopping still attract Vietnamese tourists

A 5-day, 4-night tour to Bangkok (Thailand) costs about 6-6.8 million VND per person and usually includes four or five shopping spots.

Hoang Anh, a tourist from Hanoi, and her family bought a Bangkok tour in July for VND6.5 million per person. The tour was quite comprehensive, with Hoang Anh's group taking them to famous night markets and temples. However, Hoang Anh was a bit annoyed because during the 5-day tour, she had to visit at least four shopping spots, such as gems, snake medicine, latex pillows, and supermarkets. She thought that if she could skip the shopping spots, the trip would be much more enjoyable.

According to Mr. Tung, manager of a travel agency specializing in foreign tours, the female tourist’s wish can be fulfilled but she needs to spend more money. Mr. Tung said that shopping destinations are an indispensable part of creating foreign tour products, regardless of Asia or Europe. With a 10-day tour to Europe, tourists must visit 5-7 mandatory shopping destinations.

A gem shop in Bangkok. Photo: CNN — A gem shop in Bangkok. Photo: *CNN*

According to Mr. Tung, this type of "shopping tour" is currently applied to 90% of foreign tours. Shopping destinations support part of the tour purchase price of tourists, helping to reduce tour costs. There is no specific figure for the reduction level, but it depends on the landtour (the travel agency's partner in the host country) and the shopping destination. The landtour unit will sell services to many companies in Vietnam, from which it will estimate the number of customers to work with the shopping destination. The shopping destination will base on the number of customers that the landtour can provide to reduce the price. Finally, the landtour reports the reduced price to the travel company to complete the step of combining the remaining services such as air tickets, Vietnamese tour guides, creating the final product.

Mr. Tung said there are many examples to show the importance of these shopping spots. If traveling to Thailand on your own for 5 days and 4 nights, a person can spend about 10 million VND. When Thailand first reopened after the pandemic, shopping spots had not yet reopened, the price of a tour from Hanoi could be up to nearly 13 million VND.

"Landtour is an indispensable part of foreign tours. Tourists can skip it but have to pay more," said Mr. Tung.

Ginseng products are sold at Namdaemun Market (Seoul, Korea). Photo: Seoul Korea Tour — Ginseng products are sold at Namdaemun Market (Seoul, Korea). Photo: *Seoul Korea Tour*

Mr. Nguyen Huu Cuong, General Director of Trang An Travel, said that most Vietnamese tourists are still satisfied with the shopping spots on their foreign tours. One of the most popular products is functional foods, whether going to Thailand or Europe. In addition, ginseng products are also popular and are a popular gift choice when traveling to Korea.

According to Mr. Tung, in many countries, attracting shoppers is not simply a matter of "herding customers into a store". Shopping destinations know how to sell stories, turning shopping into an art performance. For example, at a gem store in Thailand, visitors can watch artisans talk about gemstones, their history, and tell interesting stories about them. Therefore, most people are still satisfied when they leave, whether they buy anything or not.

In Vietnam, inbound travel agencies (international tourists) do not have much connection with shopping destinations. If a group of foreign tourists has to stop at a shopping destination, it is because the driver or tour guide actively takes the customers there to receive commission.

According to Mr. Cuong, the price of package tours or personal living expenses in Vietnam are not high compared to the spending of Western tourists. Therefore, this group does not need to go to shopping places to save costs. In addition, the products in Vietnam are not special, Western tourists rarely buy, so the revenue is not enough to cover the support money if the store is associated with a travel company.

Mr. Van Hung, who runs a small business specializing in customers from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong (China) and the Philippines, said that shopping tours exist in Vietnam but are "unhealthy." A typical example of this product line is the zero-dong tour for Chinese customers that has caused controversy in the past.

"Most foreign tourists do not like to shop when buying a Vietnam tour. They want to spend time experiencing and sightseeing and do not care about discounts," said Mr. Hung.

Tu Nguyen

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