Why are Vietnamese travel companies indifferent to Taylor Swift tours?

Taylor Swift has made a huge impact on the world tourism industry with her tours, but no Vietnamese travel company offers tours that combine show tickets.

Singapore has exclusive rights to Taylor Swift's 6 shows at The Eras Tours in Southeast Asia, creating a fever for the show tour in the region. In Vietnam, direct flights to Singapore were sold out nearly a week before the tour took place. Taylor Swift's shows are having a positive impact on the world tourism industry as fans combine watching the show with traveling.

A fan traveling from the Philippines to Singapore can expect to spend a total of $1,600 for the entire trip. Meanwhile, the average fan stays three nights on a “Swift vacation” in Sydney to have fun, experience cuisine, and spend about $300 per day.

Although the show's appeal is confirmed, in Vietnam, travel companies do not offer tour packages that combine watching music, although events that gather many football fans such as the World Cup and Euro, tourism products combined with watching matches sell "very well", according to many units.

Mr. Pham Van Bay, Deputy Director of Vietravel Hanoi branch, said that not only The Eras Tours, music tourism is becoming a trend that many customers are interested in. The company has organized a tour to Da Lat combined with the show May Lang Thang, attracting most young customers; or a tour to Thailand combined with the show Paris by Night , a tour to Korea to see Busan One Asia Festival (BOF) - a large-scale Kpop performance held annually.

Taylor Swift performs in Tokyo, Japan, on February 7. Photo: Reuters — Taylor Swift performs in Tokyo, Japan, on February 7. Photo: *Reuters*

Mr. Bay said that to organize these programs, tourism agencies must have show information early, proactively source tickets or receive ticket support like the Korean Tourism Organization once supported customers of the BOF ticket company.

In the case of The Eras Tours, Mr. Bay said there are several reasons why no travel agency in Vietnam sells tours that combine show tickets. First, the companies may not cooperate closely or lack information with the event organizer of the show. This reduces the ability to access tickets and tour packages from the main supply. If the ticket price and other costs are not suitable for buyers in the Vietnamese market, the travel agency may have difficulty attracting customers.

A representative of a large travel agency in Ho Chi Minh City admitted this, saying that programs like The Eras Tours do not have a ticket policy for group guests. Companies that want tickets must buy them themselves like fans. Due to the limited supply of tickets, travel agencies cannot proactively build tours.

While Taylor Swift’s show has huge international appeal, for the Vietnamese market, Mr. Bay said the event may not be big enough to warrant investing in developing related tours. Companies need a large international audience to be a profitable business option.

Mr. Bay emphasized that music shows and entertainment events can carry risks related to special conditions such as weather, travel factors, and immigration. This makes travel agencies feel uncertain about their ability to organize tours effectively.

According to VnExpress 's investigation, the level of interest among travel agencies for this event is low. Some business owners said they did not even pay attention to Taylor Swift and said that the singer's fans were not part of their customer base.

Ms. Tran Anh, a representative of a travel agency specializing in designing individual tours, said that Taylor Swift’s image is suitable for young customers, and the group can buy show tickets and travel on their own. Good foreign language skills and technology proficiency help this group take the initiative in their schedule, without needing a travel agency. If they buy a tour, they think it will cost them a lot more.

"From a business perspective, I don't appreciate the potential of selling tour products related to Taylor Swift shows. Not to mention that we don't have competitively priced show tickets available," said Ms. Tran Anh.

Vietnamese fans watch Blackpink show in Hanoi in 2023. Photo: Giang Huy — Vietnamese fans watch Blackpink show in Hanoi in 2023. Photo: *Giang Huy*

Vietravel representative said that football tour products are more easily accepted by Vietnamese customers because this type of customer base includes all ages and genders. In 2019, at the Asian Cup, they successfully launched the football cheering tour "From snowy Changzhou to sunny UAE", and tours combined with participation in the AFF Cup are also exploited both domestically and internationally.

Currently, the company is focusing on sports tourism products such as European tours to watch Euro, Quy Nhon tours to participate in the 2024 Binh Dinh Grand Prix Motor Boat Race. These are products that customers need to stay long and travel more than music tourism products. However, the company representative said that they will continue to cooperate with the Korea Tourism Organization to effectively implement tours to Korea combined with watching Kpop shows.

In 2023, Traveloka, an online travel platform with 45 million online users in Southeast Asia, predicted that event tourism and performance tours will be products that contribute to promoting Vietnam's tourism growth in 2024. Travel businesses acknowledge the potential and opportunity to expand their customer base. However, to be successful, businesses need to access and manage ticket supply, prices, and market access.

Comment (0)