Exactly one year after opening its doors to Chinese visitors after the pandemic, this traditional market has "ceded" its position as the top destination for visitors in Vietnam to South Korea.
China is considered by the National Tourism Administration as "Vietnam's leading traditional market" with 5.8 million visitors out of a total of 18 million international visitors in 2019. Chinese visitors spend an average of 1,022 USD per trip in Vietnam, higher than some neighboring markets such as Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. In 2019, total revenue from Chinese visitors in Vietnam reached 5.9 billion USD, accounting for 32% of total revenue from international visitors.
Since the Chinese government added Vietnam to the list of countries to open group tourism in the second phase from March 15, 2023, China has become the second largest market for tourists, leaving the top spot to South Korea. After one year, Vietnam welcomed more than 1.7 million Chinese tourists, equal to 31% of 2019.
"Not only Vietnam, the number of Chinese tourists traveling around the world is also recovering slowly after the pandemic," said Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Hong Long, Head of the Faculty of Tourism, Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Mr. Long said there are many reasons why Chinese tourists have not traveled en masse as before the pandemic, such as the gloomy Chinese and world economies after the pandemic, the Chinese government is focusing on stimulating domestic tourism, offering many promotions and support to restore the country's economy. The consumer behavior of Chinese tourists after the pandemic has also changed, prioritizing short-distance travel. "China has a large land area, many attractive destinations and convenient transportation, so Chinese tourists prioritize domestic tourism," Mr. Long said. In addition, direct flights have not recovered, leading to high ticket prices, and transportation is not as convenient as before the pandemic, so tourists have not traveled as much.
Among Southeast Asian countries, Thailand has become the country that receives the most Chinese tourists with more than 3 million arrivals in 2023. Vietnam is second, followed by Malaysia with 1.4 million arrivals, then Singapore and Indonesia. The recovery rate of Chinese tourists in Southeast Asian countries is around 20-30%. Countries that used to be the top destinations for Chinese tourists in Asia such as Japan and South Korea have also recorded similar recovery rates.
AZA Travel CEO Nguyen Tien Dat recently traveled to some Chinese tourist routes at the end of March to survey such as the road tour through the Tinh Tay and Cao Bang border gates or the flight tour to Lijiang - Shangrila. Mr. Dat said that tourist destinations in China are "quite deserted".
"China's domestic tourism has not fully recovered yet, so it is normal for international tourism to still have few visitors," said Mr. Dat. Dr. Pham Hong Long also had similar comments when he visited China after the pandemic.
A group of Chinese tourists entered Vietnam through Huu Nghi border gate, March 15, 2023. Photo: Thuy Ha
Another reason why Chinese tourists have not returned to Vietnam as before the pandemic is due to direct competition from the Thai tourism market. At the end of 2023, Thailand temporarily exempted visas for Chinese tourists during the peak season from September 25, 2023 to February 29 this year, followed by permanent visa exemptions from March 1. This move helped Thailand welcome nearly 800,000 Chinese tourists from January 1 to February 8 out of a total of nearly 4 million international visitors. Meanwhile, the number of Chinese tourists to Vietnam in 2 months reached more than 500,000.
According to online travel platform LY.com, Chinese tourists taking advantage of the visa-free travel to Thailand during the eight-day Lunar New Year holiday saw bookings nine times higher than last year's Lunar New Year.
"Currently, many Chinese tourists prefer to go to Thailand," said Mr. Dat. Thailand and Vietnam both have the advantage of sharing a border with China, having short flights and many routes. However, Chinese tourists still need to apply for a visa to Vietnam while Thailand does not. In addition, Vietnam and China have many similarities in culture, architecture, and nature. For example, temples in the two countries are similar, but temples in Thailand are different. The atmosphere in Thailand is also more vibrant and there are more attractive tourism products.
The fact that zero-dong tours have not returned is also a factor affecting the number of Chinese tourists coming to Vietnam. The advantage of zero-dong tours is the large number of visitors. However, Dr. Long and CEO Dat both believe that zero-dong tours should not be encouraged because they do not bring much benefit to the local economy. Many visitors come but spend little.
"Vietnam does not need to put too much pressure on itself to set a target of welcoming the same number of Chinese tourists as before the pandemic," said Mr. Dat.
Instead, the Vietnamese tourism industry should focus on targeting high-end Chinese tourists from big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. In addition to staying in 5-star hotels like European tourists, wealthy Chinese tourists also shop a lot and spend lavishly. "This is the new customer segment we need to target," said Mr. Dat.
Dr. Long said Chinese tourists like to travel to islands and seas. Vietnam has this advantage, the tourism industry should promote communication and marketing to the Chinese tourist market.
In addition, to attract Chinese tourists, Vietnam needs to proactively connect with this market more, like Thailand and China are doing. Thailand is friendly with visas and products, while China is launching many stimulus packages, supporting ticket prices and hotel rooms for international visitors. After receiving support for ticket prices and rooms, travel agencies will lower tour prices. Meanwhile, airfares and room prices in Vietnam are still high.
"The market of Chinese tourists to Vietnam is still quiet, but the trend of Vietnamese tourists traveling to China has increased compared to before the pandemic," said Mr. Dat.
Phuong Anh
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