Why do Indian billionaires like to travel to Vietnam and spend money without hesitation?
Báo Dân trí•16/08/2024
(Dan Tri) - Experts say Vietnam has all the strengths to attract more high-quality Indian tourists. This is a very potential market "but not easy to serve".
The Indian pharmaceutical billionaire will bring 4,500 employees to Vietnam for a tour from August 27 to September 7. They will be divided into small groups, visiting most of the famous tourist attractions in Hanoi, then moving to Ninh Binh and Ha Long Bay (Quang Ninh province). The group of guests comes from many different countries but is mainly Indian, classified as high-spending, high-quality guests. "This is considered a group of guests with a record scale and number, posing many challenges to ensure our operations," said Ms. Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh, Marketing Director - Vietravel Tourism Company, the unit that welcomed the group of 4,500 Indian guests. Indian tourists traveling to Vietnam (Photo: Provided by travel agency).
How will 4,500 Indian guests be received?
According to Ms. Van Khanh, the Indian group booked the service 2-3 months in advance. The services were arranged at 4-5 star quality, from the accommodation system, restaurants to tourist attractions. The travel agency has detailed scenarios for the series of activities so that each tourist can have a complete experience during the 5 days of sightseeing, traveling, working and relaxing in Hanoi, Ha Long Bay and Ninh Binh. The company has selected a team of tour guides with qualified foreign languages, extensive knowledge of the destination, presentation and storytelling skills and the ability to handle situations sensitively. In addition, the local authorities at the destination have also planned and are ready to welcome the "largest Indian group ever".
(The Indian delegation will visit famous tourist destinations in Hanoi, Ninh Binh and Ha Long Bay). Ms. Nguyen Huyen Anh, Director of the Quang Ninh Provincial Department of Tourism, said that the Department has chaired a meeting with departments, branches, localities, and travel agencies on organizing the reception of the Indian delegation. The unit has also carefully prepared steps such as explaining the destination in Hindu (the official language of India) and preparing Indian food. According to Ms. Huyen Anh, in fact, the group of super-rich guests do not lack destination options around the world, but in recent years, they prefer to come to Vietnam in general and Quang Ninh in particular. Many weddings of Indian billionaires have taken place in Ha Long, Phu Quoc, Da Nang, etc. "I believe that Vietnam has its own charm, for example, when coming to Ha Long Bay, they will not only hold a normal luxurious wedding but will have a wedding in the heart of the heritage," she said. Quang Ninh province has been planning to develop and upgrade high-end services to meet the needs of this group of visitors. "We hope to leave unforgettable impressions on the Indian billionaire couples," affirmed the Director of the Quang Ninh Department of Tourism. In Ninh Binh, Mr. Bui Van Manh, Director of the Department of Tourism, said that the Indian delegation's choice of Trang An Eco-tourism Area (part of the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex - World Cultural and Natural Heritage) is a great opportunity for Ninh Binh to promote the world heritage and promote the destination to the Indian tourist market. The Department has coordinated and discussed tasks and work with relevant departments, branches and the Trang An Eco-tourism Area Management Board to prepare the best conditions to welcome the delegation. The unit has also come up with specific plans such as dividing lanes, arranging berths, priority boats and separate ticket control personnel for tourist groups, assigning English-speaking tour guides to introduce tourist attractions, and preparing banners to welcome visitors to Trang An Eco-tourism Area. The Departments coordinated with travel agencies to carefully prepare to welcome the "largest ever" Indian tourist group (Photo: Provided by travel agencies).
Vietnam has all the strengths to attract Indian tourists.
The Global Travel Trends 2024 report released by the Mastercard Economic Institute shows that Indians are traveling more and more, with Vietnam being the top destination. In the first 6 months of 2024, India was a major market sending visitors to many countries. Compared to the same period in 2019, the number of Indian visitors to Vietnam increased by 248%. Meanwhile, Japan recorded a 53% increase in the number of Indian visitors. The US recorded a 59% increase in this market, despite the sharp increase in the USD. Ms. Van Khanh said that the company has started plans to promote and advertise Vietnamese tourism to Indian businesses, partners and tourists from 2019 to 2022. The event of welcoming 4,500 guests this time marks an important step in affirming Vietnam's position as an ideal destination for international events and conferences. "We hope to provide the best service to contribute to enhancing the cooperative relationship and cultural connection between the two countries, while promoting the image of Vietnamese tourism in the eyes of international friends," said Ms. Khanh. The wedding of bride Kashmira and groom Inderdeep (India) took place over 3 days, early 2024 (Photo: A Nui). In addition to tourism, Indian billionaires tend to come to Vietnam to hold lavish weddings. Weddings are parties that have entered the Indian dictionary with very typical features such as grandeur, all the money saved in life will be spent on the wedding, entertaining friends to show the position, social status of the owner as well as their relationships. In the past, Indians often chose Bangkok (Thailand) as an "affordable" destination to hold weddings. For middle-class families, they went to Middle Eastern countries, with more money, they went to Italy. It is normal for each of those weddings to cost tens of millions of USD, such as the wedding of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Asia's richest billionaire Mukesh Ambani, held in Mumbai, costing hundreds of millions of USD. Therefore, if the market is understood correctly, organizing million-dollar weddings of the super-rich will open a new direction for Vietnam tourism. In fact, Indians love to go to Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ha Long, Phu Quoc to hold weddings and they are willing to spend billions of dong on this service. In early 2024, the Indian billionaire couple, bride Kashmira and groom Inderdeep, held a 3-day wedding at a 5-star resort in Da Nang. The wedding had nearly 500 guests and service staff. More than a ton of materials, costumes, and props were transported by the couple from India to Da Nang to prepare for the wedding. All 258 rooms at the resort were booked to serve the guests attending the wedding. According to the resort, the cost of organizing a 3-day wedding alone was 500,000 USD. The resort representative said that for the Indian market, to organize a large-scale wedding, meeting strict requirements from facilities to professional event organization services is indispensable. At the same time, the novelty and reputation of the destination are also very important criteria for the bride's family to decide where to hold the wedding. From Indian airports, it only takes tourists about 4-5 hours to travel to Vietnam (Photo: Provided by travel agency). Ms. Phi Khuyen, Head of Marketing Department of Paradise Vietnam Group, commented that Vietnam has many advantages to welcome the group of Indian billionaires. This is also one of the 10 largest international tourist markets in Vietnam. Previously, the Indian tourist stream was considered a fairly competitive market, because they prioritized tourism products with reasonable prices. "Vietnam has all the strengths to attract this type of tourist stream even more strongly," Ms. Khuyen said. Accordingly, Vietnam is ranked as one of the destinations with reasonable prices, a safe destination for international tourists. According to many surveys, Vietnam is ranked by Asian tourists as one of the countries with the most beautiful natural landscapes in the region. Previously, Indian tourists to Vietnam had to transfer in Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore, lasting 8-9 hours. Therefore, just flying there and back took Indian tourists two days, while they are not a group that tends to stay long, usually 5-6 days (not including travel time). In the past two years, Vietnam has had a direct route to India, at the same time, Indians returned after the pandemic with a large demand for travel, tending to look for new experiences. "From the Indian airport, it only takes about 4-5 hours for tourists to travel to Vietnam," Ms. Khuyen explained.
Strict requirements to serve Indian guests
According to Ms. Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh, the group of 4,500 Indian tourists coming to Vietnam has special requests. The unit has made reasonable arrangements and informed the delegation's representatives. "For Indian tourists, the problem with the food, which emphasizes vegetarianism - non-vegetarianism in the preparation process, abstaining from meat depending on beliefs and religions, we are flexible to adjust and arrange," said the representative of the travel company. Sharing the same opinion, tour guide Vu Ngoc Son said that Indian tourists often make special requests about the menu, vegan food, meal times are often very late and they are often late. "The group was scheduled to depart at 7am, everyone was ready to move, but there were a few guests who arrived late but still bought food and leisurely walked around even though there were dozens of people waiting," Mr. Son shared. In addition, many customers only know Hindi and cannot communicate in English, which is also a big obstacle for service providers. "The Indian market has great potential but is not easy to serve," said the tour guide. Indian guests are the "most demanding" when it comes to food. They can only eat Indian food, some are vegetarian but it has to be "Indian-style vegetarian" (Photo: Minh Hien). Understanding the unique taste characteristics of Indian tourists, Ms. Khuyen said that Paradise Vietnam has recruited chefs from India, using typical ingredients and spices to meet their needs. "Despite strict requirements and certain difficulties, welcoming high-spending tourists is a positive signal for Vietnam's tourism industry," Ms. Khuyen emphasized.
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