Is Vietnam ready to welcome high-spending tourists?

Ha Long Bay – a stopover for high-end visitors to Vietnam – Photo: NAM TRAN

Most recently, at the end of August 2024, the Indian pharmaceutical billionaire chose Hanoi, Ha Long (Quang Ninh), and Ninh Binh as the places to spend the entire vacation for his 4,500 employees. That proves that Vietnam is attractive enough to welcome this difficult-to-please customer stream.

Come to Vietnam to satisfy your "ego"

According to Ms. Thuy Nguyen - General Director of Silk Path Hanoi Hotel, high-end guests come to Vietnam to satisfy their own ego. They are willing to pay more for services, but we have to touch their emotions. Their ego is their personal preferences.

To welcome this type of customer, the first thing to do is to understand them. You cannot use conventional tourism products to welcome them, everything must be designed specifically. Each customer has their own needs and requirements… Sometimes many things are luxurious and flashy to us, but to them they are not. From cuisine, service to surrounding services, everything must satisfy their desires and preferences.

“Vietnam is very eager to attract this type of customer and is changing. Vietnamese people are very smart, creative and capable of welcoming high-end customers,” Ms. Thuy shared.

Cuisine is one of the deciding factors in choosing a destination for high-spending tourists – Photo: NAM TRAN

An Oxford Economics report found that on average, visitors to Southeast Asia are willing to pay an additional $250 per person per day to visit destinations that offer premium dining experiences.

According to Mr. Liam Cordingley - Chief Economist, Economic Consultant, Asia region of Oxford Economics, 75% of high-income customers are particularly interested in culinary experiences. That is also a criterion for them to choose a destination.

“A fine dining experience includes: high-quality food products, a rich menu with many unique delicacies prepared by famous chefs, diverse beverage options from popular to high-end. These services need to be personalized and professional,” Mr. Liam shared.

Vietnam possesses surreal landscapes, one of the strengths that attracts international visitors - Photo: NAM TRAN

Need attractive tourism products

Speaking with Tuoi Tre Online , Mr. Tran Trung Hieu - Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism - said that high-end tourists are the target that the capital's tourism industry is targeting by taking advantage of its strength as a major cultural center of the country and diversifying tourism products.

Hanoi has three heritages recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, owns nearly 10,000 tangible and intangible cultural heritages, and traditional handicraft villages.

Therefore, cultural tourism products are both the strength and the characteristic that attracts tourists to Hanoi. In addition to sightseeing and cultural experiences, MICE tourism products, eco-tourism and resorts in Hanoi are meeting the needs of this type of tourist.

In the coming time, Hanoi will focus on attracting and building 4-5 star luxury hotels; upgrading high-quality tourist destinations; training and fostering skilled human resources with good service skills and promoting digital transformation in tourism to promote the attraction of high-end international visitors.

The presidential suite costs 164 million VND/night on the 6-star Grand Pioneers cruise in Ha Long Bay – Photo: GRAND PIONEERS

Recognizing that high-end tourism is a very potential market, bringing high revenue to the country, recently the Vietnam National Tourism Administration has had many promotional activities with the message that Vietnam is a classy, ​​quality destination.

According to Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh - Director of Vietnam National Tourism Administration, we have extremely valuable resources from natural resources to cultural resources... That is the foundation for us to have extremely attractive and unique tourism products for tourists.

Luxury experiences sometimes come from simple things – Photo: P'APIU RESORT

Along with that, Vietnam tourism has also received many awards voted by international organizations as a safe and attractive destination. Many billionaires and influential figures have chosen Vietnam as the place to hold important events, which confirms that Vietnam is very attractive to high-end tourists.

“We have all the conditions to welcome this type of guest from the technical facilities of the industry such as accommodation facilities, entertainment areas, tours, tourist attractions, additional services for this type of guest, especially professionalism when providing services to high-end guests.

Vietnam is completely ready to welcome high-end tourists to Vietnam. However, the number of visitors is still quite modest, not really commensurate with the potential and strengths of Vietnamese tourism," Mr. Khanh commented.

To better understand the tastes of these picky guests, Tuoi Tre newspaper organized a workshop on “What products are for high-end tourists coming to Vietnam?” on October 11 in Hanoi.

This is an opportunity for experts and managers of large companies and corporations in the tourism sector to analyze and evaluate the quality of Vietnam's tourism compared to other countries, the high-end tourist market in Vietnam, and share what has been done to attract tourists.

Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/viet-nam-da-san-sang-don-khach-chi-tieu-cao-20241010182608542.htm#content-1