Mr. Nguyen Tien Dat - Marketing Director, Saigontourist Group - Photo: QUANG DINH
On the afternoon of September 24, 2024, at the Majestic Hotel hall, Tuoi Tre newspaper in collaboration with Saigon Tourist Group organized a seminar with the theme: "Promoting Vietnam - Japan tourism: The attraction of unique tourism products".
Vietnam has advantages in attracting Japanese tourists
Mr. Nguyen Tien Dat - Marketing Director, Saigon Tourist Corporation (Saigontourist Group) - said that Japan has long been considered a high-quality tourist market with high spending capacity. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the number of Japanese tourists to Vietnam.
With experience in attracting international visitors, including Japanese visitors, Mr. Dat shared many challenges when competing to attract international visitors, especially Japanese visitors. At Saigontourist Group, there is a shift in the ranking of visitors from different countries to Vietnam, including the Japanese segment.
Mr. Dat said that in the first 8 months of 2024, Saigontourist Group welcomed and served nearly 1.4 million guests, an increase of 22.3% over the same period last year. For international guests, the corporation served 559,000 guests, of which the accommodation sector was 421,000 guests, an increase of 22.7% over the same period last year; the travel sector was 138,000 guests, an increase of 84% over the same period. The proportion of Japanese guests is estimated at 8% of the total number of international guests welcomed and served by Saigontourist Group.
Mr. Dat compared that over the past years, China has been Vietnam's number one tourist market, which Korea has recently overtaken and the US is an important tourist market. Japan is a potential tourist market in Asia, an extremely attractive tourist market for Vietnam.
To succeed in the competition to attract international tourists, especially Japanese tourists, Mr. Dat has proposed solutions to attract tourists every year, adapting to market changes: a program of tourism promotion activities to attract more Japanese tourists to Vietnam; building a professional brand image, diversifying products; focusing on service quality, improving service quality at hotels, resorts, restaurants, etc.
"Depending on each international tourist market, Saigontourist Group applies different incentive programs and policies. The most important thing is to make customers satisfied and happy when using the service.
Every week, every month, every quarter we apply promotional and after-sales policies that offer many options, focusing on each market, including niche markets," said Mr. Dat.
Mr. Nguyen Bac Toan - Deputy General Director of Commercial Vietjet - said that he is ready to open new routes, bridging the Vietnam - Japan market - Photo: QUANG DINH
Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Bac Toan - Deputy General Director of Vietjet Commerce - said that after the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2022, the number of passengers to the Japanese market will reach about 1.3 million, by 2023 it will increase to 2.9 million and this year it will be over 3 million. Thus, Japanese visitors, including all purposes including tourism, are growing, of which at Vietjet it is 35-40%.
According to Mr. Toan, Vietjet is the airline with the most flights to Japan with 11 routes. To Tokyo alone, Vietjet has operated flights to 2 airports. In early October 2024, Vietjet may open more destinations besides the ones it has chartered, including flights to a famous and attractive tourist destination, Hokkaido.
Mr. Toan also pointed out that the Japanese tourist market is affected by many reasons, including the economic downturn and the much weaker yen. In addition, the wave of Japanese people going abroad is also decreasing because of the new culture, the new generation is not like before. 10 years ago, the Japanese market was considered a golden market, but now it is no longer.
Japanese people talk about Vietnam destination
Ms. Yoko Sakoda, Japanese reporter, has a lot of affection for Vietnam tourism - Photo: QUANG DINH
Ms. Yoko Sakoda - a freelance journalist and travel enthusiast, first came to Vietnam in 1996, when she was a university student - is very fond of Vietnam. She said she was very moved to have the opportunity to attend a conference on tourism.
She confirmed that since the pandemic, Japanese people have reduced their foreign travel, but Vietnam is still the 5th destination after the US, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. "Many of my friends like Vietnam. However, the economic downturn in Japan has affected wages, so Japanese people are no longer interested in traveling abroad. Japanese people have turned to exploring domestically, so domestic tourism has become more popular.
But Vietnam is still a popular tourist destination. Besides Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, new favorite destinations are Hoi An, Phu Quoc…
Japanese tourists still lack information about tourism and new products. Therefore, promotional information in Japanese is very important. One advantage is that young people know more English, so promotional activities also need to be taken into account," said the Japanese journalist.
According to Ms. Sakoda, accessing information in Japanese will help Japanese people feel more secure, comfortable and make travel decisions more easily and quickly.
For Japanese guests, on the occasion of the establishment of the Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association of Saigontourist Group on February 29, 2024 and in order to continue attracting the Japanese tourist market, over 70 hotels, resorts, restaurants, entertainment areas, and travel companies under Saigontourist Group have simultaneously applied special promotions for room, dining, and sightseeing tours.
This program is extended until the end of 2024 and we will consider expanding its application in the following years.
In the coming time, Saigontourist Group also plans to organize networking events, multilateral and bilateral tourism promotion programs to introduce Vietnamese tourism products and create opportunities for exchange and cooperation between businesses; participate in international tourism fairs in Japan, etc.
Tourism products aimed at young tourists
Mr. Vo Viet Hoa, director of international tourism, Saigontourist Travel Services Company Limited, also said that in attracting Japanese tourists, service quality is the most important. And the Japanese tourist market is not only competitive domestically but also with neighboring Thailand.
"The solution with service providers is to try to reduce costs and prices to satisfy Japanese partners, in the spirit of win-win (mutually beneficial business negotiation principle - PV). The Japanese market reduces airfares because they go to one destination, domestic airfares are rarely used, so it does not affect much," said Mr. Hoa.
Regarding how to develop product services, such as attracting young Japanese people to Thai Van Lung Street (District 1), Mr. Hoa added that Saigontourist has a long history of serving Japanese customers and is making adjustments to adapt to new tourism trends.
"Recently, there are statistics that individual customers booking online reached 50% compared to Japanese customers booking through partners. Japanese customers change according to world trends, especially young customers, and the website we built is in English and will be updated.
Japanese visitors to Vietnam are young, booking services directly from Japan, it is a habit to book directly and explore on their own. The products in Ho Chi Minh City are not too new, but individual customers in Japan have been there for a long time, now we have upgraded it to a specialized area serving Japanese customers," Mr. Hoa added.
Mr. Vo Viet Hoa - Director of International Tourism at Saigontourist Travel Service Company - said that at the national level, there should be activities to promote tourism to Japan, so that travel companies can participate in promoting culture and cuisine to the Japanese market - Photo: QUANG DINH
Regarding promotion and advertising, businesses participating in the discussion said that this activity in the Japanese market is more favorable, thanks to Japanese people improving their English very well, making it easier to access international social networking channels.
Information about destinations and tourism in Vietnam on social networks is thoroughly researched by Japanese people, with a lot of information. In addition, Saigontourist itself also transfers a lot of marketing product information in Japanese.
"Promoting and advertising traditional roadshows requires support from management agencies so that Japanese people can directly learn about cultural beauty, while travel companies will still update the latest products through Japanese partners," Mr. Hoa shared.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hoang Manh Dang, General Director of Apex Vietnam Tourism Joint Stock Company, said that when identifying new tourist groups, new products are needed to exploit effectively, and the product segment that can be considered for investment and development is school tourism.
Mr. Dang said: "The school tour package originated from the Southwest of Japan. In 2014, there were many Japanese programs for students to go to Vietnam, thanks to the people's diplomacy channel.
Every year, 3,000 to 4,000 students go through this program, but it is currently suspended for many reasons. This tourist market is facing a bottleneck, specifically depending on flight routes and airlines.
In mid-October, 500 children will transit here. However, many Japanese localities do not have international flights to Vietnam. If there is a budget from the government, combined with the airline, I think we can support immediately."
Reasons influencing Japanese tourists’ overseas travel, ranked from highest to lowest, influencing their choice of destination. Interviewees aged 18 to over 65:
• Direct flights (32.4%)
• Security and order at the destination are guaranteed (30.9%)
• Proximity to Japan (27.9%)
• Common Japanese (17.6%)
• Cheap items (16.2%)
• Can feel the cultural richness of the destination (16.2%)
• New experiences (14.7%)
• Hygiene and safety issues (12.5%)
• Fluent in English (10.3%)
• Good natural environment (10.3%)
The workshop is within the framework of activities of the two Vietnam - Japan Friendship Associations in Ho Chi Minh City at Tuoi Tre Newspaper and Saigontourist Group.
The event was attended by Japanese diplomatic agencies, state management agencies, experts, and leading business groups in the field of air transport and inbound tourism: Consulate General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism; Saigontourist Travel, Vietjet Air, Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City, Saigontourist College of Tourism & Hospitality, representatives of Tiktok APAC, Google, Travel Blogger...
Attracting Japanese tourists: Many potential segmentsSource: https://tuoitre.vn/xay-dung-san-pham-moi-huong-den-du-khach-nhat-ban-tre-20240924161922771.htm
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