“Small but mighty” like iVIVU: How has the pure Vietnamese travel platform increased its revenue by 50% before the pandemic, despite pressure from foreign competitors Traveloka, Agoda, and Booking?

Which way for domestic travel platforms?

According to forecast by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the number of online tourists in Vietnam is expected to reach 24 million by 2025, a 25% increase compared to 2020. Other data from Google and Temasek shows that the scale of online tourism in Vietnam is expected to reach $9 billion by 2025.

In a rapidly growing market, foreign online travel agencies (OTAs) are overshadowing domestic brands. According to the Q1/2023 ranking of most popular OTAs in Vietnam, published by The Outbox Company, the top 5 positions are all foreign names: Traveloka, Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, and Trip.com.

At the end of 2017, the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM) stated that foreign OTAs were capturing up to 80% market share. Several reasons were given, including the fact that foreign OTAs often have more experience in online transactions, operate on a global scale, and have strong financial resources…

However, domestic OTAs can still find their own way in a rapidly evolving, transforming, and diversifying tourism industry. When asked about the competition with foreign OTAs, Mr. Nguyen Trung Cong, CEO of iVIVU.com, said that their model has several differences.

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iVIVU.com does not serve all customers with every type of travel product or service in many segments. We choose to focus only on the middle and high-end customer segments, with 4-5 star hotel products.

This approach helps us operate efficiently and focus more, providing customers with a better experience because they don’t have to “swim” among hundreds of thousands of different products, easily finding what suits them.

Therefore, it can be said that there will be competition in business, but iVIVU.com is not in a confrontational position. We choose a segment to serve and do it well, rather than trying to meet the needs of the whole market,” analyzed Mr. Cong.

Revenue increase by 50% pre-pandemic, aiming to serve 1 million domestic and international customers

iVIVU.com is an online travel platform under the Thien Minh Group (TMG) – a company that owns 16 brands in the travel, hotel, online, and aviation industries and has been on the market for 30 years. Launched in 2014, iVIVU has now built an ecosystem that includes all the services travelers need such as travel combos, hotels, tours, flight tickets, cars, entertainment tickets… The iVIVU system includes more than 30,000 hotels and nearly 10,000 entertainment points in both Vietnam and internationally.

Prior to the pandemic, iVIVU’s annual revenue doubled compared to the previous year. It is known that in 2019, the company’s revenue reached VND 470 billion, and it was profitable.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, iVIVU quickly recovered with a 50% revenue growth in 2023 compared to pre-pandemic, estimated to account for 20% of the high-end leisure travel market share in Vietnam. The largest proportion of revenue comes from travel combos. So far, the company has served around 600,000 Vietnamese customers traveling domestically and internationally.

Since the pandemic, Vietnamese travelers’ habits have changed significantly: they value experiences and pay more attention to culture, environment, health… This makes personalizing the experience for each customer essential in order to meet diverse needs.

Recognizing this trend, iVIVU plans to launch the “Bespoke Journey” product to create personalized journeys for customers. The target audience is groups of 6-12 people. iVIVU’s team of travel experts will collaborate with local Key Opinion Leaders (KOCs) and tour guides to create an initial program framework. After that, each trip will be customized according to the specific preferences and requirements of the customers.

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Bespoke Journey will be a new breakthrough in travel products for Vietnamese people and at the same time an opportunity for iVIVU to expand its business internationally, in collaboration with offices of the Thien Minh Group in Europe and Asia to serve not only Vietnamese but also customers worldwide. In 2024, the company aims to serve 1 million customers domestically and internationally,” shared Mr. Nguyen Trung Cong.

Experts in the online travel market suggest that with huge potentials, new businesses may join the market along with new products that bring diversity and increased competitiveness to the industry. Therefore, companies need to develop products that match their customers’ insights, find ways to reduce costs, and implement effective marketing strategies.