Getting off to a good start in the new year
According to data from the National Tourism Agency, the number of international visitors to Vietnam in February 2024 reached over 1.53 million. Accumulated for the first 2 months of the year, the total number of visitors reached over 3 million, an increase of 68.7% compared to the same period last year.
It is noteworthy that familiar markets with our country have made an impressive recovery. South Korea continues to be the country that sends the most visitors with over 840,000 arrivals, accounting for 27.7%. Next, China, Taiwan, and the United States have the number of visitors reaching over 540,000, 198,000, and 156,000 respectively.
North American tourists to Vietnam are increasing rapidly. Photo: Tran An.
Mr. Vu Van Tuyen – General Director of Travelogy Vietnam Tourism Company – said, “In 2024, Vietnam will have a breakthrough in tourism growth, much higher than 2023. With the signals we have now, we can completely expect that by the end of May 2024, the number of international visitors can reach 10 million and up to more than 20 million for the whole year.”
According to the above director, positive forecasts come from rapid development demand. In the peak season this year, travel companies are struggling to find French-speaking guides because a large number of people from these countries have scheduled trips to Vietnam early on. Along with that, people from Italy and Spain are coming to Vietnam more than in the low season.
In addition, Vietnam is predicted to “explode” in new markets such as India. In just the first 2 months of the year, this country continued to send positive signals with a 34.7% increase compared to the same period in 2023, ranking 8th in the top 10 leading markets.
According to researchers, besides the relaxation of visas for many countries by the Vietnamese Government, tourists know more about Vietnam because domestic destinations have been continuously honored.
Many destinations in Vietnam are among the best in the world.
For example, at the Traveler’s Choice Awards Best of the Best of the rating organization Tripadvisor, Halong Bay (Quang Ninh) and Sapa town (Lao Cai) are among the top 7 best destinations in the world. Even the dragon statue at Thuy Tien Lake Park (Thua Thien Hue province), despite being scheduled for demolition, has not discouraged tourists, who flocked to check-in because it continuously appeared on reputable international media channels such as CNN television of the United States.
“Magic pill” helps Vietnamese tourism maintain long-term momentum
In February, our country also recorded a decrease in the number of visitors from certain markets, mainly from Southeast Asian countries and Japan.
At the 2024 International Airline Symposium (IAS), Mr. Le Hong Ha – General Director of Vietnam Airlines – exchanged with PV Tiền Phong: “The domestic tourism market has not yet achieved the expected revenue from China and Japan through the number of flight tickets. There are still many things to do to attract these two important markets to Vietnam.”
According to the annual research chart of the Outbox Company market tracking company just announced, the number of Japanese tourists to Vietnam in 2019 reached 952,000, ranking 3rd in the inbound market. However, by the end of 2023, Japan dropped to 5th place with only 589,500 visitors left.
Chart tracking the number of visitors to Vietnam in the period from 2016-2023. Photo: The Outbox Company.
With this situation, Mr. Pham Duy Nghia – Secretary-General of the Hanoi Tourist Association – believes that to attract more visitors to Vietnam, authorities, airlines, and travel agencies need to have a unified competition policy. At the same time, refreshing tourism products is something that businesses in the inbound market are focused on.
According to the representative of Travelogy, the products for Japanese and Chinese tourists are currently only available at “traditional” destinations and activities, with little change over the past few years.
“In the future, travel companies need to develop supply chains to provide new destinations to arouse curiosity among tourists. For example, instead of just introducing Sapa when taking guests to explore the Northwestern region, we can also consider Mu Cang Chai, Thac Ba Lake, Moc Chau with different and unique activities. In addition, promoting tourism in Vietnam directly in home countries also needs to be organized professionally, properly, and with clear messages,” the Travelogy representative commented.
For populous markets like China, some businesses believe that it is necessary to divide into 2 segments: budget and luxury. In the [high-end] segment, trips will be of higher quality and more prestigious. Especially, tourists from East Asia currently love the sport of golf, so this activity can be integrated into upcoming tours. Meanwhile, budget travelers can travel to Vietnam by road to reduce travel expenses.
“We need to get rid of the “free” tours from China to Vietnam. Although these programs are organized by Chinese companies, with poor service quality in reality, the image of Vietnam will be affected and may lead to a sharp decline in the number of tourists,” said the Secretary-General of the Hanoi Tourist Association.
There needs to be close management of “free” tours.
Travel companies, airlines, and all agree that if they just passively wait for visa relaxation to attract international tourists, they will be difficult to succeed. More importantly, these units need to have a training policy for employees in the supply chain and support units at destinations to create professional tourism activities, making tourists to Vietnam increase rapidly and have a higher rate of return.
