The "rain" of international awards
Compared to the number of international visitors that reached a pre-pandemic record level or to the explosion of the domestic tourist market in recent months, it is clear that the number of international visitors to Vietnam in 2022 has not been as expected.
But the warming of the international tourist market day by day is bringing many expectations. In particular, analytical data from Google Destination Insights on the continuous increase of international search volume for Vietnam tourism in recent months (showing October 2022 increased by more than 20% compared to September 2022 and 11 times higher than March 2022 - the time when Vietnam started to fully open tourism) is a positive sign showing the prospect of strong growth in international arrivals.
In the final months of 2022, Vietnam's tourism continuously received good news when the country was named in a series of important categories at the World Travel Awards (WTA) 2022 - a prestigious playground known as the “Oscar Awards” of the tourism industry. Along with the title of "world's leading heritage destination" at the national level, four localities, zones and tourist attractions, namely Hanoi, Phu Quoc, Tam Dao and Moc Chau, were also honoured among the world's leading destinations. In addition, 11 the world's championship positions were awarded to famous brands in the field of hotels, resorts, airlines and travel in Vietnam.
Previously, at the WTA Asia-Oceania 2022, Vietnam also scored with nearly 50 awards, including many prestigious categories such as "Asia’s Leading Destination" and "Asia’s Leading Nature Destination".
The "rain" of awards that came to the Vietnam's tourism industry in the context of general difficulties for global tourism has continued to affirm the value and attractiveness of Vietnam's tourism, contributing to raising the position and national tourism brand on the world tourism map.
According to Deputy Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Ha Van Sieu, this honour is a motivation for those who are working in the tourism industry, but also sets the tasks for how to maintain and promote the value of the awards.
First of all, this is a good opportunity to promote communication and promote a beautiful, safe, friendly and hospitable Vietnam, as well as bring the image of Vietnam closer to international friends.
In order to turn the potential into reality and welcome the international visitors, which is forecast to increase sharply in the coming time, in addition to actively organising, participating in promotion, and promoting directly at the large international events and fairs, it is also necessary to promote communication about Vietnam's tourism and awards through a digital platform associated with the message "Live fully in Vietnam". This is the message that the tourism industry has focused on promoting over the past time, in order to increase brand awareness and access to information of a large number of global tourists.
Art troupes from many countries and regions attend the Hue Festival. (Photo: Cong Hau)
Ready to welcome large flows of guests
As one of the first Southeast Asian countries to reopen and welcome international visitors after the pandemic, Vietnam has quickly taken proactive steps to reopen the tourist market.
Pham Duy Nghia, Director of Vietfoot Travel Company commented: “At the present time, all participants in the tourism supply chain in Vietnam are generally ready to serve international tourists, including high-class tourists.
"With the strong development of the five-star segment, the diversity of cultural identities, types of tourism, I see that Vietnam's tourism potential and conditions are not inferior to any other country. Localities and businesses are expecting a breakthrough in tourism in the coming year. The remaining issue is mainly in promoting demand stimulation and communication." - Pham Duy Nghia.
According to Director Nghia, Vietnam should also have policies to attract Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) from key markets to take advantage of their influence in promoting Vietnam's tourism. In addition, it is necessary to open the door to welcome guests through building a more open policy on visas.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has determined that, along with promoting the exploitation of markets that have good connections in aviation, it is necessary to shift to exploiting new and high-growth markets such as India, the US, and the Middle East.
Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Trung Khanh said that in the coming time, when countries reopen to travellers, competition for destinations will become the biggest challenge. Factors such as fear related to the epidemic, conflict, and economic decline can also reduce tourism demand, making competition to attract international visitors even fiercer.
After the pandemic, the "sustainability" of tourism is a factor that is being valued by tourists. The concept of "sustainability" is not only focusing on balanced development, effectively exploiting tourism resources but also quickly and flexibly responding to crises.
To promote sustainable tourism development, the tourism industry will work with localities to build and develop products in the direction that each locality has a unique tourism product to make its mark on the destination.
In terms of product orientation, along with focusing on renewing mainstream tourism product types such as sea tourism, nature tourism, cultural tourism, and city tourism, the tourism industry encourages the development of complementary products to increase its attractiveness such as culinary tourism, medical tourism, MICE tourism, and golf tourism, on the basis of promoting links and cooperation among the enterprises, localities and regions throughout the country, thereby taking advantage of and promoting the advantages of each.
Looking at the structure of international visitors to Vietnam recently, besides nearby markets that are growing quite well such as the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines; visitors from India, Central Asia, and Northern Europe have also been busier, promising to become new potential markets for Vietnamese tourism. According to travel agencies, the international market sees more positive signs, with the trend of self-sufficient travel through booking online services of young and individual visitors.
Director Pham Duy Nghia said, Vietfoot Travel has just agreed to a contract with a group of several hundred guests, mainly from the UK, the US, the United Arab Emirates, and Mongolia, who will come to Vietnam in the second quarter of 2023. The company is trying to reach and diversify many sources of customers to prepare for stronger growth next year.
A representative of Saigontourist also shared that the company received a steady flow of visitors from the European market. In particular, the cruise tourism is a product that the company has high expectations for and focuses on exploiting to attract high-spending travellers. This travel agency is ready to welcome large international cruises that will come to Vietnam in the new year.
As one of the destinations with the fastest recovery rate of international visitors in the country, Da Nang has exceeded the annual target, contributing significantly to the number of international visitors nationwide. Chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association Cao Tri Dung said that Da Nang has set the target for 2023 to surpass 2019 in terms of domestic tourists and welcome about 2.3-2.5 million international visitors, with five main products: tourism associated with high-class real estate, historical and cultural tourism associated with heritages, MICE tourism, urban tourism, and green ecotourism.
“If everything goes as planned, in the next year, Da Nang and some other destinations in Vietnam will recover about 70-80% of the number of international visitors compared to before the epidemic, towards a full recovery in 2024. World tourism organisations forecast that by 2025, the global tourism market will be as vibrant as before the pandemic. This means, if determined and favourable, Vietnamese tourism can reach the finish line one year earlier than world tourism"- Cao Tri Dung.
Over the past few months, Vietnam has continuously been among the destinations with the fastest tourism growth in the world. All are creating momentum, promising to create breakthrough of Vietnam's tourism on the journey that is considered as the highlight of global tourism in the Year of the Cat.
