Vietnam is emerging as a magnet for cruise tourists. (Photo: thanhnien.vn) Doan ThiThanh Tra, Director for marketing and communications of the Saigontourist travelservice company, said the number of overseas Vietnamese booking servicesfor the Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays via her company has risen “abnormally”.
OVs accountfor up to 80% of all clients booking pre-Tet tours of Saigontourist and 60% ofthose booking post-Tet tours.
The firm has never recorded such a large number of OV travellers before, which is even higher than in the pre-pandemic period of 2017 - 2018. Previously, OVclients of Saigontourist were mainly middle- and old-aged persons, but thesurge in OV tourists, including many young ones, this year has really surprisedthe company, she noted.
OVtourists often book long tours, at least for five days and even eight to ten days.They prefer cultural and experience tours of the central region (Da Nang, Hue,Hoi An) and the northern region (Ninh Binh, Quang Ninh, northwestern provinces).Most of these tours are package ones with relatively high prices.
Unlikedomestic or international visitors, each OV traveller returning to Vietnam for Tetusually book at least two tours – one before Tet and another during or after thisbiggest traditional festival, Tra told the Thanh nien (Young people) newspaper.
OVs now tend to return to thehomeland all year round, not only for Tet. Given this, Saigontourist isdeveloping particular products for this group of holidaymakers, she added.
Meanwhile,Vietluxtour has also reported good growth in the number of OVs booking Tettours, its communications director Tran Thi Bao Thu said, noting that OVclients of her company are middle-class ones and families using services atfour- to five-star resorts.
They tend to just relax and do nothave much need for sightseeing. This is a “niche market” that many travelfirms are capitalising on amid economic difficulties forcing families to cutspending on holidays, she added.
In addition,the tourism industry has also enjoyed an inflow of international travellerssince the start of 2024.
The island city of Phu Quoc, which experiencedpoor performance in 2023, has witnessed a sudden increase in arrivals,especially international ones, since the end of last year. It has welcomed2,000-2,500 international visitors, over half of whom are from the Republicof Korea, each day on average.
In particular, the debut of Cau Hon (KissBridge) and the Sunset Town entertainment complex there amid the festive seasonwarmed up the local tourism atmosphere in late 2023.
As a result, the Mekong Delta provinceof Kien Giang, home to Phu Quoc, attracted more than 120,000 arrivals duringthe 2024 New Year holidays, including over 15,000 foreigners, while theoccupancy rate at local tourism accommodation facilities reached 63.2% andtourism revenue hit 369 billion VND (over 15 million USD), statistics show.
Ho Chi Minh City has also seen a large number of foreigners travelling around on these days. Ben Thanh Market, atourist magnet in this southern economic hub, has recorded many internationalvisitors, mainly Indian, Korean, Japanese, and European ones, coming to itsconfectionary, coffee, apparel, and fashion accessory shops.
The municipal Tourism Department saidthe city welcomed more than 46,500 international visitors during the recent NewYear holidays, shooting up 86.1% from the 25,000 during the same period of2023. Particularly, cruise travellers who are high-end tourists from Europe,the US, Australia, and Japan, are growing well.
Last year, 12.6 million internationaltourists chose Vietnam as their holiday destination, rising almost 3.5-foldfrom 2022 and exceeding the initial target.
For 2024, the country targets about17 - 18 million international travellers, 110 million domestic ones, and about840 trillion VND in earnings from tourists. In the most ideal condition, if itmanages to attract 18 million foreign arrivals, the tourism industry could besaid to fully recover to the record level of 2019.
Nguyen Trung Khanh, Director of theVietnam National Authority of Tourism, said that after nearly two years oftaking recovery measures, the tourism industry is now on an upward trend. Whilemany localities have posted strong tourist growth, Vietnam has won manyprestigious international awards, including 19 at the world level and 54 at theAsian level presented by the World Travel Awards.
With the achievements obtained in2023, 2024 will be the time for Vietnam’s tourism industry to gain speed tostrengthen competitiveness compared to regional rivals, he opined./.
VNA
