Travel industry in Vietnam 2018 continues to be evaluated as a successful year of Vietnam tourism. Regarding the growth rate of international visitors, Vietnam is currently at a very high level (21%), while Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia are showing signs of slowing down … However, according to enterprises and research of Vietnam Report Joint Stock Company (Vietnam Report), currently Vietnam’s tourism industry is facing the three biggest challenges.
In recent years, Vietnam’s tourism industry has a stable growth, an average increase of over 15% in both the number of domestic and international tourists coming to Vietnam. 2018 continues to be evaluated as a successful year of Vietnam’s tourism when receiving about 15.6 million international visitors, serving over 80 million domestic visitors, the total revenue from tourism reached 620,000 billion VND. Regarding the growth of international visitors, Vietnam is currently at a very high level (21%), while Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia have shown signs of slowing down. This is a good opportunity for Vietnam tourism to close the gap with other strong tourism countries in the region.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Vietnam currently ranks 67/136 economies in tourism competitiveness, ranking 5th in ASEAN. Among the 14 main indicators, Vietnam’s Natural Resources (rank 34) and Cultural Affairs and Official Tourism (rank 30) are rated as the most active.
Experts say that Vietnam’s tourism industry in 2019 promises to continue to grow as Vietnam is emerging as an attractive tourist destination in the world. The promotion of the national image through activities such as tourism promotion, ITB and WTM fairs … or through films, beauty contests, sports, etc… has been carried out very well.
With the current trend of strong economic and income development, Vietnam’s tourism has the prospect of further development, aiming to complete ahead of the target by 2020 “Attracting 17-20 million international tourists, 82 million domestic tourists, contributing over 10% of GDP, total revenue from tourists reached 35 billion USD, export value through tourism reached 20 billion USD, creating 4 million jobs, including 1.6 million direct jobs “(Central Resolution No. 08-NQ / TW dated January 16, 2017 on tourism development to become a key economic sector).
The three biggest challenges of travel industry in Vietnam
According to businesses and research of Vietnam Report, currently, travel industry in Vietnam is facing the three biggest challenges including: Exploiting tourism resources not commensurate with the available potential; No resources have been mobilized to support tourism development; Lacking of infrastructure, transportation is not convenient.
Firstly, although it is assessed that the country has many advantages in tourism resources, the exploitation capacity is not commensurate with the available potential. International tourists are mainly concentrated in branded tourist destinations (Nha Trang, Da Nang, Phu Quoc …), while many new heritage (Co To, Ly Son …) are not attractive to tourists, length of stay (if any) is short, spending of guests is not high.
Secondly, to develop the tourism industry, it is necessary to have a policy orientation to synchronously develop the related services such as passenger transport, health care, telecommunications …However, the current sanctions as well as the current situation of industry linkages are still inadequate, so it is difficult to keep visitors in the next visit.
Thirdly, along with the increase in income, the number of middle and high-class tourists is increasing, requiring the industry-technical infrastructure system to improve correspondingly in both quantity and quality, however, the number of high-class hotels, the quality of ancillary services, security, environment … has not met their expectations, affecting the perception of tourists.
The trend of self-tourism, the development of technology and the urgent issue of building a communication image of travel industry in Vietnam
A recent study by the Department of Statistics and the Department of Tourism of Ho Chi Minh city has shown an increasing trend of free travel, self-organizing tours for tourists. Survey of travel companies shows that the number of customers buying package tours is still large, but the number of customers buying retail services (tour at destination) is on the rise. This invisible trend generally reduces the revenue of tourism companies.
Along with the development of technology, tourists, especially young people often use the internet to search for information and book travel services. More than 85% of tourists participating in the survey of Vietnam Report said they first searched for information about Vietnam tourism on the internet / e-newspaper, before consulting with acquaintances and friends. This shows that travel businesses do not take advantage of this channel effectively, so it is easy to miss their potential customers.
The results of the media analysis of Vietnam Report show that the number of articles about businesses is very small, the appearance of business representatives is not much (compared to other service sectors such as transportation, real products – drinks, retail …). In terms of the diversity of topic groups covered, the majority of business information is focused on Image / PR and Price topics.
It can be seen that businesses are not fully aware of the role of internet / electronic newspaper in promoting tourism brands, so there is no proper investment. This is an issue “going against the times” of tourism businesses in particular and Vietnam’s tourism industry in general.
Recommendations for the growth of Vietnam’s tourism industry
Tourism experts have presented a group of five recommended solutions to develop Vietnam’s tourism industry, including:
Completing regulations on tourism management, preventing and eliminating the situation of organizing illegal tours.
Comprehensive tourism planning, investing in infrastructure (airports, highways …), material and technical facilities suitable to the potential of tourism exploitation in local communities.
There is a long-term visa exemption policy for key markets (Vietnam is currently the most restrictive visa exemption country in the region).
Developing green tourism, educating the community on sustainable tourism, raising the awareness of dealing with tourists, preserving and promoting the national cultural identity …
Strengthening the management of service quality and tourism security, eliminating price pressures, theft, storks … at tourist attractions.
Vietnam’s tourism industry has many positive signals, but the remaining weaknesses are not few. Therefore, to develop and improve the competitiveness of the industry effectively needs the cooperation of all businesses. The growth of each business will contribute to create momentum for the growth of the whole industry, and the development of business reputation will be the basis for bringing Vietnam’s tourism brand further, not only in the region but also all around the world.
List of Top 10 prestigious travel and tourism companies of Vietnam in 2018
On January 4, 2019, Vietnam Report Joint Stock Company (Vietnam Report) in collaboration with VietnamNet Newspaper announced the Top 10 prestigious Travel and Tourism Companies in 2018.
- Vietnam Tourism Transport and Marketing Joint Stock Company – VIET TRAVEL
- Travel service one member limited company
- FIDITOUR JOINT STOCK COMPANY
- Ben Thanh Tourist Service Joint Stock Company
- HANOITOURIST Travel Company – Hanoi Tourism Corporation
- Exotissimo Vietnam Tourism Joint Stock Company
- Vietnam-Hanoi Joint Stock Company
- TST Tourism and Trading Service Joint Stock Company
- Vietnam buffalo Tourist Co., Ltd.
- Anex Vietnam Tourism and Trading Co., Ltd