After a period of traveling to nearby destinations in Southeast Asia, Vietnamese tourists began to travel more abroad and move on.
A group of tourists from Saigontourist Travel Service Company in Singapore. Photo: DNCC
Autumn is the time when many tourists buy tours to see yellow and red leaves and enjoy the pleasant weather in some destinations in Northeast Asia and Europe. The recent strong opening in Korea and Japan has revitalized the destination market in these countries, Vietnamese travel companies are busy bringing visitors to Korea and Japan.
There are private clients who regularly tour and large numbers of guests in groups are also available. They expect the increasing number of visitors in the fall to create momentum for the upcoming winter and Tet business seasons.
The number of tourists traveling abroad is increasing
According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Y Yen, general manager of Saigontourist Travel Service Company, the number of tourists traveling abroad is increasing. Currently, the company has started departing weekly routes to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, periodically to Korea for retail customers and then large groups of 200-300 guests; Customers register quite often for routes to the US and Europe, although the visa process is still difficult.
As for Japan, although it officially opened early this month, guests have booked tours through October and November, including the Combined Event Tour (MICE).
“The return of MICE customers from companies is a good thing. A few months ago, many companies were afraid to send employees and customers abroad due to concerns about uncertainties after the epidemic, but now we have received large delegations,” said Mr. Y Yen.
In some other companies, the number of tourists traveling abroad is also gradually increasing, but it is still present in countries in Southeast Asia, where it is easy to travel and has affordable prices. Tours to Europe and America also have customers, but not many and many companies also offer tours to Japan and Korea.
Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu, Marketing and Communications Director of Fiditour-Vietluxtour Travel, said the company has operated routes to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia quite often while preparing for the trips to Korea.
According to Ms. Bao Thu, the tour price to Southeast Asia is quite good at the moment, just like the tour to Thailand, the company Fiditour-Vietluxtour sells about 7-8 million VND/five days tour to Bangkok – Pattaya.
Foreign representatives promote tourism promotion
In recent days, tourism promotion agencies of Korea, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia… have continuously organized tourism promotion programs in Vietnam and met domestic enterprises to seek exchange opportunities.
Ms. Nguyen Thu Ha, marketing director of the Korea National Administration of Tourism’s representative office in Vietnam, said the number of Vietnamese visitors to Korea has increased from 1,000 visitors a week in June — the time this country just opened for tourism — to 7,000 visitors in August.
Overall, there were about 80,000 Vietnamese visitors to South Korea in the first eight months of this year. It is predicted that the number of visitors could increase higher as the tourist industry enters the tourist peak season in the fall and will reach 150,000 visitors throughout the year. A very modest (but acceptable) number compared to 550,000 in 2019, the time before the Covid-19 epidemic.
Currently, the country continues to organize face-to-face meetings at companies, seminars, trade shows and online advertisements, and the number of registered visitors from Vietnam is increasing rapidly.
According to many business people, the willingness of the Vietnamese people to travel abroad is very high, although the issuance of tourist visas for Australia, the UK and South Korea is still slow and delayed.
The tourism market is likely to become more bustling as the waiting time for procedures is reduced. Currently, there are companies such as Saigontourist Travel to support guests by organizing fingerprinting, taking photos and completing visa applications with the company to reduce the pressure on customers.
@ Saigon Tiep Thi
