Tourism businesses expect a "golden opportunity" to attract visitors during Tet

International delegation arrived in Ho Chi Minh City by ship on October 2, 2022. Photo: T.D

International visitors soar

Despite many difficulties, the international tourist market has recovered. According to the announcement from the General Statistics Office in the first nine months of 2022, international visitors to Vietnam reached about 1.87 million arrivals, 16.4 times higher than in the same period last year.

Of which, international arrivals by air accounted for 88.6%. Revenue from accommodation and catering services in the past 9 months was estimated at 430.9 trillion VND, up 54.7% over the same period last year. due to the high demand for entertainment and tourism in the summer. Travel revenue in 9 months of 2022 is estimated at 18.2 trillion VND, 3.9 times higher than the same period last year due to the strong recovery of tourism activities, especially domestic tourism.

Notably, in the first days of October, provinces and cities crowded with international delegations to visit by sea, promising to open a bumper season. Typically, on September 2, Saigon Port Joint Stock Company cooperated with Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and travel businesses to welcome a delegation of nearly 100 international tourists to visit by high-class yacht from France.

This is the first foreign tourist group to Ho Chi Minh City by ship after nearly 3 years of being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Then, on the evening of October 7, the 5-star Mekong Princess cruise ship docked in Ninh Kieu, bringing a group of New Zealand tourists to visit Can Tho city.

On October 9, a ship named Le Lape'rouse (France) brought more than 200 international guests, mainly from the European - American market, to visit scenic spots in Da Nang city and Hoi An ancient town. On October 13, a group of more than 100 tourists on a 5-star luxury yacht of Ponant (France) also docked at Ha Long International Passenger Port, Quang Ninh to begin the journey to visit Ha Long Bay and other tourist attractions.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), air travel has increased sharply in the Northern Hemisphere in the summer of 2022. According to the IATA air transport update, total air traffic in August increased 75% over the same period last year. Notably, Asia recorded the strongest recovery in air travel with air traffic increasing more than 3 times. IATA forecasts passenger traffic will return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024, after falling by as much as 60% in 2020 as countries closed borders to prevent the pandemic. IATA also forecasts that the aviation industry in 2023 will be more prosperous. This opens up many opportunities for Vietnam's tourism industry.

Tet market expectations

According to travel and tour companies, along with the opening of many international markets, recently tourism activities bringing Vietnamese tourists abroad (outbound) are very active, and the number of tourists wishing to work abroad. Tourist visas skyrocketed. Companies also started selling Tet tours to welcome the exciting tourism demand during the Lunar New Year and the Lunar New Year 2023.

Up to now, Vietravel has received more than 1,700 interested visitors and registered to book tours to Korea and Japan since launching the year-end promotion program. It is expected that in the autumn-winter of this year, Vietravel will serve about 90,000 visitors. Ms. Huynh Phan Phuong Hoang, Deputy General Director of Vietravel, said that the business has offered to sell tours departing during the New Year holidays as well as the Lunar New Year. This year's market "opens up" so it will definitely grow more than last year, in which the overseas segment is expected to recover.

From October 14, 2022, Saigontourist Travel Service Company officially opened for sale more than 300 tours of the Lunar New Year 2023 at home and abroad and is expected to serve more than 20,000 visitors.

According to Mr. Tran Quoc Bao, Deputy General Director of Saigontourist Travel, since September 2022, the business has carefully prepared products, services and personnel to serve guests during this year's Lunar New Year. The Tet program is not only diverse and unique in terms of itinerary, but also very rich in departure schedules from the 1st to the 10th of Tet, especially flight tours. With a top commitment to service quality, Saigontourist Travel chooses to cooperate with reputable and professional service providers at home and abroad, ensuring the quality of services and products at low cost. The increase is only 5% - 10% compared to weekdays even though the market has many price fluctuations.

Airlines are also actively involved when tourism flourishes with increased flight frequency, opening new international routes. At the same time, in order to serve tourists at the end of the year, despite difficulties, airlines are still carrying out aircraft rental orders on schedule.

For example, Bamboo Airways received one more Airbus A321 Neo on October 8, bringing the total fleet to 30. Meanwhile, in mid-October 2022, Vietjet welcomed another Airbus A330, with nearly 400 seats, double that of the A321. It is expected that by the end of this year, the airline will add seven more aircraft to Vietnam, bringing the total to about 78.

Although many positive signs have been recorded about the source of visitors, according to experts, the growth rate of the international tourism market has not yet increased as before the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, the tourism industry has only gone one-third of the way to the target of 5 million international visitors to Vietnam, requiring travel businesses, service providers, tourist resorts and destinations to continue to innovate and offer many strong products to attract tourists.