From the beginning of 2024 until now, the average price of economy class tickets on some domestic routes has increased compared to the same period in 2023. However, ticket prices have increased following the general trend due to market supply and demand factors, a decrease in the size of the operating aircraft fleet, increased travel demand during holidays, Tet... In addition, the price of aviation fuel has increased.
This trend has somewhat affected the travel decisions of Vietnamese tourists. On this occasion, according to some ticket offices, Tet At Ty flight tickets were not recorded to be sold out as early as the same period, only some peak flights on the 4th and 5th of Tet were temporarily sold out.
Mr. Dang Manh Phuoc, CEO & Founder of The Outbox Company, commented: "Domestic airfares have increased, and the number of domestic flights has decreased. This has more or less affected the competitiveness of domestic destinations, especially when compared to other countries in the region with similar flight hours."
Mr. Tran Sy Son, CEO of PYS Travel, revealed statistics from the beginning of the year until now: "Because of high airfares, many tourists have switched to choosing road tours, or booking combo packages of airfares and hotel rooms to be more proactive about their schedules and optimize costs. Even the "bloom" of cheap China tours, even under 10 million VND, has helped tourists have more options."
Sharing the same opinion, Ms. Hoang Nhung, Head of Sales Department of Phuong Hoang Tourism, said that most Vietnamese tourists like to travel abroad with the criteria: beautiful - cheap and very cheap.
The favorite outbound destinations of Vietnamese tourists are still mainly concentrated in the Asian region, including traditional Northeast Asian destinations such as Korea, Japan, Taiwan (China), especially China, as well as countries in the Southeast Asian region, especially Thailand.
However, according to Mr. Phuoc, the demand for domestic tourism of Vietnamese tourists still accounts for more than 70% of the total tourism demand of the market. The domestic tourism demand of the Vietnamese market is expected to remain at a positive growth rate in 2024, although it will decrease compared to 2022, when tourism boomed after COVID-19.
"The current travel demand of domestic Vietnamese tourists focuses mainly on vacation trips with friends and family over short or weekend breaks at resorts.
Vietnamese tourists have also preferred independent travel in recent years instead of booking services through travel agencies. For short vacations in close proximity, tourists will therefore also choose independent means of transport with the development of the highway system," the expert shared.
Mr. Phuoc added: "From that reality, it can be seen that although Vietnamese tourists still have high demand for domestic tourism, they mainly focus on resort tourism products and tourists also tend to choose independent travel more and more."
Besides, compared to foreign tourism products, domestic tourism is somewhat "inferior" in terms of diversity.
Domestic tourism products are still limited in terms of diversity and attractiveness and are only dependent on pure resort products. Therefore, tourists often prioritize other destinations outside of Vietnam with the same price or even lower in terms of cost to receive different and more novel experience values.
