Difficulties when customers change their travel tastes
Since the end of 2023, the Vietnamese tourist market has shifted in the context of increasing domestic airfares due to many factors such as limited number of aircraft, increased input costs...
Many Vietnamese tourists are switching to road travel, choosing nearby destinations that are convenient to travel by train, car, etc. In addition, tourists can easily choose foreign tours that suit their finances and time. For example, tours to China by both road and air are attracting tourists. According to Mr. Tran Sy Son, CEO of PYS Travel, the number of customers buying China tours from the company currently accounts for over 60% of the total number of customers booking foreign tours.
With a variety of tours including air and road tours, along with many flights of domestic and Chinese airlines, not only this unit but also other travel companies in Vietnam organize many tours to China at good prices, only about 4 million VND to 12 million VND.
From the perspective of market research and data analysis, Mr. Dang Manh Phuoc, CEO & Founder of The Outbox Company, confirmed: “China is one of the most popular and chosen destinations by Vietnamese tourists in the past 2 years, after COVID-19. Although the top tourist destinations of Vietnamese tourists are still traditional destinations such as Korea, Japan, Thailand, etc., China has quickly entered the Top 5 destinations of Vietnamese people this year with nearly 10% of tourists choosing it.”
However, the demand for domestic tourism of Vietnamese tourists still accounts for more than 70% of the total tourism demand of the market. One factor affecting the travel behavior of Vietnamese tourists is the increase in domestic airfares, the reduction in the number of domestic flights when the number of operating aircraft is limited. This more or less affects the competitiveness of domestic destinations, especially when compared with some other countries in the region with similar flight hours.
“Our country’s tourism industry is currently facing a situation where the diversity and attractiveness of domestic tourism products are limited and it is only dependent on pure resort products. Therefore, tourists will certainly prioritize other destinations outside of Vietnam with the same or even lower costs to receive different and more novel product values, in case they have other travel needs besides resort,” said Mr. Manh Phuoc.
On the business side, Mr. Tran Sy Son noted that the ratio of North-South visitors has changed compared to previous years, with the number of Southern visitors decreasing due to high airfares on the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route.
Due to the increase in airfares, domestic tour operators are facing many difficulties as customers can choose to go abroad at a cheaper cost than going on a domestic tour. In addition, many tourists have switched to taking road tours, or booking combo packages of airfares and hotel rooms to be more proactive about their schedules and optimize costs.
Timely solution
According to Mr. Manh Phuoc, the increase in airfares is an objective factor in the tourism business that destinations and businesses need to accept in order to have other suitable strategies. This expert advised stakeholders in the tourism industry to find more practical solutions from restructuring the target customer market to suit the current context, improving the quality and diversifying domestic tourism products instead of just depending on the group of resort destination products.
Travel businesses also need to possess their own competitive advantages in the context of the current rapid growth of independent travel. The travel demand of domestic Vietnamese tourists is currently mainly focused on leisure trips with friends and family over short breaks or weekends thanks to the development of the highway system.
For example, to overcome the problem of high tour prices due to high airfares, Mr. Tran Sy Son allowed the development of new road tour products, or road tours combined with train travel experiences, both increasing new experiences for customers and helping to optimize tour costs for customers. At the same time, for domestic tours, the schedules are designed with 1 or 2 additional highlight activities in the tour, to leave an impression on tourists. When going to Ha Giang, tourists will enjoy congee au tau of the H'Mong ethnic group. Or, after the recent storm Yagi, volunteer tours combined with tourism have also been deployed in some localities in the Northwest.
