With its characteristic content, bonny unbleached landscapes and affordability, Viet Nam has emerged as one of the top destinations for travellers from Island, Siam, Land and Southmost Choson, according to the recent Visa Globular Guidance Intentions Canvas.
The survey was discussed at a workshop on trends in international tourism to Viet Nam, held in Ha Noi yesterday. Forecasts on the nation’s tourism sector for the year ahead predict that 24 per cent of inbound travellers to Viet Nam will be from Singapore and Thailand (12 per cent from each country), followed by Australian visitors accounting for 10 per cent. The survey also highlighted a growing number of tourists from South Korea.
Natural scenery, good deals and promotions as well as political stability were cited as the key factors for visiting Viet Nam over the next two years. While in Viet Nam, future inbound travellers surveyed on their travel plans said they planned to enjoy outdoor activities, take food tours to explore the local cuisine and experience the local night life.
Lorijon Bacchi, Visa card’s country manager for Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia, said that with tourism emerging as one of Viet Nam’s key economic drivers, the survey results came at an idea time to show where visitors to Viet Nam would be coming from and what would motivate them in choosing destinations.
“Using data from the Visa Global Travel Intentions Survey 2011, the Vietnamese tourism industry can now identify opportunities to attract more tourists based specifically on inbound traveller preferences,” said Bacchi.
The Visa Survey quizzed over 11,000 travellers across 23 countries about their travel plans and preferences over the coming years. Interestingly, a large number of those surveyed said they would be willing to pay a premium for food (64 per cent), want to visit exotic destinations (65 per cent) and experience the local culture (63 per cent). Similarly, variety of food and dining options and lower travelling costs were also cited as key reasons for future inbound travel decisions. Bacchi said most inbound travellers to Viet Nam had already travelled to popular Asian destination Hong Kong. Many had also already visited nearby Asian destinations such as mainland China and Malaysia.
Viet Nam was likely to have mostly new visitors, who had not visited the country before. While variety of food offered was the key reason for past inbound travellers, future inbound travellers would revisit a place for its low travelling costs. Beautiful natural scenery attracted both past and future inbound travellers.
Hoang Thi Diep, vice chairperson of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said that thanks to the survey, the VNAT was able to gain useful resources and insights. Some of the findings on the most popular sources of information for future inbound travellers pointed to the importance of word-of-mouth recommendations, while information on hotel and tour booking websites also played an important role in fostering tourism.
The VNAT and Visa also mentioned the possibility of co-operating and sharing regular information in a bid to further promote Viet Nam among international tourists.
