Int’l arrivals in high season recover in uncertainties

Foreign tourists join an outdoor activity to make artistic articles from clay in a tour in Vietnam arranged by Saigontourist Travel Service Co. - Photo: Hoang Long

HCMC – Local travel firms have reported recovery in international tourists in the high season of the inbound tourism, but most still refrain from predicting business outcome for the rest of the year, saying uncertainties are still ahead.

Saigontourist Travel Service Co. has reported a good number of foreign travelers in the January-September period at 180,000, up 11% year-on-year. The company’s deputy director Hoang Huu Loc said that it was still very difficult to talk about any estimate for the high season and the whole year.

“So far, we have some bookings for the whole year, but the majority of travelers tend to purchase tours some weeks or one month in advance. Based on current figures we can say the business is increasing at the moment but we can’t say about this year’s growth rate,” he said.

The company names France and Germany among the major source markets with good growth rates.

Normally, travel companies who receive tourists from long-haul destinations such as Europe and North America often close the tours in November or December, but now the companies are still open to requests from customers.

Asian Trails Co., Ltd., another major travel firm in the city, is also reserved about the year’s business.

“It’s hard to assess the market. It’s changing so fast. At my company, the number of tourists still has not recovered to the same level of 2007 or 2008,” said Bui Viet Thuy Tien, director of the company.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has reported more than 3.7 million foreign visitor arrivals to the country during the January-September period, a staggering increase of 34.2% year-on-year.

HCMC as the country’s biggest tourism center said it has welcomed 2.2 million international visitors in the period, up 13% over the same period of last year.

However, local travel firms have reported a lower growth rate of real foreign arrivals, not only from long-haul but also short-haul markets like Japan and South Korea.

“At my company, Singapore, Philippines and China markets take the lead in the growth rate, but the growth rate is still lower than in the good year of 2007,” said Tran Vinh Loc, director of Lac Hong Voyages.

“We are still selling packaged tours as traditional tours to foreign travelers but we are following new trends of travel to make new products in the coming times,” Loc said.

Travel companies have found travelers tending to travel on free and easy tours as well as budget and short-day tours.

Related Articles

• Int’l arrivals in high season recover in uncertainties
• Intel to fund high-tech computer lab at RMIT
• Vietnam Air accepts web check-in for int’l flights
• Poor rural children blaze education trail
• Timber-product exporters sign $3b deals

Bold moves suggested to make Indochina real single destination

Buyers and sellers meet in a business matching session at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in District 7 - Photo: Dao Loan

HCMC – Several overseas travel firms on Wednesday called on tourism authorities of the three Indochina countries to go beyond the slogan to make the sub-region a real single destination by making cross-border travel free of red tape.

Gabriella Papp, sales manager of Eurohand Travel from Hungary, suggested that the three countries consider the possibility of issuing a common visa for travelers to cross the border easier. The common visa will help international tourists to save time and budget and make it easier for them to tour the three destinations.

“There are no embassies of Laos and Cambodia in Hungary, so tourists can benefit greatly if the three countries have strong cooperation to make the one-visa procedure,” she said at the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Destination Nexus for Tourism seminar held in HCMC’s District 7.

Of course this bold suggestion is difficult to realize given the huge amount of work to be tackled to iron out related procedures.

On the first day of the gathering, visa procedures were also the issue that captured great interest from overseas travel firms.

A representative from Italia complained about the complicated visa procedures in Vietnam, let alone the paperwork to enter Indochina, so the travel firm wanted to have clear information about procedures.

A representative from Bangladesh raised a similar question, wanting to know the easy way to get a visa to enter Vietnam. “And besides Vietnam, we also want to know about the procedures in Laos and Cambodia to bring tourists in,” he said.

Other travel agents suggested that Vietnam give visa exemption to visitors from potential markets.

Vu The Binh, head of the Travel Department under Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said that Vietnam is giving visa exemption to nine countries in ASEAN and some other countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Russia.

The visa exemption policy is only offered to visitors from those countries with huge potential as a key source market for Vietnam, he said.

However, Binh said visas for travelers were not that difficult if foreign travel companies cooperate with local travel firms to make the procedures.

The tourism official also noted that Vietnam has been exempting visa fees during promotion programs to make it more attractive to international visitors. “We expect the next program (of visa fee exemption) will be launched next month. It will run until the end of this year,” he said.

Foreign participants at the seminar said the three countries are on the right way to strengthen cooperation to promote Indochina as a single destination. However, the three countries need more efforts in developing products, and linking tourist sites for better attraction.

A tour operator from Myanmar suggested that Vietnam Airlines need to connect flight from HCMC to Siem Reap in Cambodia and then Myanmar along with linking flights from Paris to HCMC and Siem Reap and then Myanmar to woo more international tourists.

The seminar is one of several activities of the yearly International Travel Expo in HCMC. Other activities staged on Wednesday included the ASEAN Tourism Forum, buyers-sellers speech dating, and a special dinner to welcome foreign buyers. The exhibition and other meetings of tourism officials will take place on Thursday in the city.

Related Articles

• Bold moves suggested to make Indochina real single destination
• Market moves up sharply
• Assoc insists on power price hike despite protests
• Girls gear up for Vietnam’s Next Top Model
• Air France unveils non-stop services to HCMC