Winners of World Travel Awards announced

Thomas Schmelter (2nd, R), IHG area general manager in Vietnam and Lee Yong Nam (2nd, L), owner of InterContinental Asiana Saigon lift the World Travel Awards accolade at a presentation in India last week - Photo: Courtesy of InterContinental Asiana Saigon

HCMC – Organizers of the World Travel Awards have named four hotel and spa properties in Vietnam in the list of Asian winners for the prestigious industry accolade in 2010 based on the votes cast by travel professionals and consumers worldwide.

Travel professionals have chosen InterContinental Asiana Saigon as Vietnam’s Leading Hotel, Sheraton Hanoi Hotel as Vietnam’s Leading Business Hotel and Evason Ana Mandara properties including the one in Nha Trang as Vietnam’s Leading Resort and Leading Spa Resort.

The properties were selected as the winners of the 2010 World Travel Award Winners for Asia based on different categories, including services and business performance. The survey attracted votes from 183,000 travel professionals, including travel agencies, tour and transport companies and tourism organizations in over 160 countries and territories.

Jolyon Bulley, vice president of operations for South East & South West Asia of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts (IHG), said in a statement that the Leading Hotel accolade was great testament to a new property like InterContinental Asiana Saigon, which was opened on September 9 last year.

Thomas Schmelter, IHG area general manager in Vietnam, said the InterContinental Asiana Saigon hotel and residences as well as IHG management had successfully dealt with the challenges of opening a new complex and have delivered good results.

Winners of the regional arena will be qualified to compete in World Travel Awards 2010 Grand Final in London before World Travel Market kicks off on November 7.

Related Articles

• Green cars begin world race
• Beauty queens call for water protection
• Intel to fund high-tech computer lab at RMIT
• Northern crooners dominate singing contest
• Real win aristocratic duel, slick Arsenal cruise

Asia travel industry has bright outlook: Abacus CEO

Abacus International President and CEO Robert Bailey at the media briefing for the 7th Abacus International Conference in HCMC on Wednesday evening - Photo: Mong Binh

HCMC – The sunshine is casting over Asia’s travel industry, giving regional travel agents confidence in continuing recovery and growth toward the end of this year and beyond, Abacus International President and CEO Robert Bailey said.

Bailey quoted the latest Abacus Asia Travel Sentiment Survey conducted by Asia’s leading provider of travel solutions and services as saying that up to 62% of travel agents anticipate a promising industry outlook for the next half year.

Bailey highlighted the survey findings at a media briefing on Wednesday evening ahead of the 7th Abacus International Conference 2010 that will kick-off in HCMC on Thursday. He said in a welcome letter handed to the Daily that the event would touch on rewarding topics, with the focus on the changes within Asia and how these changes will lead growth opportunities in this region.

Bailey said recent positive growth in travel bookings had fuelled optimism for the industry’s outlook and for Abacus as its total booking volumes to August recorded 11% year-on-year growth with the number of travelers rising by 15%.

“This trend is expected to continue into the first quarter of 2011. This has been a better than expected result from our earlier forecast of 3-5% in the first half,” Bailey said. He credited the growth to the pent-up demand for leisure travel as well as the return of corporate travel.

Bailey said China and India continued to lead Asia’s travel industry growth but stressed the important role of countries in Indochina. In his presentation at the media briefing, Bailey listed Vietnam alongside China and India as key markets in Asia Pacific growth spurt.

Bailey said Asia certainly remained the most dynamic region, as proved by a surge in international arrivals to Asia Pacific and the expected US$5.2 billion profits from carriers in the region this year.

Preliminary data from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) showed the number of international visitors to the region in July increased by 15% year-on-year and the January-July figure was up 12% over the same period last year.

Though corporate travelers remain cautious with their travel expenditure and leisure travelers continue to look for the best bargains, Abacus’ survey indicated travel agents still believed the corporate segment as having the most room for growth.

On another aspect, Bailey said mobile platform was standing out within the travel industry and its applications were rapidly being developed to meet the demand, particularly in Asia Pacific where there are over 450 million mobile Internet subscribers.

The dynamic online landscape in Asia, online and mobile solutions and applications for the industry, corporate productivity and opportunities in Indochina are among the topics on the table at the international conference. The event will end this weekend.

Related Articles

• PM foresees bright future for co-operation with Africa
• Energy group asks for 50% price hike
• PM sets agenda for insolvent shipbuilder
• HCMC to relay grand sale program to November
• Green cars begin world race

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

Travel show ends with positive feedback from business

Tran Thai Nguyen (L), assistant director of sales and marketing of the five-star Rex Hotel, discusses with a foreign visitor at the International Travel Expo in HCMC late last week - Photo: Dao Loan

HCMC – The sixth International Travel Expo closed in HCMC last Saturday with positive feedback from local tourism services providers given a rise in foreign buyers and promising deals at the event.

The organizers of the three-day exhibition at the Saigon Convention and Exhibition Center in District 7 are still taking formal reports from exhibitors but what local exhibitors have said indicates better results than last year’s event.

Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing manager of Saigontourist Travel Service Co., told the Daily that the tour operators met 55 potential buyers who pledged to cooperate, send tourists and hold more talks.

“We met product managers and people in charge of market development and will have more negotiations later,” she said, adding many buyers in previous events came to seek information only.

According to the organizing committee, there were around 170 local exhibitors and about 150 foreign buyers at the event, up by nearly 50 from the last travel expo.

Other local sellers told the Daily that in the previous shows, many foreign people posed themselves as buyers but just visited the events to sell their products and services.

“The event did not attract as many buyers as professional events in foreign countries but we met real buyers there. It’s better than the last events,” said Nguyen Minh Quyen, deputy director of Ben Thanh Tourist Travel Service Center.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism joined hands with IIR Exhibitions Pte Ltd and VINEXAD to organize the expo.

Related Articles

• UK port businesses seek opportunities in VN
• Painters show works inspired by nature, nostalgia
• Photos show national heroes, celebrities
• PM foresees bright future for co-operation with Africa
• Most ice is unhygienic

Hanoi birthday bash fails to enthuse travel agents

It has been the most anticipated event of the year, but travel agents and domestic tourists do not seem to be caught up in the enthusiasm as Hanoi’s 1,000th anniversary celebration gets underway today.

There has been no increase in prices of tours, but travel agents are concerned about difficulties in transportation because of the ban on vehicles on several streets. They are also worried about the traffic jams likely to occur during the ten-day festivities.

Nguyen Cong Hoan, deputy director of travel agent Hanoi Redtour, said: “We are not providing tours to Hanoi for this event.”

It was difficult to work out plans for the tours because the event’s detailed program was declared too late, he said.

“The most difficult part for tours at this time is not booking air tickets or hotels, but vehicles to transport visitors,” he said.

The Hanoi Transport Department did not announce the list of streets where vehicles will be banned on the festive days until September 20, while most travel agents have to book hotels months earlier.

Many hotels are located on banned streets, so it would be impossible to get there by car. Also, agents could not cancel bookings they’d already made to seek other hotels with better access and facilities for their customers.

Other shortcomings in organizing the festival have also puzzled travel agents. Hoan said: “We don’t know which programs (of the event) visitors can attend, or where to buy tickets for them.” He was also concerned about taking care of his customers as a huge number of visitors will rush to Hanoi at this time.

Duong Mai Lan, head of the market research and development bureau of travel agent Vietravel, admitted that the number of visitors booking tours on the occasion of the festival is not big. Her firm is now still selling tours for local customers to Hanoi during the festival.

Due to the ban on vehicles in some routes, and difficulties in booking hotels, the firm has to change some programs in tours to Hanoi during this event, Lan said. “We may book hotels in Ha Long Town instead of Hanoi as previously planned.”

Nguyen Ngoc An, who is in charge of domestic tours for travel agent Fiditour, said they had not focused on attracting tourists for the occasion, partly due to difficulties in booking low-cost air tickets, and transportation of customers in vehicle-banned streets.

The firm has received more than 100 customers for Hanoi tours during the event, he said.

Some people in Ho Chi Minh City have said they are fed up of the traffic jams in their own city and do not want to experience the same again in Hanoi.

The director of a travel agency said it was not peak tourism season right now. There are a few families booking tours, because children have to go to school, he said.

Plenty of room

Hanoi expects to welcome 700,000 to 800,000 local and foreign visitors during the event, according to the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

However, even given this influx, there has been no shortage of hotel rooms for visitors and prices have not increased by much.

Lan of Vietravel said most hotel rooms had been reserved months ago, so there was no increase in the prices.

A representative of the Hoa Binh hotel said: “The possibility of hotel room shortage is very low. We have many rooms vacant right now.”

To serve visitors for the occasion, Hanoi has garnered an additional 4,000 hotel rooms. The city now has ten five-star hotels, several dozen four or three-star ones, and many mini hotels.

Related Articles

• Hanoi birthday bash fails to enthuse travel agents
• Hanoi lines up dazzling events for 1,000th birthday
• Palace inauguration marks city’s birthday
• State-owned sector fails as economic spearhead
• Green cars begin world race

Locals travel more, opt for budget tours: survey

Local tourists visit Thien Mu Pagoda in the former imperial capital of Hue. More local people plan to travel this year but tend to spend less during their tours - Photo: Anh Khoi

HCMC – The number of local people making plans for vacations this year has increased strongly, but they tend to spend less on travel, according to a survey released here on Wednesday by the local newspaper Sai Gon Giai Phong.

Nearly 64.5% of the respondents in the survey said they and their families made frequent trips every year, compared to over 54% of last year’s similar survey. The newspaper conducted direct interviews with 2,100 people in HCMC about the travel trend from April to July as part of a program to select Vietnam’s favorite travel trademarks in 2010.

While more people are traveling this year, they tend to spend less on travel, as more people bought budget tours and fewer people agreed to pay a higher cost, according to the survey.

It showed that 19.9% of the respondents agreed to spend more than VND10 million per trip, down from 20.2% of 2009, and 46.3% of the respondents agreed to spend VND5-10 million per trip compared to over 57.4% in last year’s survey.

Meanwhile, the proportion of people willing to pay VND2-5 million per trip increased from 22.3% of last year to 33.8% in this year’s survey.

The budget-saving trend is clearer with 24% of respondents saying the most uncomfortable thing in travel is the additional charges from service providers, followed by complaints about the unprofessional service from tour guides and food quality.

Despite the price-conscious trend, travelers still choose well-established brands when traveling, rather than comparing prices.

More than 52% of respondents said they selected tours from the trustworthy brands while only nearly 17% of travelers saw prices as a decisive factor.

Tran The Tuyen, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, said Sai Gon Giai Phong had made the survey with people from 18 to 64 years old, who were divided into different income categories, from VND3 million to VND5 million per month, from VND5.1 million to VND8 million, then under VND3 million and over VND8 million.

Up to 43% of respondents searched for travel information on the internet, while 40% obtained it from friends or relatives, according to the survey. The marketing method via leaflets and advertising is less influential on customers as only nearly 9.3% of the people looked for travel information by this way.

As for domestic destinations, local travelers still preferred familiar places such as Halong Bay, Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, Hanoi, and Phan Thiet.

The newspaper on Wednesday handed out the Vietnam Favorite Trademark Awards 2010 to 61 companies, including travel firms, hotels, restaurants, resorts, supermarkets, banks, insurance service providers, and other consumer service providers.

Tuyen said along with direct interviews, nearly 6,640 readers of the newspaper have voted for such brand names.

Related Articles

• Contest rewards travelers with another holiday
• Committee to discuss adoption guidelines
• Foreign sea leases deprive locals of living
• Tourists develop eco-awareness
• Polish carrier names TransViet as general agent