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.

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Japanese company set to serve Vietnamese agriculture

The Japanese multinational Sumitomo Corporation on October 14 officially
opened a company in Ho Chi Minh City to provide products that serve
the agricultural sector.

The corporation’s
chairman Ray Nishimoto, representatives of the Japanese Consulate
General and others from relevant Vietnamese agencies and institutions
attended the event.

Currently, the company is
producing pesticides such as Padan 95SP, 50 SP, Validacin 3L, 5L, Sumi
Eight 12.5 WP, Dantotsu 16 WDG, 50 WDG, and Starner 20 WP, which
annihilates bacteria that cause rotten fruit and vegetables. These
products help farmers increase productivity, ensure product quality for
domestic and export markets, and contribute to building an advanced
agricultural sector.

According to Kimitoshi Umeda,
the corporation’s global marketing director, the Sumitomo Vietnam has
worked out policies on researching and developing products and waste
treatment that do not harm the environment.

In addition, the product price is suitable for Vietnamese farmers, he said./.

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Economic competitive index now in public eye

Cement, steel, chemical fertilisers, feeds and milk were listed as having relatively healthy competitive behaviours.

The assessment was reported by the Competition Management Department
under the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Hanoi on October 14 for
the first time.

However, some products of the
above-mentioned five industries, including imported powder milk and
construction steel, were criticised for unhealthy competitiveness due to
their misleading advertisements.

The report,
which covered 10 economic sectors, slammed five other industries, namely
aviation, banking, insurance, petroleum distribution and
telecommunication, for unhealthy competitive behaviour, citing abuse of
advertisements and discounts to gain market share.

Deputy Director of the Competition Management Department Vu Ba Phu
emphasised that the report aimed to establish and maintain a fair and
healthy competitive environment for all economic sectors in Vietnam .

The report was expected to increase awareness of competition policies and law among enterprise circles, Phu said.

Dr Dinh Thi My Loan, General Secretary of the Vietnam Retailers
Association, said the ranking was based on the impact of price changes,
consumer responses and concerns about the surveyed industries or
products.

Loan, however, said the report wording remained “soft and yet fully reflecting customer worries”.

Her view was shared by another expert, Vo Tri Thanh, Deputy Rector of
the Central Economic Research and Management Institute, who said the
report should be subjected to objective evaluation by experts.

The report, prepared under the sponsorship of the Beyond WTO
programme, will be released in HCM City on October 20, following its
Hanoi release.

The Competition Management
Department unveiled a plan to conduct research and supervise the
competitive structure of several other economic sectors for inclusion in
the annual report./.

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New council formed to fight trade fraud

The consultancy council for warning and preventing trade fraud in
certificates of origin (C/O) under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (VCCI) made its debut at a ceremony in Hanoi on October
14.

At the ceremony, VCCI’s Vice President Pham Gia Tuc said
that the council aims to protect Vietnamese producers and enterprises,
as many foreign organisations use fake Vietnamese C/O.

Tuc said
that to make the council more effective, besides cooperating with
domestic organisations, Vietnam needs to work closer with foreign
organisations involved in fighting trade fraud, chambers of commerce and
agencies that grant C/O.

Tran Thi Thu Huong, the council’s
president, said that the council will warn Vietnamese enterprises to
find out more about their customers’ products before signing any
contracts, as they risk facing anti-dumping taxes.

The council
will work with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to provide
consultancies to foreign enterprises before they decide to invest in the
country.

According to VCCI, the number of cases of C/O fraud has
been steadily increasing, especially products that pay anti-dumping
taxes./.

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Market participants still lukewarm despite rally

HCMC – The local market bounced back on Wednesday given supporting news of interbank and lending rate cuts, with the VN-Index gaining 3.38 points, or 0.74%, from the previous session to close at 457.7. However, participation was still lukewarm, with the trade volume dropping and value merely inching up.

The market opened on a slightly weaker note and dropped 1.09 points to 453.23 after the first matching phase.  It recovered slightly from the second matching phase and then moved higher to close at the highest level of the day.

Liquidity stayed low with 25 million shares worth VND698 billion traded, dropping by 17% in volume but increasing by 12% in value against the previous session respectively. On the southern bourse, bids rose 5.7% to 56.7 million shares while offers plunged 20% from the day earlier to 46.4 million shares.

Up to 135 stocks closed the day higher while 71 stocks lost ground, of which 11 issues hit their ceiling prices and three others closed at the floor prices.

Ocean Group Co. (OGC) remained the most active traded stock, advancing 2% to VND30,100 per share on the volume of 1.2 million shares, followed by Agribank Securities Co. (AGR) that jumped to its ceiling price of VND12,800 with around 950,000 shares traded.

Foreign trading improved as the investors bought 4.3 million shares worth VND162 billion and offloaded 2.5 million shares worth VND63 billion, making up 25% and 10% of the market’s buying and selling value respectively.

HCMC Securities Corp. in its comment said on Wednesday’s gain was important in technical terms as the market broke through all major moving averages. “But with volumes at these levels we should not put too much fate in technical moves like these. Investor interest remains very low and it seems that risk tolerance is extremely low at this moment,” said the stock broker.

“Although on Thursday’s move could gather some momentum over the coming days and put price a bit higher, we believe that there are other factors such as the large supply overhang that continue to keep a lid on equity prices. Therefore, any rally is likely to be short-lived for the moment and probably for the coming weeks. With valuations and dividend yields at very reasonable levels, especially if we compare them to a number of other markets in the region, we continue to recommend investors to accumulate positions on any correction,” the broker added.

The Hanoi market also recovered on Wednesday but turnover kept moving down to just VND370 billion. The HNX-Index inched up 0.58 point, or 0.48%, from the previous day to 120.39.

Out of the 344 listed stocks, 134 closed the day higher and 121 stocks closed down, of which four stocks hit the ceiling prices and seven others closed at their floor prices. Foreigners were net buyers to the tune of VND4.6 billion worth of shares.

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Local traders wooed to explore Cuba’s new policies

HCMC – Vietnamese traders are being advised to join a trade and investment forum next month in Cuba’s capital city La Habana, which a trade official said would be a good chance for them to explore new policy changes in the country.

The first-ever forum of its type between Vietnamese and Cuban traders would open up many opportunities for Vietnamese entrepreneurs in both investment and trade, said Nguyen Xuan Khien, head of the American Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

He said that Cuba’s recent moves to call for investment into real estate, and give support to the private sector in business deals would be a good opportunity for local traders to push relations with Cuba’s state-owned enterprises.

Khien noted that one of the most liberal policies in the Central American country is that it allows for land leasing contracts with terms of up to 99 years for developers of golf courses, hotels and resorts. The American Market Department will increase researching to provide local traders with further information on preferential investment policies of Cuba, he added.

“Given good political relationship between Vietnam and Cuba, I think that our traders will have more advantages in entering the very new market,” Khien said.

Khien’s department will co-host the Vietnam-Cuba Trade and Investment Forum in La Habana, which is expected to appeal traders of rice, garment and textile, footwear, electronics, and pharmaceutics among others.

Cuba has set up trading relations with Vietnam for long, buying rice, electronics, processed foods, and textile products from Vietnam but mostly through government-to-government contracts. Now is the time for private traders to bolster trade relations.

However, Cuba with its closed-market policy for half a century also has caused difficulties for international traders. Dang Xuan Cuong, head of the import-export division of Vifon Co. specializing in processed foods, said his company began exporting to the country in 2008 and met many difficulties concerning the payment and transport.

Cuban importers, mostly state-owned enterprises, often ask for deferred payment from 300 to 500 days after delivery.

“This retard is seen as part of their trading habits” Cuong said.

The food processor and other enterprises mostly have to deliver goods via a third country to solve the matter.

Another difficulty, according to this salesman, is due to the trade embargo imposed by the U.S. on Cuba that makes sea transport to Cuba prolong up to three months. Despite the difficulties, according to Cuong, Vifon’s next move is to deploy market researching programs in order to grab the different taste and customer habits in this pretty new market.

“I find business opportunities in this market, and market research is the first step for deeper entrance into the market. This is very important since with the constant improvement on policy, I think Cuba in one or two years will be attracting a lot more investors from around the world,” Cuong added.

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Domestic firms gain confidence in business outlook: survey

Domestic firms are pinning high hope on business outlook since Vietnam’s business confidence index (BCI) bounded back in the third quarter, up three points over the last quarter and 37 points against the third quarter in 2008.

The survey, conducted by Vietnam World Vest Base Financial Intelligence Services and PetroVietnam Finance Investment and Consultancy Co, was carried out on 262 companies in 11 domestic key industries, of which over 70 percent were medium and small-sized businesses.

The result signaled a recovery and improved investment potential for Vietnam’s economy in the near future, compared with the first six months of the year.

Over 70 percent of them believed that Vietnam's economy was better than a year ago and nearly 73 percent of businesses believe their profits will rise in the next 12 months. The number of businesses who were optimistic about the prospects for profit growth was around 10.8 percent in the first quarter’s BCI survey.

About 77.23 percent of surveyed enterprises surveyed said that the general economy of Vietnam is now better than the previous 12 months.

When asked to make a forecast about the country’s economy in the next 12 months, 84.35 percent of those interviewed said the economy would be better and none believed they would see a worse economy than during the past six months.

Compared with the second quarter, the number of optimistic businesses increased by 7.19 percent and that of pessimistic ones decreased by 1.85 percent.

As many as 60 percent would increase their employment and invest more in fixed assets while 72 percent believed that their revenues and profits would rise in the next 12 months, the survey said.

But the number of businesses who were worried about revenues and profits were up 0.06 percent and 1.96 percent over the last quarter.

The result also showed that many domestic businesses were still concerned about the adverse effects to their business operations of inflation and fluctuations in the exchange rate between the US dollar and Vietnamese dong.

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