Despite its obvious charms Vietnam’s tourism sector is looking for more repeat visitors

Vietnam’s tourism industry is witnessing its golden age. However, a new way is needed for it to coax more foreign tourists.

During his recent visit to Vietnam to help the country further promote its tourism image, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s secretary-general Francesco Frangialli said that he was “quite impressed” by Vietnam’s tourism industry, which had successfully reigned the economic downturn to make tremendous achievements, especially in 2010.

“Undoubtedly, Vietnam has become an emerging tourism destination in Asia. If more efforts are made in terms of promotion and creating an extraordinary brand, the country will soon have its name deeply carved on the world tourism map,” Frangialli said.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s (MCST) Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Vietnam’s tourism industry is witnessing its golden age. In 2010, it ranked fourth in terms of tourism growth in the world.

During 2001-2010, foreign tourist arrivals to Vietnam increased from 2.1 million to a record figure of over five million, while the industry’s revenue soared from USD128.2 million to over USD5 billion and the tourism sector provided jobs for 1.4 million people. In 2010 alone, Vietnam’s foreign tourist arrivals rose by 34.8 percent compared to the world’s average of merely 4 percent.

“It is a big exploit indeed,” Frangialli said.

Nguyen Van Sieu, head of Vietnam Institute for Tourism Development Research, reported that the industry grew 8 percent per year between 2006-2010, with a fast rising number of tourist arrivals from the world’s major markets such as Northeastern Asia, ASEAN, Europe, North America, Australia and the US.

“This reflects a fact that Vietnam is becoming a magnet to foreign tourists,” Sieu said.

Recently, the Asia-Pacific Travel Intentions Survey 2010, jointly conducted by Visa and the Pacific Asia Travel Association, said that Vietnam was emerging as one of the top tourism spots for visitors from Thailand, Australia, Japan and Singapore, which were Vietnam’s key tourism markets, for their next vacations.

The survey, including 6,714 respondents from 13 countries and territories, said that among future inbound tourists who were most likely to visit Vietnam in the next two years, 17 percent were from Thailand, 16 percent were from Australia and 11 percent were from Japan and Singapore.

VNAT’s head Nguyen Van Tuan ascribed the industry’s godsends to the world’s economic recovery and Vietnam’s unique cultural and historical traits, as well as to the industry’s big tourism promotion programmes at home and abroad.

He said the industry would continue deploying promotion programmes and campaigns at home and abroad, in which new markets would be explored with bigger investment.

“We are completing a project to highlight Vietnam’s tourism images in France, Thailand, China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Russia,” he said.

“I think that in case there will be no bad phenomena such as political disorder, epidemics and big natural calamities, which are too sensitive to the tourism industry of any country, Vietnam will likely be visited by 5.3-5.5 million foreign tourists in 2011 and the tourism industry will reap a revenue of USD5.64 billion,” Tuan said.

Sustainable development

However, Tuan warned that increase in tourist quantity also meant the country’s tourism environment was deteriorating and most poor people could not benefit from tourism development.

Frangialli recommended Vietnam develop the tourism industry “responsibly”, which was closely linked with protection of natural resources, environment and poverty reduction.

“Community-based and socially responsible travel development should be a corner-stone of Vietnam’s tourism industry,” he said.

According to a Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) 2010 survey on Vietnam’s major tourism destinations including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Ha Long and Hue, foreign tourists are increasingly showing their concerns over trash dumping, lake and river pollution and noise. Some 97 percent of interviewed tourists said they were ready to pay more for a holiday that was environmental-friendly and resulted in increased net benefits for poor people.

The survey results showed that hospitality could attract the most foreign tourists. For example, while Hanoi received the least gratification from foreign tourists, Sapa ranked top among the surveyed localities in pleasing foreign tourists.

John Hummel, an SNV senior advisor for sustainable tourism, said that local tourism products and services still had low quality. In almost destinations, products were similar.

He attributed such obstructions to largely contributing to the industry’s failures in reaching its 2001-2010 ambitious tourism goals, in which the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam would be 5.5-6 million in 2010 and the industry would become a key industry which took full advantage of the country’s natural resources, ecology, culture and history. Normally, an industry is considered to be a key one when it occupies at least 6-7 percent of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP). At present, Vietnam’s tourism industry can contribute 5 percent to GDP.

In its 2006 – 2010 national action tourism programme approved in April, 2006, the VNAT targeted to see the industry’s grow at 10-20 percent per year, while this rate was only 8 percent in this period and remained far behind others in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

Under Vietnam’s Tourism Development Strategy 2011-2020 with a vision to 2030, the industry would be developed in an environmental friendly manner. In between 2011 – 2020, it would annually grow by 13 percent on average and occupy 6.5-7 percent of GDP. By 2020, it would generate USD19 billion in revenue while directly and indirectly employing over three million people.

In search of a new brand

Many foreign tourism experts said that the country’s existing 2005-2010 “Vietnam-the Hidden Charm” brand was promoted vapidly, with no brochure and no supporting video clip. This brand was also criticised by the mass media just only one year after it was launched, because it was not “explosive” enough to be able to make it attractive to foreign tourists.

The VNAT has also been scratching over its head over seeking a new eye-catching brand for the industry in between 2011-2015. However, it is expected that such a brand may be trumpeted after this year’s first quarter. At present, ten new brands have been selected from a local contest on designing new logo and slogan.

“Branding needs to be one of the priorities for the industry in the coming years, because a good brand could make breakthroughs for the industry’s future,” Frangialli said.

Hummel said that a good brand strategy for the country needed to be appealing to visitors, distinct and reflective of the country’s strengths. It should also be more than a logo, adaptable to work across different media and consistent across the country.

“Branding is important because it is a good way of telling people why they should visit a destination. And branding sells a promise and a dream,” said Victor Wee, chairman of the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board.

Gaël de la Porte du Theil, chairman of France-based Interface Tourism Company, said that the industry needed to have a long-term effective brand and year-to-year effective strategies targeting specific tourists and market.

“For example, France is one of Vietnam’s big foreign markets. But many French tourists told me that they had never come to Vietnam and found that the country was not really attractive to them,” Theil said.

“While the number of French tourist arrivals to Thailand is more than 400,000 per year, it is less than 200,000 to Vietnam per year, of whom 85 percent said they would never return to Vietnam for the purpose of tourism,” he said.

He said Vietnam had great potential in developing sea-oriented tourism, a category favoured by French tourists. “The problem is how Vietnam can effectively tap into this strong point. A brand for sea-based tourism is also needed. We have calculated that the country can earn USD10 from each dollar of investment capital,” he said.

Lessons from regional countries

In July last year, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) trumpeted its new tourism brand YourSingapore, instead of its old Uniquely Singapore, in Vietnam to lure more Vietnamese tourists to this country.

This brand, particularly featured by a special website facilitating sharing of experiences among travellers and local residents alike and is powered by up-to-date multimedia content about all things in Singapore. Notably, the portal is also available in Vietnamese.

STB brand management director Chang Chee Pey said the STB had spent five years conducting seven large-scale surveys in seven countries including Vietnam before designing this brand.

“Vietnam is also trying to promote its tourism image, but what makes a tourism destination quite different from other rivals lies in how you can embrace global trends and the shift in media consumption.

“We have put digital at the heart of our marketing communications to transform the way we reach out to our potential visitors,” Chang said.

The number of foreign tourists to Singapore reached 10.1 million in 2008 then slightly decreased to 9.7 million in 2009 and bounced back to 13 million in 2010.

Wee said that the lesson from Singapore’s tourism promotion was quite useful to Vietnam, because the website delivered a new virtual experience that no other destination website in the world currently offered, while Vietnam’s information and technology sector was strongly developing.

He said Malaysia received 23.6 million foreign tourists in 2009, compared to 5-6 million back in the 1990s, with its long-lasting target of “We make it hard to say goodbye” and brand of “Malaysia - Truly Asia”, which was made in between 1990-1999.

“Since 1999, Malaysia has determined to use Truly Asia to turn the country into a shopping centre and an entertainment and relaxation centre of Asia,” he said.

A Malaysia Airlines representative said that none of countries in the world were promoting tourism as Vietnam was doing. Tourists visiting Malaysia were welcomed by a sweet song praising Malaysia’s beauty which was sung by 16 different languages. Tourism Malaysia also had its own website with all necessary information about tourism, while it was not the case for Vietnam’s tourism.

In another case, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has its 24 representative offices abroad. Its Ho Chi Minh City-based office director Pichai Raktasinha said Thailand received over 15 million foreign tourists per year, thanks to its slogan of “Amazing Thailand” launched in 1997.

He said to renew this slogan, the TAT added a supporting title behind it. For example, in 2009, the slogan was “Amazing Thailand-Amazing Value” and was Amazing Thailand Grand Sale for 2010.

According to the Malaysia Airlines representative, it took years for India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand to make market surveys and research before trumpeting their tourism brands, which were designed by professional consultancy and designing agencies.

For example, India has its “Incredible India” (since 2002), Hong Kong with “Heart of Asia”, Indonesia with “Endless Beauty of Diversity” and the Philippines “WOW Philippines” (since 2010).

“Meanwhile, Vietnam’s tourism new brand was thought of one year ago. I think it is too early for such a new brand to be announced, because it would not be able to be quite successful without due investment for surveying and researching,” the Malaysia Airlines representative said.

However, chief executive officer of Ho Chi Minh City-based Celadon International Group Paul Stoll said that Vietnam did not need expensive advertising. Promotion should be done by publicity and social media network which required contracting a smart communication agency.

“This communication firm will make use of the market knowledge to create a mixed publicity and advertising campaign based on a slogan as “Visit Vietnam Now” giving a clear message “Now is when Vietnam needs the travelers, not later”,” Stoll said.