Economists said that in the circumstance of current economic decline, business and marketing methods should be changed in order to minimize costs and maximize revenue. One efficient solution in Vietnam is the application of the Internet in business and marketing, particularly in fields of hotel, restaurants, goods and services, etc.
Since January 2009, the Impressive Vietnam Campaign has drawn the participations of 37 international travel companies, 61 hotels of between three and five stars, three transport companies and 14 shops to make discounts between 30% and 50% of prices of 99 typical tours in a bid keep tourist numbers strong, attract more international tourists to Vietnam and boost inbound travelling. The campaign, however, has not yet brought the expected results due to some reasons; mainly the negative effects of the global economic crisis, which has prompted tourists to narrow their spending as well as the spread of A/H1N1 flu resulting in a large number of tour delays. In addition, the promotion to tourists has not yet been paid due attention because of a shortfall of capital.
Economists said that, because of the current economic decline, tourism promotion via e-marketing is an appropriate choice for Vietnamese travel companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as e-marketing can foster information dissemination to a large number of clients worldwide at the fastest speed and the cheapest expenditure. E-marketing will help firms focus on particular client groups and facilitate them to have access to as well as provide information to clients the most quickly. In addition, E-marketing allows Vietnamese travel firms to respond to and update market fluctuations such as promotion programmes and discounts at the fastest speed. Besides, operation quantification by E-marketing is exact and cheap. Particularly, using E-market will help enterprises know more exactly how many times an advertising banner has appeared, how many people have accessed the advertisement, how many people have visited their website and their addresses while helping enterprises contact clients to understand their interests and better serve their burgeoning demand.
Currently, more people access the Internet to load information about tourism. Statistics by the World Tourism Organisation shows that around 78% of U.S. tourists or 79 million people use the Internet to access information about destinations and tours, of whom, 82% have decided to book a tour online. In France, over half of tourists search information and book tours via the internet. The organisation estimated that in Asia, China will become the biggest tourism market with over 10% of tourists to be supported by the Internet. Meanwhile, China will take the lead in terms of tourists visiting Vietnam; therefore, Vietnamese travel companies should pay due attention to developing E-marketing to boost tourism promotion, enhance their competitiveness so as to attract more international tourists to the country.
The General Statistics Office (GSO) reported that Vietnam welcomed a total of 279,150 international arrivals in June this year, raising the number of international arrivals to the country to 1.893 million in the first six months of this year, down 19.1% from the same period last year.
Pham Tu Tron
Vietnamese
