3:26:37 PM | 7/8/2005
Asian tourists, especially those from the Southeast region, spend much more money in Vietnam than the rest of the world, according to a survey among 2,700 international visitors conducted by the Ho Chi Minh City Economics University.
A full report of the survey shows a visitor from Thailand spends US$212 per day while a Singaporean spends US$247 and a Malaysian US$191. This compares well with the average spending of US$74 as showed in the survey, which was made in collaboration with the City’s Service of Tourism to prepare for the drafting development plan for the local hospitality industry.
The average length of tourists’ stay in the city is six days and up to 81.8 per cent of international tourists come to the city for sightseeing and relaxation, according to the report.
Of over 2,700 tourists from 52 countries and territories polled in the survey, 32,7 per cent or nearly one-third, purchase package tours while the rest come to the city on their own itineraries as free-going visitors.
Also according to the survey, free tourists spend more than those on organized tours, at an average US$81 a day or US$15 higher than tourists on organized trips and US$7 more than the average level.
While young people tend to spend less, people aged from 45 to 54 spend US$94 a day and those from 55 to 64 spend US$137 a day
However, much of their spending is for accommodation and food, while spending on shopping is still very much limited, the report says, adding that of the total daily spending, only 15.74 per cent went for shopping, 26 per cent for accommodation, 25.8 per cent for entertainment and 18 per cent for food.
Apart from more than four-fifths of international tourists coming to the city for visiting and relaxation, 12 per cent came for business, 3.2 per cent for visiting their relatives and the remaining 3 per cent for other purposes.
Nevertheless, the ratio of tourists coming back to the city is low, thus providing tourism authorities with food for though.
Only 10.2 per cent of visitors come back to the city for a second time and 3 per cent for a third time. Most of these tourists who come back many times are people traveling on business. Tourists from British, France, Australia, Japan and China come back more than tourists from other markets.
According to the City’s Tourism Service, the local hospitality sector served 586,564 international visitors in the first three months of this year, up 21 per cent over the same period last year and earning revenues up 13.3 per cent on-year despite bird flu epidemic recurrence.
This year, the city hopes to welcome 1.8 million international arrivals, up 15 per cent on 2004 and representing 55 per cent of the national total.
Vietnamese
