A delegation of ten UK’s leading travel firms and reporters from the Selling Haul tourist magazine arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on June 22 to start a survey on Vietnamese tourism.
The survey lasts for six days and takes place in Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Danang central city, the ancient town of Hoi An, Vinh Long province and Ho Chi Minh City.
During their stay, the delegation is expected to meet representatives from Vietnam Airlines, leading travel businesses of Vietnam and several five-star hotels to learn about tours and the quality of tourism products in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The delegation also plans to make a promotion campaign for Vietnamese destination in order to attract tourists from Britain and Europe when they return to their country.
According to statistics from the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism, about 81,000 visitors from the UK arrived in Vietnam last year, a 14 per cent increase from the previous year. The figure, however, was modest given that more than 30 million Britons travel abroad every year, Hai added.
Therefore, Transviet marketing manager Nguyen Tien Dat said promotion activities through UK-based tour operators are an effective way of promoting Vietnam’s image in the UK and Europe. But Vietnam still has lots of things to do to exploit the market, he noted.
British tourists often require and are ready to pay for luxury services but most of them have poor information about Vietnamese tourism.
The lack of a dedicated tourism board and direct flights to the UK, poor promotion activities, as well as a limited awareness of the country's tourism potential, are obstacles that must be addressed, said Travel Indochina's general manager, Chris Orme.
A tourism board could play an important role in launching advertising and marketing campaigns in the UK, and could help raise the international profile of the country, Orme added.
Nearly 37,000 British tourists have traveled to Vietnam in the first five months of the year, an increase of 8.5 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to the National Administration of Tourism. Labour, VoVNews
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