To effectively exploit the Vinh - Vientiane flight route

(Baonghean) - The Vinh - Vientiane route is the first international route of Vinh Airport. The opening of the Vinh - Vientiane route aims to meet the need for more convenient travel between Vinh City, the hometown of President Ho Chi Minh, and the capital Vientiane (Laos) and the northeastern region of Thailand. However, to develop this route, the drastic participation of relevant units is needed.

Despite high expectations, after nearly 3 months of opening and operating, Vietnam Airlines has operated 38 flights from Vinh to Vientiane and vice versa with 1,100 passengers, accounting for only 43% of the total number of passengers per flight. In March alone, Vietnam Airlines had to cancel 6 flights due to lack of passengers.

Customers from Vinh to Vientiane Capital by Vietnam Airlines ATR 72 aircraft. Photo: Khanh Ly

Recently, to stimulate demand for flights on the Vinh - Vientiane route, Vietnam Airlines has had a cheap promotion program for tourists traveling to Vinh - Vientiane: 49 USD/one-way ticket and 114 USD/round-trip ticket. However, customers must be quick to book tickets because cheap flights to Laos or Vientiane are only available for sale for a certain period of time with limited quantity. At the time of April 13, 2014, when we called to book tickets for Vinh - Vientiane on the occasion of April 30 and May 1, the ticket price was 1,380,000 VND/one-way, round-trip was 2,520,000 VND (126 USD). With the current ticket price, it can only attract tourists, civil servants... and a small number of Laotian students studying in Nghe An. However, this group mainly focuses on the summer - the tourist season: visitors from Laos to Nghe An to go swimming, relax and students, tourists from Nghe An to Laos for sightseeing... Currently, one of the most frequent groups traveling from Nghe An to Laos is still workers. And for workers, traveling by plane with advance booking, the ticket price is many times higher than by road (road is only from 350 - 500 thousand VND/person) is also a calculation that needs to be considered. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tuan (in hamlet 7, Dien Lam, Dien Chau) - a person with more than ten years of business experience in Laos said: When hearing that Nghe An opened a direct flight from Vinh to Vientiane, business people like us were very happy because in fact, traveling by plane is safe, fast and not tiring. However, when looking into it, the ticket price is many times higher than by road (road is only from 500 - 600 thousand VND).

In order to stimulate demand for the Vinh - Vientiane route, Vietnam Airlines should reasonably divide the target audience and time. For example, the target audience is the working population, so there should be a different ticket price depending on the time (tourist season, transition season or stimulus season). The target audience is students studying in Nghe An, so there should also be preferential ticket prices (similar to the incentives of Vietnam Railways for students during the enrollment season). This is not difficult for Vietnam Airlines, because currently the airline updates ticket prices daily and monthly. In addition, Vietnam Airlines needs to clearly and specifically state the ticket prices (including taxes) in the price list so that people can choose easily.

Along with flexibility in ticket prices, Vietnam Airlines needs to step up propaganda and widely promote the route on mass media by distributing leaflets to tourists on all domestic and international flights. In particular, at the airline's ticket sales points, it is also necessary to expand the form of promotion through customers who have participated in the Vinh - Vientiane flight, especially in regions with a large number of workers working in Laos such as Dien Chau, Nghi Loc, Quynh Luu... Each route has a different approach, promotion and after-sales service, and should not be applied mechanically to this route with another. Maybe at first, Vietnam Airlines will have to suffer losses and not make a profit on the Vinh - Vientiane route to attract and promote... but in the long run, when tourists and workers are familiar with it, Vinh - Vientiane will certainly be a long, continuous route and the first choice of people when going to Vientiane when faced with the question "by road or by air?".

Talking with Mr. Nguyen Huu Bac - General Director of Thai Son International Travel Company, we learned that: The opening of the Vinh - Vientiane flight route has created many favorable conditions for travel agencies in introducing and building tours. As a member of the Vinh - Vientiane Air Travel Club, Thai Son feels that he needs to be responsible in building and promoting Vinh - Vientiane tours to tourists in and outside the province. Currently, to anticipate the peak tourist season of April 30 and May 1, Thai Son has built tours such as Hanoi - Vinh (Uncle Ho's hometown, Cua Lo) with a one-night stay in Vinh City, then depart from Vinh airport tomorrow morning - to tourist destinations in Vientiane to attract tourists from Hanoi, Hai Phong to Vinh and from Vinh to Vientiane. In addition, Thai Son also cooperates with tourist destinations departing from Hue, Da Nang, Quang Binh, Quang Tri to Vinh to take the Vinh - Vientiane trip.

If tourists go on a tour with Thai Son, the round-trip ticket price of Vietnam Airlines: Vinh - Vientiane will be reduced from 126 USD to 120 USD (price reserved for Thai Son is the Deputy Executive Board of Vinh - Vientiane Club). With such efforts, but since the opening of the Vinh - Vientiane route, the number of tourists registering to go through Thai Son is still modest. For many reasons: First, many tourists from other provinces still do not know about this route. It proves that our propaganda and promotion have not yet had a widespread effect. Second, compared to other routes, the ticket price of Vietnam Airlines for this route is still high. Because it is said to go to Laos but the flight time is the same as when we go to some provinces in the country. For example, a 1-hour flight from Vinh to Da Nang costs 1,129 thousand VND, while a round trip from Vinh to Vientiane costs 114 USD (equivalent to 2,280 thousand VND) before April 1 and 126 USD from April 1.

Vietnam Airlines ticket agent. Photo: TT

Mr. Ta Khac Uyen - Nghe An Tourism Joint Stock Company said: As a travel business, promoting tours, routes, flights or roads and railways is a regular job. Particularly for the Vinh - Vientiane route, from the beginning, the unit determined that it had to be more responsible in promoting and advertising. However, up to this point, the route is still not effective. In my opinion, the main reason is that the ticket price is still too high. Just do a simple calculation: while the Vinh - Vientiane road tour package for 4 days and 3 nights costs 2,800,000 VND, the round-trip ticket price at this time is 126 USD (equivalent to 2,646,000 VND). Meanwhile, the passengers on this route are still mainly domestic passengers, because if they are from Hanoi, they will go to Hanoi - Vientiane; Danang customers will also travel to Danang - Vientiane... The second factor is that Vietnam Airlines' way of promoting ticket prices is not attractive or stimulating. This route has only been open for nearly 3 months, but ticket prices have changed continuously. For example, from 49 USD one way before April 1, 2014, it is now 120 USD one way, from 114 USD round trip to 119 USD and now 126 USD/person/round trip. On April 30 and May 1 alone, the unit has nearly 20 Vinh - Vientiane contracts, but no one chooses the flight route, all go by road.

It can be affirmed that the close cooperation of the aviation industry with a series of promotional policies and discounts on domestic flights in recent times has significantly contributed to tourism businesses designing and selling cheap tours. Thanks to that, the tourism industry has stopped the decline in international visitors and increased domestic tourism. Ms. Le Thi Hong Nhung - Director of Van Hong Travel Center said: Aviation in general and Vietnam Airlines in particular play an important role in tourism development, similar to road transport in developing the regional economy. If there is a common policy for both industries, economic development will be very favorable. However, the coordination between tourism and aviation in the booking process and information is still lacking, causing tourism businesses to face many difficulties in booking tickets during peak seasons as well as certain routes. Almost small and medium-sized travel companies cannot access this source of tickets. To promote and contribute to creating the best competitive conditions, Vietnam Airlines needs to have flexible pricing policies for early and late week departure times, regularly launch stimulus policies on routes with limited number of registered passengers to stimulate demand, and at the same time create conditions for travel companies to deploy tours, thereby creating a balance in the number of passengers between regions.

Tourism is a comprehensive economic sector, to develop tourism requires the connection between many sectors and fields. Tourism can develop if the conditions of transportation, trade and related services develop together. Aviation is the bridge that shortens the distance in space and time, helping destinations become closer and more convenient for tourists, thereby increasing the number of tourists to destinations. At the same time, the development of tourism has directly impacted the development of the aviation industry, contributing significantly to the diverse existence of flights, frequency and scale of operations of airlines. The relationship between tourism and aviation can be likened to two wings on an airplane.

To find solutions to effectively exploit the Vinh - Vientiane flight route, the Provincial People's Committee recently held a meeting to discuss solutions to promote the effective exploitation of the Vinh - Vientiane flight route and develop Nghe An tourism associated with aviation. As the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee said, when the flight route was first opened, the main responsibility belonged to the Department of Transport. Now that the flight route has been formed and put into operation, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism is the unit responsible for promoting and linking tourism activities associated with aviation. Sectors, localities, and businesses in the area need to participate in supporting the Vinh - Vientiane international flight route, but above all, the aviation industry must improve service quality to reduce ticket prices, especially ticket prices for individual passengers to attract passengers.

Thanh Thuy