Expensive airfares to Vietnam cause international tourists to 'turn around'

Tourists leave Vietnam because of high ticket prices

Mr. Pham Ha, Chairman of Lux Group, tells the story: In early 2023, Lux Travel DMC - a member of Lux Group - had a group of 30 Italian tourists register to visit Vietnam for 16 days. However, the airfare was too high and there were no direct flights from Italy, so the tourists decided not to go.

Another group of tourists from the UK also gave up their plans to travel to Vietnam because of expensive airfares. Instead, they chose Thailand because of convenient routes and better prices.

“While on a business trip to the WTM London (UK) and ITB Berlin (Germany) fairs, I noticed that ticket prices from Vietnam to these countries were twice as high as before 2019,” Mr. Ha commented.

80% of international visitors to Vietnam come by air. Photo: Hoang Ha

Mr. Ha believes that this is one of the reasons why Vietnam tourism has difficulty competing with other countries in the region. “High airfares will make customers have fewer choices and are a factor influencing customers’ decision not to come or return to Vietnam,” he said.

At the workshop "Aviation - Tourism Cooperation: Solutions to Attract International Visitors" held on the morning of April 25 in Khanh Hoa, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Tourism Ha Van Sieu said that international visitors to Vietnam have not met expectations. In the first quarter of 2023, it is estimated to reach nearly 2.7 million, only 60% compared to the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, international visitors to Vietnam by air always account for the highest proportion (more than 80% in 2019) compared to road and sea routes.

That is why Vietnam's tourism recovery is slow at 23% compared to Malaysia's 24%, Thailand's 25%, Indonesia's 29%, the Philippines' 45% and much lower than the average in Asia - Pacific at 30.5%.

High airfares also limit the competitiveness of domestic destinations. Representatives of the Kien Giang Tourism Association said that the high cost of airfares is a barrier to tourists' choices, because travel plans are often finalized very early.

In the range of airfare prices, travel agencies often pre-order airline discount tickets (called series booking) to stabilize prices and offer incentives to travelers who plan to buy early. However, Ms. Nhu Thi Ngan, General Director of Hanoi Tourism Investment Joint Stock Company, commented that there are many periods when, closer to the departure date, the airline adjusts the individual tickets sold on the system to be much cheaper than the pre-purchase price.

“This creates a habit of urgent consumption, which puts travel companies in a difficult position and does not guarantee service quality,” she worries.

Need for closer links

Deputy General Director Ha Van Sieu said that Vietnam's main tourist markets have not yet fully opened, so the increase in airfares, especially during holidays, has significantly affected the tour price setting of travel agencies.

Some foreign tourists are reluctant to come to Vietnam because of visa procedures and now airfares are too high. Illustration photo: Hoang Ha

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Doan Van Viet proposed that airlines cooperate with travel companies to form a number of special products, promote them on flights and destinations, and cross-communicate on the systems of participating parties.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tan - Member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Tourism Association, said that aviation and tourism need to identify key markets and specific target markets; coordinate tourism product planning; develop appropriate promotion and marketing plans and coordinate sales channels to create products of the same standard, throughout the customer's travel journey from start to finish.

For example, it is necessary to consider two directly competitive destinations, Thailand and Singapore, for the European, Australian and American markets; learn from the experience of Hawaii in beach tourism for the Japanese market, etc.

Representatives of Vietnamese airlines in foreign markets have the conditions to understand and have good relationships with tourism partners, so management agencies need to have specific coordination requirements and support (including financial support when necessary) for airlines to participate effectively in the tourism service supply chain, creating a double effect for national tourism development.

Ms. Nhu Thi Ngan shared that after the pandemic, tourists' ability to pay was greatly affected, so stimulating demand with airline promotional policies is a particularly important factor.

In the current context, the increase in airfare prices on both domestic and international routes is a major disadvantage for Vietnamese tourism in competing with other destinations in the region. To overcome this, travel businesses hope that airlines will consider opening new routes to give tourists more options; combined with tourism, opening charter flights for routes without commercial flights.