Airfares to Vietnam are expensive, international tourists are turning away

Tourists are leaving Vietnam because of high ticket prices.

Mr. Pham Ha, Chairman of Lux Group, told 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 the high cost of airfare. Instead, they chose Thailand because of the convenient flight route and better fares.

“While working at 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 said that this is one of the reasons why Vietnamese tourism has difficulty competing with other countries in the region. “High airfares will make customers have fewer choices and are a factor that influences 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' choice, 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 tourists 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 the airline adjusts the individual tickets sold on the system closer to the departure date to be much cheaper than the pre-purchase price.

“This creates a habit of urgent consumption, which makes travel companies feel awkward and does not guarantee service quality,” she worries.

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Deputy General Director Ha Van Sieu said that Vietnam's main tourist markets have not yet fully opened, so the high price of air tickets, especially during holidays, has significantly affected the tour price construction of travel businesses.

Some foreign tourists are afraid 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 direct competitive destinations, Thailand and Singapore, for the European, Australian and American markets; learn from the experience of Hawaii in terms of sea 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 airfares 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; combining with tourism to open charter flights for routes where there are no commercial flights.