Solution for Vinh - Bangkok flight route in 'low season'

(Baonghean) - After the first positive signals of the Vinh - Bangkok international flight route, the problem is how to sustainably maintain and gradually put the flight route into stable operation. And promoting and advertising the flight route along with connecting more with international travel agencies are the main solutions that Nghe An province has considered to promote the development of this flight route.

Modern Bangkok with many high-rise buildings always attracts tourists.

Successful start

Officially launched on June 8, 2016, in the past 3 months, the Vinh - Bangkok direct flight route, coordinated by the People's Committee of Nghe An province and the Vietnam Tourism, Marketing and Transport Joint Stock Company (Vietravel), has operated 7 flights with 100% capacity and more than 1,200 passengers. Notably, in August, 60 Thai businessmen and tourists came to Nghe An via the Bangkok - Vinh direct flight.

According to general assessment, by this route, passengers can travel more easily, conveniently and save more time than having to go to Hanoi or connecting from Saigon to fly to Thailand. With a price of nearly 7 million VND, the 5-day, 4-night Vinh - Bangkok - Pattaya itinerary is considered reasonable, tourists can enjoy interesting and attractive destinations with professional and impressive services in Thailand, meeting the needs of tourists to explore the Golden Temple country.

To have these first successful flights, we cannot fail to mention the efforts of related units such as the Department of Transport, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, related units and Vietravel - a unit with a lot of experience in organizing tours to Thailand.

Especially marked the positive of media agencies such as Nghe An Newspaper, Nghe An Radio and Television Station to help tourists understand better and feel more secure when deciding to choose Vinh - Bangkok - Pattaya tour. With Vinh International Airport, although lacking in facilities, it has made efforts to coordinate forces such as customs, health, and police in the process of carrying out exit and entry procedures for passengers in the face of strict requirements to ensure current aviation security.

Difficulties to be resolved

Besides the initial positive signals, the process of organizing and implementing flights is also revealing some limitations. That is, the flight frequency in the 3 months of June, July, August 2016 is still low, the flight schedule is not regular; the international passenger terminal of Vinh International Airport is small in scale, so when operating the Vinh - Bangkok route with A320 aircraft with 180 passengers, it has led to a situation of overload, sometimes not meeting the requirements, affecting the quality of service and security and order.

Passengers depart from Vinh airport to Bangkok. Photo: Hoang Vinh

According to Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao - Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communications, the incomplete facilities at the terminal more or less affect the impression of tourists on the flight route. Therefore, during the time when there is no new investment and construction, the old international terminal needs to be renovated and upgraded to better serve passengers, and related departments also coordinate to speed up the procedure process, creating favorable conditions for passengers.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that connecting tourists from Thailand has not been really "interested" by travel companies because Nghe An still lacks attractive and highly competitive tourism products. Most tourists think that Nghe An is just a passing point to visit other provinces such as Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh, Quang Binh, Hanoi...

Meanwhile, travel agencies in the province are still weak, small, and have low cooperation, so coordination and support for flight exploitation are not effective. It is time for Vietravel to consider increasing human resources at the Vinh branch or opening branches in Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh to exploit the source of customers from these two localities.

Many opinions also say that Nghe An is still a locality in the group of seasonal tourism development, so after the peak season in summer, the number of visitors is expected to decrease. Moreover, the market of visitors using the route is mainly the North Central provinces, people's lives are still facing many difficulties, travel habits and needs are not high, the number of individual visitors only accounts for a small proportion, so after the holidays, exploiting the route will be even more difficult.

Develop and create stable flight routes

How to maintain and develop the flight route in the coming time, especially in the "low season" is an issue that has been discussed by provincial leaders, representatives of relevant departments and units. According to Ms. Vo Thi Thu Hoai - Chief Representative of Vietravel Vinh branch, in the next 4 months (September, October, November and December 2016), Vietravel will try to maintain the Vinh - Bangkok flight route by renting chartered aircraft with the aim of supporting the development of tourism in the North Central region. In order to be able to successfully implement, Vietravel will continue to receive the sharing of the Provincial People's Committee, relevant departments and branches in propaganda, promotion and funding to support the organization of flights.

Many delicious fruits and rich, diverse cuisine are the unique features of Thai tourism. Photo: Hoang Vinh

Affirming that Vinh - Bangkok is an extremely important flight route, creating conditions for tourism development, promoting trade and investment cooperation, making an important contribution to the development of the province and the region, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Duong directed that the flight route must continue to be developed; considering this a premise for Nghe An to continue opening international flights Vinh - Singapore, Vinh - Japan, striving to successfully build an international terminal at Vinh International Airport in accordance with the direction of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc during his visit and work in Nghe An on August 15.

Accordingly, the most important solutions emphasized by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee are to perfect the Steering Committee to support the development of the Vinh - Bangkok flight route. Relevant departments and branches need to coordinate more closely to promote promotion and propaganda. In particular, it is necessary to cooperate with the two neighboring provinces of Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh to develop a strategy to promote tourist destinations of Nghe An province and the North Central provinces on mass media channels in Thailand as well as information about the flight route to the people of the two provinces.

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism needs to soon connect with relevant units of Ha Tinh and Thanh Hoa to build tourism products, especially advising on organizing a tourism promotion conference in Thailand in the third quarter of 2016. To create sustainability, it is necessary to connect with many other international travel agencies to help Vietravel exploit potential customers. The Department of Transport actively urges the old international terminal to be invested in, upgraded and renovated soon to create favorable conditions for customers to complete exit and entry procedures.

Thailand is famous for its many unique temples. Photo: Hoang Vinh

Nghe An always identifies Thailand as a leading partner and so far the province has had 5 projects from Thai enterprises, with a total investment of 32.1 million USD in the fields of food processing, stone mining, etc. In particular, recently, the province has received the project to invest in construction and business of industrial park infrastructure of Hemaraj Industrial and Urban Development Company in the Southeast Economic Zone.

According to the agreement, the project will invest in an area of ​​about 3,200 hectares, from 2017 to 2028. This is a leading Thai enterprise in the fields of industrial park infrastructure, urban areas, electricity, etc., so Hemaraj's presence in Nghe An also means "attracting" more Thai enterprises to continue to come to Nghe An.

For the above reasons, to create conditions for attracting investment and developing tourism, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee suggested that for the Vinh - Bangkok route, Vietravel should continue to maintain 1-2 flights/month in the "low season", 4-5 flights/month in the high season, considering this a factor to promote Nghe An to both develop tourism and promote investment cooperation with the Land of Golden Pagodas./.

An Nhan