American tourists: "Gold mine" that every country wants

Having relatives and friends who had traveled to Vietnam and recounted very interesting experiences made Mrs. Carol Leong, an American tourist, and her husband very excited. The two guests decided to book a 25-day tour to Vietnam - Cambodia for nearly 200 million VND. The couple's journey took place last January, traveling along the length of the country from Hanoi - Ha Long - Ninh Binh - Sa Pa - Hue - Da Nang - Hoi An - Ho Chi Minh City - My Tho - Can Tho. The last leg in Vietnam ended in Chau Doc. Mr. DHL, a tour guide in Ho Chi Minh City, was the one who directly planned the meticulous 25-day itinerary for the American couple. The tour guide revealed that, like many other American tourists, Mr. and Mrs. Carol Leong are very generous with their spending.

Mr. Luan (first row from left), a tour guide in Ho Chi Minh City, takes a group of American tourists to experience Vietnam (Photo: Huu Luan).

"With the same itinerary and similar time, but compared to other groups of tourists in the world, American tourists are often very generous. However, they also have specific requests that require tour guides or tour operators to be attentive. If satisfied with the services, American tourists will spend lavishly. This is the group of customers that any travel agency or tour guide wants to welcome," said Mr. L. According to CNN, American tourists have long been a sought-after market in the world for many reasons. One of the factors comes from income. The average salary of Americans is about 70,000 USD/year (more than 1.7 billion VND), the 7th highest in the world. Travel experts commented that high income means that this group of customers is willing to pay more for the trip. The US National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) also pointed out that, before Covid-19, the US was the second largest market in the world in terms of spending and number of international trips, after China. According to the Statistical Yearbook of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam in 2022, American tourists spent an average of 1,710 USD (nearly 45 million VND) in Vietnam, ranking third after tourists from the Philippines and Belgium. This group of tourists also tends to travel for longer periods and often bring relatives along. Talking to Dan Tri reporter, Mr. Pham Ha, CEO of Lux Group, an expert in the field of luxury tourism, commented that the US is a market that all countries want. In particular, Vietnam has a historical culture closely associated with this country. "American tourists often travel for long periods of time and visit many countries at the same time. Compared to other groups of tourists coming to Vietnam, they often stay longer and spend more. For example, on average, a foreign tourist spends about 1,200 USD (30 million VND) for a trip of the same duration and itinerary in Vietnam, while American tourists can spend 2-3 times more.

Many foreign guests say they are willing to pay a fair price if they receive good service (Illustration: Toan Vu).

They often choose to stay in big cities, staying at branded accommodations popular with Americans. "Vietnam is one of the attractive destinations for American tourists in Asia," said Mr. Pham Ha. According to this CEO, this is clearly a very potential market when Vietnam now has direct flights to the US, the relationship between the two countries is on the rise. However, the number of American tourists to Vietnam is still modest. Data from the General Statistics Office shows that in the first 6 months of 2023, international visitors to Vietnam reached 8.8 million, an increase of 4% over the same period in 2019. The group of American tourists ranked 4th in the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam in the first half of 2024, reaching 415,000. In terms of market size, Korea continues to be the largest market sending tourists to Vietnam, reaching 2.2 million, equivalent to 25.8%. Next are mainland Chinese tourists and Taiwanese tourists (China).

The American billionaire couple booked the entire luxury yacht Paradise Vietnam to enjoy private space with a view of Ha Long Bay (Photo: Paradise Vietnam).

Meanwhile, according to the National Tourism Administration, in just 10 consecutive years before the pandemic (2010-2019), the number of American visitors to Vietnam ranked 4th or 5th in the Top 10 largest tourist markets. Assessing the potential of American visitors, a representative of Paradise Vietnam Group commented that although they have always ranked in the Top 4, 5 or higher in Vietnam's major tourist markets for 10 consecutive years (2010-2019), this group of visitors has never exceeded 1 million. "This number is too small compared to the potential as well as the number of American visitors traveling abroad every year," this person commented.

"Vietnam should stop counting numbers, what matters is how much they spend?"

In June, Mr. Mark Wang (36 years old, from the US) had an interesting experience with his girlfriend for 2 days and 1 night on a cruise in Ha Long (Quang Ninh). This is the Heritage Binh Chuan cruise, designed with inspiration from the legacy of businessman Bach Thai Buoi - who successfully launched the Binh Chuan ship - the largest ship in Vietnam at that time. "I was impressed with the space displaying unique paintings by Vietnamese artists on the cruise. We also got to wear traditional Vietnamese ao dai, listen to the monochord, and experience making spring rolls, which was quite interesting... The feeling of drifting on the open sea, watching the sunset on the sea in the heart of the heritage, listening to the sound of the waves, was peaceful and very interesting. Cultural tourism products like this will attract many international visitors to Vietnam," said Mr. Mark Wang. The American guest revealed that he and his girlfriend spent about 35 million VND for 2 days of traveling on a cruise in Quang Ninh. Meanwhile, Sophie Mendel (29 years old, from the US) also said that when she comes to each land, she likes to explore the culture of the indigenous people the most. "In Vietnam, when I went to Sa Pa (Lao Cai), I tried planting rice with the ethnic people; tried going downhill by motorbike when I went to Ha Giang... These experiences gave me a very impressive feeling, full of emotions. I felt like I was immersed in the life of the indigenous people", this guest said. Specializing in welcoming high-spending guests, CEO Pham Ha commented that high-end American guests in general appreciate the cultural values ​​and heritage of each country. Wherever they go, they always consider this the first thing they want to experience. Besides that, there are natural factors, cuisine, and exploring human life in the lands. American guests are usually long-term guests with high spending ability. This group of guests also sets high requirements and expectations when choosing brands and experiences that suit their tastes.

Western tourists love to experience luxury cruises on Ha Long Bay (Photo: Thanh Thuy).

American tourists do not like to travel as much as European tourists. For example, French tourists often want to have a full day of exploration, while American tourists only want to go out for half a day, and spend the rest of their time relaxing at the hotel to explore. For example, in 15 days in Vietnam, they only spend half of their time going on tours, and the rest is for resting. They want to experience the culinary culture and explore the story of the new land slowly and completely, instead of counting their "achievements" of going to as many places as possible. According to Paradise Vietnam, from the beginning of the year to the end of June 2024, this unit welcomed and served nearly 10,000 American tourists. This representative assessed that this group of tourists especially focuses on cruise schedules, natural scenic destinations and cultural experiences. In addition to Ha Long and Lan Ha cruise tours, they are also interested in tours in nearby natural destinations such as Ninh Binh, Sa Pa (Lao Cai) or coastal cities in the South Central Coast such as Da Nang and Nha Trang. "American tourists are often willing to pay for services immediately instead of spending time comparing and negotiating service prices, although the cost of a two-day, one-night tour on a five-star cruise in Ha Long Bay or Lan Ha Bay ranges from 263 USD to 615 USD (6.6 million VND - 15.6 million VND) depending on the room type," said a representative of Paradise Vietnam. Faced with the issue of "if one guest spends as much as 10 guests", CEO Pham Ha shared that Vietnam should stop counting guests, calculate how much guests spend and filter quality rather than quantity. "Many experts and travel agencies all agree that the number of American tourists to Vietnam is not high. But clearly this is a potential and big-spending customer stream. Therefore, we should have solutions to attract and anticipate. It is better to welcome one high-spending customer than 10 low-cost tourists," Mr. Ha said. With a group of customers with quality like the US market, many experts said that Vietnam should have specific strategies. Airlines, travel agencies, hotels, and destination managers from the central to local levels all need to come up with clear plans to attract them. According to Mr. Pham Ha, currently, countries in the region compete with each other through visa policies. For example, Indonesia currently exempts visas to 79 countries, Vietnam should also have a similar strategy to attract customers with visas. With large markets like the US or Canada, many experts and travel agencies have proposed and expressed their desire to exempt visas for this group of customers.

Vietnam should have a specific strategy to welcome potential foreign visitors through visa policies (Photo: Dan Sinh)

With the advantage of direct flights and visa exemption, visitors only need to book a ticket and go. Open visa policies, suitable products, high quality human resources, good positioning of the national tourism brand, creating more emotional themes than attracting visitors with movies, are all feasible strategies. In addition, it is possible to build and innovate products, aiming at topics that American visitors like such as nature, culture, museum tourism, experiencing life with local people, visiting old battlefields, and health care. "American tourists are definitely the group of tourists that Vietnam needs to prioritize in the coming time. Tourism management agencies should increase promotion of the US tourism market by opening representative offices and promoting Vietnam in many major cities in the US and at the same time creating conditions for travel companies and destination management companies to regularly participate in annual tourism fairs in the US such as: New York Times Travel Show, Seatrade Cruise Global. We need to do it more systematically and systematically and need the hand of a conductor to fully exploit the potential of Vietnamese tourism," a representative of a travel agency commented.

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/khach-my-chi-dam-khi-du-lich-viet-nam-mo-vang-ai-cung-them-muon-20240708093004211.htm