TAT to tap Vietnamese market

[Viet]

Vietjet cabin crew pose for a photo at the launch of "Sky Connection-Thailand & Vietnam 2017" campaign in Bangkok yesterday.


Vietnam has become a rising star of Thailand's tourism source market with arrivals projected to break the 1-million barrier next year.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) projects visitors from Vietnam this year will reach a record 900,000, up from 700,000 last year. "Vietnam may not have a high profile but it is one of the rising stars in terms of growth potential," said Walailak Noypayak, executive director for Asean, South Asia and South Pacific at the TAT.

The flood of Vietnamese arrivals is in sharp contrast to the low number of Thais who visit the socialist republic, averaging around 200,000-300,000 a year.

Spending per head per day of Vietnamese visitors is also on the rise as is the length of their stay.

The average Vietnamese tourist spends about 4,200 baht a day and stays 5-6 days per trip, according to Dr Walailak.

She said the TAT is heavily promoting outbound Vietnamese visitors to Thailand by forging cooperation and alliances with tourism-related agencies as well as airlines such as the low-cost carrier VietJet Air.

The drive to attract tourists is not only confined to Ho Chi Minh City, where most of the arrivals come from, but includes Hanoi and cities in the central region such as Danang and Haiphong, which now have direct air links with Bangkok.

Most Vietnamese tourists head to Bangkok and the challenge is for the TAT to diversify to other destinations such as Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, she said. The initial bid is to channel the flow from Ho Chi Minh City to secondary destinations with Hanoi next in line. There are plans to establish air connections between the secondary cities of both countries, Dr Walailak added.

"Vietnamese tourists who want to visit Phuket may face difficulties due to the lack of direct flights between Vietnamese cities and the resort island," she said.

The TAT executive was speaking at yesterday's launch in Bangkok of "Sky Connection – Thailand & Vietnam 2017", a collaboration between the TAT and VietJet to promote travel between the two countries. The campaign will create more opportunities for Thais to tour Vietnam and for Vietnamese to visit Thailand, said VietJet Air vice-president Nguyen Thi Thuy Binh.

The campaign was kicked off with a special discounts on 50,000 VietJet tickets.


http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/tourism-and-transport/1163637/tat-to-tap-vietnamese-market

 

[ahojunk]

VietJet to launch China charter flights to Da Nang
By VnExpress December 18, 2016 | 06:07 pm GMT+7

Chinese tourists in central Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Ngoc

Chinese tourists made up a third of foreign visitors to Da Nang during the first half of 2016.

A new direct charter flight is expected to add fuel to the booming Chinese tourism industry in Da Nang.

Xinhua News Agency reported Vietjet Air will launch the direct tourist charter flight in January, connecting Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province with the central beach town.

One Airbus 320 will begin departing for Da Nang every week starting on January 12.

Direct charter flights now link Vietnam's third-largest city to destinations in South Korea and Southeast Asia during peak seasons.

The city received nearly 800,000 foreign tourist arrivals in the first six months this year, up 30 percent from a year ago.

A third of those arrivals were Chinese, according to Da Nang’s tourism department.

Travelers from Vietnam's northern neighbor tend to head south to Vietnam's various beach destinations, particularly Nha Trang and Phu Quoc.

Mainland China accounted for 30 percent of all tourist arrivals to Vietnam, making it the fastest-growing feeder market after Hong Kong.

More than 2.48 million Chinese citizens visited during the first 11 months of this year, up 54 percent from the same period last year.

In October, the Chinese Tourism Administration released a top-10 list of favorite destinations for Chinese travelers, that ranked Vietnam seventh.

Last Sunday, Bloomberg cited Credit Suisse as estimating that a 30 percent increase in spending by Chinese tourists could boost Vietnam’s gross domestic product by nearly one percentage point.

Vietnam’s economy is expected to expand six percent this year, before speeding up to 6.8 percent next year.

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[AViet]

Da Nang is not Vietnam's third biggest city. In terms of population, economy and industry, it is far behind long-established Haiphong. Economy only, it is far behind Vung Tau, the oil city in the South.

It should be ranked 4th or 5th biggest city in general.