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| New opportunities are emerging with Hue tourism as the travel demand of Chinese tourists tends to increase |
New chances
International tourists coming to Vietnam in the first 4 months of 2023 were nearly 3,7 arrivals; in which, Chinese tourists quickly rose to the third position in the total number of international visitors, even though this country has just opened for 1.5 months.
According to the National Administration of Tourism, Chinese tourists will recover at a faster rate than other markets thanks to its large scale of population; as well as the increasing demand after China reopened international tourism. Especially, this market is expected to witness the rapid recovery from the summer of 2023, strongly rising in October and the last months of this year.
Before the pandemic, the travel tendency of Chinese tourists leaned towards beach resorts in the areas of warm climate, shopping tours, as well as visiting famous landscapes of Vietnam. Hue has yet been a main destination of this tourist flow due to the lack of large-scale inner-city hotels and coastal resorts.
Director of Tourism Department Nguyen Van Phuc informed that according to many tourism experts’ assessments, a great number of Chinese tourists tends to change their way of travelling, especially in the early stage of the reopening. Instead of travelling in groups, they shift to travel in small groups or going with families. The main flow of tourists were young people, who in love with discovering by themselves to learn about the cultural features of safe, uncrowded destinations, providing healthcare services, etc.
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| More and more Chinese-speaking tourists coming back to Hue |
According to Mr. Phuc, from these demands, this is an opportunity for Thua Thien Hue tourism to attract Chinese tourists in the coming time. This is also a premise for Hue to form more novel products, services, and destinations to meet the demand of some flows of tourist from China.
Mr. Truong Cong Le Hoang, Director of Viet Trung Tourism and Service One Member Company Limited., a unit specializing in exploiting Chinese tourists said that although the number of tourists coming to Hue witnesses the increase, the straight flights to Da Nang will decline in the coming time.
As for Hue, thanks to the more modernization and larger scale, T2 Terminal of Phu Bai International Airport is able to directly exploit the flow of Chinese tourists. With straight flights from China, Hue is the destination in the middle; so, it will be favorable to combine to Quang Binh and Da Nang, Hoi An tourism. Furthermore, Hue is also selected by the partners to be the destination of education tourism, which is strongly developing in China.
More products needed
The new opportunities are recognized. However, it is necessary to reassess the practical situation as the first time China reopened for tourists, more or less, some certain restrictions still exist, especially in the form of tours. At present, tourists tend to change their tastes, thoughts, behavior, and way of travelling. However, the connotation of tourism products in Hue hasn’t changed much. If the province wants to attract the billion-people market, new solutions are needed.
According to Mr. Truong Cong Le Hoang, with Hue’s advantages and the shift in some tourists’ demands, new programs about learning about culture, cultural, and artistic exchange, education tours with a duration of around 10 to 15 days for Chinese students to study, learning about specific cultures and craft villages, etc., will be made in Hue in the coming time.
Along with that, combined with nature discovering products in Quang Binh and beach resorts in Da Nang, which are the services that in the future, the businesses will exploit with Chinese partners when they come to Hue in particular and to the Central Region in general.
To connect provinces in China to Hue, only businesses can do nothing. It requires the “sense of initiative” of provincial agencies and departments to come directly to localities for promotion, especially, promoting opening straight flights. Additionally, the province also needs to make better promotion of destinations’ images in the markets that Hue has targeted.
Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc affirmed that to meet the need of Chinese visitors, Tourism Department together with travel agencies should carry out surveys and research on tourists’ behaviors; regarding whether the trend has changed or not; whether they want something else, etc. Just only when understanding the market and tourists’ demand, the quality and suitable products are made.
In another development, the Hue tourism sector is contacting to exchange with some tourism partners in Zhejiang province of China, which is twinned with Thua Thien Hue to discuss the possibility of cooperation and exchange of visitors, and at the same time, developing some products suitable to some local tourists from China.
Together with being proactive in connection, Hue tourism sector is closely cooperating with the tourism sector of Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, and Quang Nam, as well as coordinating with some Chinese businesses to welcome the group of tourists having trips to Hue in the coming time.
The sector will also connect to invite a famtrip delegation including some Chinese enterprises coming to learn about the possibility of promotion and investment to Hue to carry out surveys and evaluate the ability of staying, products, and destinations which are appropriate with some flows of Chinese tourists; hence, building up more suitable tours to Hue and the Central Region for them.