Hanoi (VNS/VNA) — About 68 percent of surveyed people in Vietnam statedtheir intent to resume travelling by the last quarter of 2020,showing their eagerness to travel and confidence in the Government’shandling of the pandemic.
The traveller survey wasconducted in the midst of Vietnam’s second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic byIndochina Capital and Wink Hotels.
It reveals the travel habits and preferencesof travellers in Vietnam, including health and safety-related factors thatwould influence their hotel accommodation decisions.
Conducted in mid-August, thesurvey totalled 700 participants from first-tier cities, of which 90 percentwere Vietnamese and 10 percent were foreigners. Insights gained from the responseswere drawn to aid hoteliers and hospitality players grasp the new domestictourism landscape, as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism pushesforward domestic tourism stimulus programmes and travel and hospitalitycompanies gear up to launch new campaigns.
Asilver lining amid the COVID-19 pandemic is the fact that Vietnam travellersare as keen to travel as they were pre-pandemic – domestic travel grew from 57million to 90 million from 2015 to 2019 and previous surveys have shown thatVietnamese customers are increasingly willing to spend more on holidays.
IndochinaCapital and Wink Hotels’ latest survey reinforces this trend as 99.7 percent ofrespondents confirmed they travel at least once a year domestically for leisurepurposes, while 83.7 percent stated they travel at least twice a year.
“Tourism and real estate arebound to be major building blocks for economic recovery. As Vietnam travellersare already planning their next domestic trip, the economy is going to rely onconsumers to return to their pre-COVID-19 spending levels, which should beenabled by travel.
With borders slowly and carefully being reopened, thedomestic market will be the main driver for economic recovery. The impressivehandling of COVID-19 has pushed Vietnam’s position forward as a promisinginvestment destination, and with this survey, we want to highlight elementswhich will help hoteliers and tourism-focused real estate owners enhance theirfinancial returns,” said Michael Piro, COO, Indochina Capital and CEO, WinkHotels.
The survey highlights thedominance of online channels for brand touchpoint and accommodation booking as64 percent of travellers will use online travel agencies to conduct theirbookings and 91 percent rely on digital advertisements for their hotel browsing.
The survey also underlines Vietnamtravellers’ preference for short leisure trips of less than four nights, withthe majority of business trips lasting no more than two nights. On pricingstrategies, just a quarter of respondents were willing to spend above 2 millionVND (about 91 USD) per night on personal trips, and they spend even less onbusiness trips./.