Aaron Joel Santos
last year was still very high.”
New Ways of Travel
Along with the increasing number of trips taken, Vietnamese tourists are also choosing more diverse ways to travel. Young people often like the phuot style of travelling, namely self-designed tours, often on motorbikes in small groups of close friends or relatives. Names such as Huyen Chip — author of 2012’s Pack your Bag and Go travelog — or Do Thi Thuy Hang, CEO of ivivu.com, an online hotel booking service for Vietnamese, have recently emerged as inspiring examples of young Vietnamese people travelling the world. Both are female, in their twenties, and have had extensive experience travelling. They are now using that experience to start careers in their home country. Hang, an MBA graduate from Harvard, has travelled to over 30 countries. She was the Vietnam representative at the World Economic Forum held in Myanmar in June to share her “next great idea” for bridging Vietnamese youth with the world through her ivivu.com service and new technologies. Meanwhile, Huyen Chip is still busy with her idea of creating a wiki travel ‘how’ website specifically for Vietnamese backpackers (Wiki Du Lich Ba Lo), together
development at the country’s visitor sites. with the ‘Traveling is an Equal Opportunity Minh, owner of Cotolodge hotel on the Foundation’ to support young Vietnamese remote Co To Island in Quang Ninh, says who want to travel. that remote islands and destinations have To meet this growing desire to just get quickly become touristy. “We started our up and go, hundreds of forums and social business in Quan Lan Island [a neighbouring network sites have sprung up among island of Co To but closer to the land] about travellers themselves to share experiences. 10 years ago when it was still untouched. But The content includes anything from finding now, the island has become polluted. The new routes to fixing motorbikes and photos taken during trips. Phuot.vn, taybacgroup.com. number of visitors is increasing every year and it’s full of overpriced hotels.” He adds vn or the The Gioi Anh Facebook group are that this is the reason he has opened one of among the most popular sites. the first hotels in Co To. He is trying to make Meanwhile, middle-aged and older tourists tend to prefer pre-arranged tours for it a better, more eco-friendly destination. There are other concerns, too, especially the convenience and worry-free experience. when travelling during the summer or But compared to the past, this group’s on holiday weekends. Accommodation demand for tours has become much more prices can get hiked dramatically in many challenging for tour companies. places, air and transport tickets run out “We always have to come up with new quickly and services are poor. One month initiatives,” says Doanh. “People are now before the long weekend of Apr. 30 this much more experienced in travelling, so we year, ferry tickets from Rach Gia to Phu have to keep looking for new destinations. Quoc were reported to be already sold out. Our clients have the internet and they can Many rooms were double-priced and full. check whatever the tour guides say, not like Sam Son Beach in Thanh Hoa is among before, when sometimes the tour guides made up stories and were not worried about the destinations that have the biggest reputation for hiking up prices during the being caught.” peak season. As the number of domestic tourists One reason for tourists being ripped off, continues to increase, new kinds of packages says Doanh, is a lack of planning. “It’s the such as spiritual or pilgrimage tours where people visit Buddhist temples, as well as golf habit of Vietnamese people not to book tours or explorations tours have also become things well in advance. So when they book close to the date, the service can’t be as popular. Ludwig Boinier, sales manager good.” He adds that his company often at Buffalo Tour Agency, which was once focused on tourists from overseas and expats receives bookings just one week before the living in Vietnam, says that their company is departure date. So if you’re thinking of investing in now targeting domestic travellers, especially tourism in Vietnam, there is great potential, the high to middle-income group as there is but you’ll need to come up with new a “huge market” there. initiatives to satisfy the more experienced Another popular method of seeing the customers. And if you’re planning to travel sites, which just 10 years ago would have in the summer, try to avoid the long holiday been hard to imagine, is by private car. As weekends and book things early. the number of cars owned by Vietnamese continues to soar — between 2006 and 2009 alone this increased from 600,000 to over one million — more families choose to drive to weekend getaway destinations or to take trips further afield. Long, 60, who only learned to drive at the age of 55, has just completed a three-week Here is a list of useful websites to get deals when cross country road trip with his travelling during peak season: wife. Describing the experience as “amazing”, he adds: “We swam 1) T rain tickets : Regular tickets available at the in 16 different beaches along our stations run out quickly, but several reliable trip. The roads are pretty good, agencies can help you find tickets so driving on your own is very sieuthivetau.com comfortable.”
The Peak Season
vetau24h.com
A Long Way To Go
The revenue from domestic tourism in 2012 reached US$7.6 billion (VND160 trillion), a big jump from US$1.1 billion (VND23.1 trillion) in 2002 and US$143 million (VND3 trillion) in 1992. But at the same time, there is also an urgent need for a well-structured tourism system and sustainable
alehap.vn
2) D omestic
hotel booking sites . The best way to get deals in Vietnam, regardless of the season muachung.vn (Vietnamese only)
nhommua.com (Vietnamese only) agoda.com ivivu.com
July 2013 Word | 51