Come & Go Vietnam

Thanks to a genius new Tripadvisor app called Tripwow, I’ve put together a great new slideshow to showcase our top-selling Ben Tre tour (soundtracked by Autechre). Watch below, & enjoy!

Thanks to my fellow blogger Thomas Wanhoff for sharing this (on Facebook) - a great internet marketing campaign from the Icelandic Tourist Board, showing that you don’t have to spend loads of money to come up with effective tourism marketing (which is just as well because as we all know, Iceland doesn’t have any money!).

It’s simple, friendly, engaging, unintrusive and interactive - everything that good social media campaigns should be. And it even has the brilliant Olafur Arnalds on the soundtrack. Takk, Iceland!

Last week I was invited to be guest speaker at the City Net Events ‘Meeting Point’ networking event, which took place at the Hard Rock Cafe. My subject: Vietnam Tourism 2010 - What’s Hot, What’s Not! - a summary of what’s happening in the country’s tourism industry at the moment based on my own observations and on feedback from customers and web travel forums such as Tripadvisor.

Several attendees have asked me for a summary of my talk so here, in brief bullet-point form, is a recap of some of the key points…

• 2010 is already seeing considerable tourism growth over 2009, though the figures are distorted by the change in visa regulations meaning expats doing their three-monthly visa runs to Cambodia are being counted as tourist visitors
• Vietnam receives around 4m visitors per year - Phuket alone receives the same, while Singapore receives nearly 10m. Why? Better infrastructure, more things to do, they cater for ALL markets rather than just cultural tourists, and most visitors do not require visas
• Around 50% of visitors to Thailand go back a second time. For Vietnam, the figure is around 5%. Why? Scamming/overcharging, visa regulations, unoriginal tour products, characterless hotels, poor infrastructure (3500km of coastline yet not one single yachting marina for example), a lack of entertainment (particularly nightlife), and the focus on cultural tourists, who only tend to visit destinations once
• What tourists like about Vietnam - smiling people, cheap prices, beautiful landscapes, hot weather, great beaches, and a variety of food & drink
• Vietnam has considerable advantages over its neighbours - it is more politically stable than Thailand, has better beaches, shopping and golf courses than Cambodia, and is cheaper and easier to get to than Laos

Hotspots for 2010:

• Phu Quoc - demand is exceeding supply for this beautiful island with its stunning beaches and slow pace of life. But go there quickly before the planned casinos & golf courses destroy its charm
• Vietnamese Riviera - the stretch of coast between Vung Tau & Mui Ne is a hidden gem. Places such as Ke Ga, La Gi & Ho Tram offer genuine peace & quiet, and more resorts are planned
• Con Dao - beautifully unspoilt, some great beaches, national park with loads of wildlife, old French prison camp, and some of the country’s best remaining French colonial architecture. New Six Senses Hideaway opens in early 2011 which will really put the destination on the map
• Mekong Delta - yes, you’ve all been there but as all tour operators copy each other, most tourists only see My Tho/Cai Be/Vinh Long, and maybe Can Tho. Tourists are now starting to explore further, with destinations like Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Chau Doc and Ha Tien becoming increasingly popular, as well as an alternative route into Cambodia
• Mai Chau - lots of tourists visit Sapa while Mai Chau is less favoured, despite being a lot closer to Hanoi. Stunning scenery, really friendly people, some genuinely authentic homestays, great food and plenty of activities make this a great place to get away

To close, I put Vietnam’s tourism industry into perspective. Whilst France has had a tourism industry since the 18th century or earlier, Thailand since the 1960s, Malaysia since the early 1970s and Spain since 1975, Vietnam’s tourism industry really began in the mid-90s and so it is still a relative beginner. So given its novice status, it isn’t doing too badly and things will continue to improve!

* Thanks to Thomas De Lange and Tran Ngoc Thanh at City Net Events for inviting me to speak at this event and for their excellent organisation.

Following STING/Travel Daily Asia’s successful first Thirsty Thursday event at the New World in May, the next event is now being planned for September.

To make the event a success we need the following:

• Venue - must be able to take around 100-120 people, and supply drinks at reasonable prices
• Drink sponsor - to ensure all attendees get at least 1 free drink
• Prize sponsors - prizes of any value for our lucky draw. At the last event prizes included luxury resort stays, a Halong Bay cruise and hotel dinner vouchers

If you would like to get involved in this event and promote your brand/venue to the city’s tourism and hospitality industry, please email me on tim@comeandgovietnam.com. Thank you!