Come & Go Vietnam Blog

A recent post from travel blogger Matt Kepnes on Huffington Post, Why I’ll Never Return to Vietnam, created quite a stir here when it was published last month. And whilst the whingeing, self-pitying tone and clear lack of pre-trip research are not what one would expect from such a popular travel writer, Kepnes’ experiences are sadly typical of many tourists who come to Vietnam, and help explain the country’s pitiful 5% return visitor rate.

Thankfully the blog has attracted a lot of coverage in the Vietnamese media and led to a lot of self-analysis and soul-searching, rare activities in a country whose citizens often consider themselves above reproach. The mistreatment of tourists is no longer the elephant in the room and is now being widely discussed, and I hope that this new awareness will lead to a much-needed change in attitude.

Personally I’ve written about this topic countless times and my views on the subject are well-known. Time, I feel, to push the negativity to one side and look at the positive side of Vietnam – with over 6 million tourist visitors  a year and a growing, and mostly happy expat community, there must be one, right? Via the power of Facebook, I harvested the opinions of local residents, both expats & Vietnamese, to find out what they like most about Vietnam. Here are a few random thoughts…

• Nice weather, less tax, good people (Quentin)
• The Vietnamese are endlessly optimistic. Sometimes it can be infuriating, but 99 times out of 100 it’s not. The Vietnamese are, at the end of the day, incredibly tolerant. They can bear almost anything and continue to belive tomorrow will be a better day. And finally, the greatest thing I can say about them, is that they’re also forgiving. I imagine, if the tables were turned, and the Vietnamese had come to America and dropped more bombs than on any other country in history, and then 25, 30 years later tried to come over for a summer holiday, or to see if they could find a job, how would they be treated? The fact that the war still exists in living memories, and yet I still not only feel welcome, but often feel like people like me specifically because I’m western/american is mind blowing. (Jake)
• The FOOD! (Jase)
• Love the food, good, friendly and warm people, pretty country with lots of history, and is full of business opportunities (Ravi)
• Positive people make me more positive and the Vietnamese are generally a happy entrepreneurial bunch, good business opportunities, great weather, affordable to eat out and enjoy life outside my apartment. (Anders)
• Ca phe sua da (iced coffee with milk) (Mike)
• Its never, ever boring. The endless people watching opportunities. Low cost of living, the tailors of Hoi An, the fact that different parts of the country are so very different from each other. The fact that you can have absolutely anything delivered to your house. Every single day you’d come home and have at least one story that started ‘you’ll never guess what I saw today…’ Cheap beauty treatments, the smell of the those waffley things they cook on the street, the excellent cheesecake (we actually had a blog dedicated to it!), the fact that when you’re not on the tourist trail the people are actually incredibly warm and funny. The fact that, no matter how you feel about the place (and I’ll be the first to admit there were times I was less than enamoured), the majority of foreigners living there experience a quality of life that is better than in their own country. (Rachel)
• Their ability to STOP work or what ever to have a coffee break and relax for how ever long they like. No such thing as “Time is money” in Nam. The job will be finished when it’s done! So envious of that attitude and way of life. Wish more western countries were like that. (Chad)
• You can order anything to be delivered to your house. (Linh)
• You’ll never have to talk to an answering machine here. (Tim)
• When asked “why Vietnam?” I refer to the wonderful optimism, it rubs off on me and I love it. Tomorrow will be better than today, that is the paradigm and I hope it does not fade away too quickly as the country develops. (Adam)
• The absolutely amazing, high energy vibrant street life, positives and negatives to that, but mostly positive! No matter how many times you witness something and say “now I’ve seen everything”, there always comes a time, usually very quickly, that you witness something and can say again “NOW I’ve….”! (Robert)
• Girls…lets be honest guys! (Soren)
• Free WiFi everywhere. Only realised how great it is until I went home for Christmas. (Dani)
• After 17 years, I still love and am amazed at the smiles, the free smiles, the real smiles, how easily they come. (Tom)
• Being welcomed anywhere. I’ve shown up unannounced at people’s houses, at funerals, in pagodas and been welcomed in and fed well. (Helen)
• Optimism, friendliness, generosity – I’ve come to the conclusion that all the good things about the people here seem to be underpinned by a very deep sense of pride. For thousands of years foreigners have been trying to control this part of the world and the Viets have seen them all off thanks to plain old hard work in the face of the most atrocious and formidable conditions. Now for the first time this generation is able to live the life that virtually all of their ancestors dreamed of, independent, free, and happily, and the result is the warmth, friendliness and generosity that all of us here have experienced from the average Vietnamese. That’s what I appreciate the most about the place. (Paul)

How about you? If you’re a tourist, what did you like about your visit to Vietnam? If you live here, what things do you enjoy the most?

Ben Tre province is not just famous for being the location of our most popular Mekong Delta tour – it’s also famous for coconuts! This interesting video from Thanh Nien shows how coconuts are used to make candy & other snacks, and will bring back happy memories to our customers who have already visited Ben Tre and whet the appetites of those who are planning their trip.

Last October I blogged about the well-intentioned but ultimately clueless Exciting Saigon campaign, and as the voting reaches its climax, it seems I’m not alone in wondering who the hell selected the nominees.

Today’s Thanh Nien News reports that many expats have been baffled by the selections, for much the same reasons as I was. I wrote:

The campaign limits itself to the same old venues that have been appearing in guidebooks and tourism magazines since 2002 at least, when I first visited.

The restaurant list contains only a handful of local tourist restaurants – no fine dining, no international cuisine, no hotel restaurants, no hidden Vietnamese gems. While the entertainment list just contains hotel bars, water puppetry, and a couple of local nightclubs. NONE of the city’s popular watering holes get a mention.

Thanh Nien’s article also goes on to mention suggestions from expats and visitors as to how the city’s tourism infastructure could be improved – more efforts to reduce crime, better signposting (signposting is non-existent at present), and capable tour guides being three suggestions. But is anybody listening?

Today’s Thanh Nien News has an interesting article about the use of ‘Tourism Festivals’ to attract tourists (at least the article doesn’t use “lure”, the sinister word often used by the local media when discussing tourism – given the sharp practices that go on in some sectors of the local tourism industry, it’s often pretty apt!).

“Many countries organize tourism festivals when tourism is slumping to ensure that they can attract as many customers then as when the business is booming” says the article. Do they really? I’ve never heard of any other country organising ‘tourism festivals’, as the very idea of a tourism festival would be enough to kill off tourism to that destination, at least for the duration of the festival itself.

It’s not that tourists dislike festivals; on the contrary, if the festival is a traditional one celebrated by the local people over several generations (such as Hong Kong’s Dragon Boat Festival), it is of great interest to tourists. Or if it’s a music festival, be it an all-encompassing one such as Glastonbury in the UK, or a specialist one such as the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, tourists will flock there to hang out, drink beer, listen to live music and meet up with like-minded visitors.

Sadly, most of Vietnam’s festivals do not fit either criteria, the assumption being that traditional local festivals are of no interest to foreign tourists, and live rock/jazz music, and their usual accoutrements, still being largely viewed as ‘social evils’. So festivals are generally rather kitsch affairs, aimed halfheartedly at overseas visitors but attracting mainly excitement-starved locals. Any live music is likely to be Vietnamese love ballads (unlistenable to most foreign ears) or Celine Dion covers. Ever been to a flower festival here? Here’s a flower display. Here’s another one. OK, I get the picture. When’s the band on? Oh…

One of the festivals cited in the article is something called the Nha Trang Sea Festival. Here is a sample of this exciting event:

The event this year will introduce a street festival including pedicabs of flowers, tandems, carriages decorated with flowers which will parade the streets, a beer festival with the participation of the beer firms present in Vietnam.

In addition, a festival of picture embroidering will be held with unique rites by the XQ Nha Trang Company, which has built a house to worship embroidering ancestors at 64 Tran Phu Street.

In addition, exhibitions on pottery, calligraphy as well as artistic performances and fashion performances will take place during the Nha Trang sea festival. Ending the Nha Trang festival will be the day of walking.

The worship of embroidering ancestors? Saigon Beer? Calligraphy? A ‘day of walking’? None of it likely to have foreign visitors rushing to book flights, and none of it remotely associated with the sea.

Why not follow Phuket’s lead and get on the Asian yachting circuit? Get the rich yachties into town, get some live jazz going down on the seafront, and the place would be jumping. Embroidery doesn’t quite have the same pulling power…

The following snippet from an article in today’s Thanh Nien News caught my eye:

According to the Vietnam National Tourism Administration (VNAT), only 30 percent of foreign tourists to Vietnam want to return the country, mainly businesspeople coming to Vietnam to study investment and business opportunities.

But director of VNAT’s Travel Department Vu The Binh said, “The number (of foreign visitors returning to the country) is normal, as tourism is mainly about discovery. So, if you visit one country this year, you want make a trip to another the next year.”

Frightening that someone working in tourism can have so little grasp of the importance of repeat business! The real figure of tourists (NOT businesspeople, who should not be counted as tourists) who do actually return to Vietnam is around 5%, as opposed to 49% for Thailand. There are many reasons for this, but one key reason is that Vietnam only seeks to attract cultural or “discovery” tourists, rather than holidaymakers, whereas Thailand has the sense to attract both.

Tourism isn’t just about discovery. It’s about relaxation, sunbathing, golf, watersports, food, fishing, nightlife, and pretty much any other of life’s pleasures you care to mention. Vietnam can offer all of these things perfectly well, but it sometimes seems as if the powers that be are ashamed of this fact!

To refuse to even acknowledge that the holidaymaker market exists and to settle for such a pitiful repeat visit rate is very, very shortsighted and this, more than any other of Vietnam’s tourism shortcomings, is what is preventing it from competing with Thailand and Malaysia as a major regional player.

Thanh Nien news features an encouraging report on a deal between a local clothing firm and fashion channel FTV to promote Vietnam as a tourism destination.

The quote that stood out for me was:

“Our country has enormous tourism potential with hundreds of resorts which are no less beautiful than those overseas,” Viet said, “So we need to enhance our promotion.”

He said advertising on international television networks was an inexpensive way to tell foreign viewers Vietnam had more to offer than its iconic pho(beef noodle soup) and ao dai (the traditional Vietnamese dress).

Spot on! As I’ve frequently banged on about on this very blog, there is more to Vietnam than the rather staid cultural image currently featured in its tourism marketing – countries like Thailand and Malaysia have marketed themselves very successfully by combining their local culture with beaches, golf and general FUN, so no reason why VN shouldn’t do likewise!

And FTV, kitsch though it is, is a good choice, as it seems to be the default channel for hotel bars across the world, meaning the Vietnam ads will get a lot of eyeballs. Let’s hope the ads deserve them…

Thanh Nien News reports today that Vietnam is being advertised on ten London black cabs, from 3rd September.

Not a bad idea in itself – London taxis cover a lot of miles per day and their advertisements do get noticed. But the choice of images – particularly that of women in ao dai - is not such a good idea. “Hey, they have women in long dresses in Vietnam, let’s go!” I think not.

Further evidence that destination marketing in Vietnam is still tied up with a hidebound notion that culture sells. It does sell, but to a decent sized market of one-off visitors. Too much of Vietnam’s tourism marketing seems to be selling a 2-week boot camp in Vietnamese culture & history.

Look at really successful tourism marketing campaigns, such as Amazing Thailand or Malaysia, Truly Asia – sure, they include images of the country’s cultural icons, but more importantly, they show images of FOREIGN PEOPLE ENJOYING THEMSELVES, four words which are as close to a definition of what tourism should be about as you can get. The Thailand and Malaysia campaigns aren’t just about Thailand and Malaysia, they’re also about YOU the visitor, and that’s something Vietnam isn’t doing well at the moment.

This country has great restaurants, golf courses and beaches, so why isn’t it selling them?