Despite welcoming many Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese visitors, Vietnam has not really left any great footprints to them. We need to solve this issue quickly to reach the target of 8 million foreign visitors this year.
Context
South Korea, Japan and Taiwan are key markets of Vietnam’s tourism in recent years. These three markets accounted for 34.3% of total international arrivals to Vietnam in 2019. Looking at this number, most will think that the larger the number of visitors, the more visitors know about Vietnam. In fact, from the survey results “Tourism behavior of three markets in Northeast Asia” by The Outbox Company, the awareness level of Vietnamese destination image is quite low, just 4.1/7 points.
The awareness level is very important as it will influence tourists’ decision to choose a destination. Although the number of visitors to Vietnam grows every year, the awareness level of visitors from these three markets has not really corresponded to the growth potential.
In 2019 alone, the number of visitors from South Korea accounted for 23.9%. The number is huge, but in fact, most don’t know much about Vietnam. Only 18% of respondents were confident about their perception of the Vietnamese destination image.
Japan is also a potential market, but the majority of tourists (62%) admitted to being relatively knowledgeable and up to 21% have little or no awareness of Vietnam.
Similar to Japan, 21% of Taiwanese visitors have low awareness and nearly two-thirds (63%) think that their understanding of Vietnam is only average – quite good.
How to be more fascinating?
We can say that Vietnam’s tourism is facing difficulties in accessing and promoting its images to tourists from the three markets mentioned above. Though there are many scenic spots, diverse culture, heroic history and many tourism advantages, the stimulus programs and tourism products offered do not seem to really reach and help tourists to know about Vietnam. This partly explains why tourists’ awareness of the destination is not high.
Besides, with the low awareness level, it is uncertain that new visitors will consider choosing Vietnam as their next destination. Therefore, we need to change our approach or offer more diverse promotion programs to attract tourists, taking full advantage of domestic tourism in terms of geographical distance, number of flight routes, beautiful natural scenery, and more.
In order to further understand and satisfy visitors from key markets, businesses and destinations should conduct market research. From there, they can make the most detailed and relevant decisions to not only attract but also keep them coming back again and again.
