Introduction

Large hotel groups and boutique brands are in a race to establish their presence in the ever-growing and competitive consumer market in Asia. To distinguish themselves, hotel brands must skillfully address emerging travel trends, meeting the increasing demand for self-planned trips, community involvement, and participation in sustainability efforts. Following a period of recovery from the global pandemic and economic decline, the Asian tourism sector is displaying signs of revitalization. In 2023, countries in Asia are witnessing a strong resurgence in tourism, marked by a significant increase in tourist arrivals, along with a resurgence of travel businesses and hotels capitalizing on growth opportunities and initiating new investment projects.

As we conclude 2023, a memorable journey for tourism industry, The Outbox Company (Outbox), in collaboration with Vero, is releasing the ASIA HOTEL BRAND BLUEPRINT 2023 report, providing readers with research data on Asian hotel market, offering a comprehensive view of the landscape for brands as well as the new shifts in traveler behavior within the region. Not only helping companies in the industry gain fresh insights into the hotel market in 2023, this white paper is also a crucial and useful source of information for predicting new opportunities and challenges in 2024.

In this report, to understand more about travelers’ preferences and brand perceptions, an online survey was conducted across seven Asian countries: Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Outbox utilized ASIA BRAND HOTEL SURVEY solution to provide in-depth insights into the level of awareness, familiarity, and perception of customers in the Asian region towards hotel brands.

Together with Outbox, Vero provides essential strategic advisories, specifically designed for hotel brands to thrive in the dynamic competitive landscape in Asia.

Key Content

The whitepaper “Asia Hotel Brand Blueprint 2023” includes 3 main parts:

1/ Asia Hotel Market

The Asian hotel market continues to grow as travel demand returns: Accordingly, the recovery is primarily driven by domestic tourism, while international arrivals to the region are increasing but still significantly below pre-pandemic levels. Hotel chains are expanding across Asia, with investments in hotels in the Asia-Pacific region experiencing a slight decrease due to difficulties from global economic downturn, such as rising interest rates, cost inflation, and increasing macroeconomic instability. Despite these challenges, there are still positive signs for the industry, and investors may continue long-term projects. However, hotel construction pipelines in the Asia-Pacific region remain robust, indicating a positive outlook for the region’s tourism sector.

2/ Asia Hotel Brand Blueprint

• Hotel Brand Awareness: Hilton is the top brand in the upper upscale segment with a brand awareness of 60.1%. This is significantly higher than the next closest competitor, Marriott, which has a brand awareness of 47,7%. IHG’s leadership in the midscale and upper-scale segments is a testament to the high awareness scores of its Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands. Two Asian giants, Lotte and Aston, are making waves in the upscale hotel segment, showcasing the growing strength and influence of Asian hospitality brands in the regional market.
  
  

  Most Popular Hotel Brands in Asia (by Market)

   

• Hotel Brand Familiarity: International hotel brands hold a significant advantage over local or regional brands in terms of brand familiarity across the Asia – Pacific region. This dominance suggests a strong preference among travelers in this market for the reliability and consistency that come with established global names.
• Hotel Brand Image: Brand values are evaluated by both rational (which are closely linked with the products/services itself) and those based on more emotional factors (which is how the brand makes people feel).

3/ Future Proofing Hotel Brands

Travel is undergoing a transformation anchored in three key shifts – self-planning, authenticity, and environmental awareness — are the driving forces behind the latest trends in travel, ushering in a new era of exploration and compelling hotel brands to offer services beyond the ordinary.

All details are contained in the full report “Asia Hotel Brand Blueprint 2023” released by The Outbox Company.

Ho Chi Minh City, August 17, 2023 – The Outbox Company, a tourism market research company, has released a new report “Vietnam’s state of travel H1 – 2023”. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the country’s tourism recovery, comparing it to other destinations in Southeast Asia. The report also examines the factors affecting tourism demand among Vietnamese tourists.

Introduction

The Outbox Company’s report “Vietnam’s state of travel H1 – 2023” records and analyzes the performance of Vietnam’s tourism industry from both the supply and demand sides. It also assesses how Vietnam’s tourism recovery compares to that of its neighboring destinations in the region.

The report is a valuable resource for businesses in the tourism industry, investors, and destination management agencies. Businesses can use the report to better understand the tourism situation in Vietnam and make informed business decisions. Investors can use the report to assess the potential of the Vietnamese tourism market and make sound investment decisions. Destination management agencies can use the report to understand the tourism situation in Vietnam and develop appropriate support policies for the tourism industry.

Key content

“Vietnam’s state of travel H1 – 2023” report discuss 3 key content, in which:

The Recovery of Tourism Market

The report indicates a robust recovery in Vietnam’s tourism sector in the first half of 2023, with the country welcoming 5.67 million international visitors. This figure is equivalent to 65.7% of the visitor count in 2019. Despite inflation and a rising cost of living, tourism demand remains high. The pace of recovery in Vietnam’s tourism sector has exceeded expectations, painting a promising picture for the goal of attracting 8 million international visitors in 2023.

However, there are still some challenges facing Vietnam’s tourism sector, including high travel expenses, limited air connectivity, and a yet-to-fully-recover Chinese market.

Outcome of travel supply chain operations

The aviation and accommodation industries in Vietnam experienced a strong recovery in the first six months of 2023, thanks to high travel demand and the lifting of travel restrictions. The airline industry posted a revenue recovery of 88% in March 2023, compared to pre-pandemic levels. Asia Pacific is the fastest-recovering region, accounting for 31.9% of global RPK (revenue per passenger kilometer). The accommodation service industry also saw a strong recovery, with 4.3 million visitors served in the first 6 months of 2023. This is an increase of 110.3% compared to the same period last year. International visitors increased by 7.7 times, while domestic visitors increased by 66.7%. The number of rooms in the 4-5 star segment also increased by 6.2% compared to the end of 2022.

Travel behavior of Vietnamese tourists

During the second quarter of 2023, there was a decrease in the frequency of trips made by Vietnamese tourists, despite the sustained high demand for tourism and an increasing preference for self-planned travel compared to the first quarter. There’s a growing trend among Vietnamese tourists to embark on “spontaneous trips” that are planned within a shorter time frame and have a reduced trip duration.

All details are contained in the full report “Vietnam’s state of travel H1 – 2023” released by The Outbox Company.

HCMC, April 20, 2023 – The Outbox Company announced its Most Loved Ranking, the first-ever ranking of tourism brands based on the preference and awareness of Vietnamese travelers in Q1/2023. The ranking features top 5 from 6 categories including top domestic destinations, outbound destinations, airlines, online travel agents (OTAs), travel agents/tour operators (TAs/TOs), and most known international hotels.

Introduction

The ranking is generally considered as a benchmark reflecting the thoughts and feelings of consumers, helping brands know and partly affirm their position in the market. Most Loved Ranking was born to become a ranking exclusively for brands in the tourism industry, expressing the voice of direct consumers – travelers. Most Loved Ranking is built from the Vietnam Travel Market Tracker model. It supports businesses in tracking and understanding Vietnamese travelers throughout a year and will be updated by each quarter Similarly, Most Loved Ranking will also be updated at the beginning of each quarter, showing the most loved and recognized brands by Vietnamese travelers in the previous quarter.

Outbox’s principle for the Most Loved Ranking is transparency and independent data, just like we have always done with all of our research reports and solutions. Therefore, brands can rest assured that Outbox will not affect the order of the ranking due to any commercial deal.

Key content

In Q1 this year, Ba Ria – Vung Tau was the most favorite domestic destination for Vietnamese travelers with 13.6%, followed by their top destinations in recent years including Da Nang, Hanoi, Da Lat and Ho Chi Minh City, respectively. Regarding top outbound destinations, South Korea and Japan are sharing the 1st rank, followed by Singapore, and Thailand. The UK is the only non-Asian destination in the top 5 outbound destinations for Vietnamese travelers. It once again affirmed the preference of Vietnamese tourists with nearby destinations in the region as in the past years.

Vietnam Airlines, the Vietnamese flag carrier, dominating the ranking is chosen by 42.6% Vietnamese travelers. The low-cost airline Vietjet Air ranks second, followed by Bamboo Airways. Although Vietravel Airlines was just founded in February 2019, and affected by the pandemic, it is still ranked 4th.

In top travel agents/tour operators (TAs/TOs), Vietnam’s travel market is still led by Vietravel and Saigontourist, accounting for nearly 50% of the market share chosen by Vietnamese travelers. Vietravel maintains its position as the leading travel brand in Vietnam at the moment, accounting for one-thirds of the market share according to the choice of tourists. In addition to Hanoitourist and Vietnam Tourism, which are familiar names, the Q1 ranking recorded the unexpected appearance of the Vietnam Booking.

Top online travel agents (OTAs) in Q1 feature international brands in the travel sector, including Traveloka, Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, and Trip.com. There is no domestic OTAs platform in the top choices of Vietnamese travelers. Traveloka has shown its tremendous growth thanks to effective campaigns during Tet 2023, with more than 40% of travelers selecting in Q1, 10% more than second rank, Booking.com.

In Q1/2023, Novotel was the most recognized international hotel brand by Vietnamese travelers with more than 10%, followed by JW Marriott, Sheraton, InterContinental, and Pullman. Regarding the top 5 international hotels most known by Vietnamese tourists, two famous hotel management groups, Accor and Marriott, each have two brands in the ranking. The remaining position is under IHG Group.