Travel market research company The Outbox Company unveils “Korean – Japanese – Taiwanese outbound travel behavior” Outbox Capture. It provides data and information on behaviors and psychology of Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese outbound tourists in the coming time.

Introduction

South Korea, Japan and Taiwan are three of the markets with a large and continuously increasing number of visitors to Vietnam in the period 2015 – 2019. As international tourism resumed, and in order to know more about these big markets, Outbox conducted the Korean – Japanese – Taiwanese outbound travel behavior report.

According to the survey results, tourists from these three countries have a quite low level of awareness about the Vietnamese destination image. It means they haven’t known or been strongly impressed by Vietnam. From the data, Outbox expects to help businesses and destinations in Vietnam come up with new approaches to attract Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese tourists. The target is to welcome 8 million foreign visitors in 2023.

Key content

The similarities of Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese markets

According to statistics, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan are among the top countries with the most outbound tourists in the world. South Korea has the largest number of outbound travelers, followed by Japan and Taiwan, respectively. In 2019, more than 28.7 million Koreans traveled abroad, of which 4.3 million chose to visit Vietnam.

Asian destinations (including Vietnam) are always on the list of favorites of Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese tourists. In 2019, before the pandemic, Vietnam ranked second in the top destinations for Korean tourists, just behind Japan due to expansion of flight routes, near distance and low costs. Another similarity of the three markets is the high spending of outbound tourists. Spending levels in all three countries increased evenly, averaging about 7% per year.

Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese outbound travel behaviors

More than 40% of outbound travelers from the three countries choose standard hotels (2-3 stars). They search for information at travel websites/blogs or search online. Safety is the top factor affecting their decision to go abroad. While Korean tourists are concerned about accommodations, the Japanese want their experiences worth their money, and Taiwanese tourists especially care about transport.

Compared to Japan and South Korea, the travel sentiment of Taiwanese tourists remains low. The long pandemic and strict restrictions have partly affected their psychology. Outbox’s survey shows that although 36.4% of Taiwanese tourists are willing to pay more for travel, 40.7% plan to cut travel spending to save for health care. Simultaneously, more than 40% of Korean and Japanese tourists are willing to raise their budgets for overseas trips in the coming times.

More details can be found at “Korean – Japanese – Taiwanese outbound travel behavior” Outbox Capture by The Outbox Company.

Besides South Korea, two other Northeast Asian markets including Japan and Taiwan are also often in the top countries with the most visitors to Vietnam. From 2015 to 2019, tourists from these two nations to Vietnam constantly increased.

Moreover, with a high level of consumption for outbound travel, Japanese and Taiwanese tourists make promising markets for Vietnam. In which, Japan is the leading country in terms of average spending growth at 7.6%/year.

Taste and behaviors of Japanese and Taiwanese travelers

Among top destinations, Asian countries are always the first choice of these two groups of tourists. In the Japanese market, 60% of flights were to Asian countries. Most notably was the Taiwan market with more than 92% of foreign trips landing in Asia.

Safety, price, and pandemic prevention and control measures are the top factors affecting outbound travel of Japanese tourists. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese pointed to health risks as a prerequisite for going abroad. It’s easy to see that strict COVID prevention measures have had a great impact on them.

Currently, Japanese travelers look forward to moments and experiences worth the money they spend abroad. On the other hand, Taiwanese tourists expect convenient transportation. Maybe the travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic has made transportation a special interest to Taiwanese tourists.

The vast majority of Japanese and Taiwanese travelers prefer standard hotels. They often choose online travel agents (OTAs) to book their trips.

About spending, 42.5% of Japanese tourists said they would like to increase their budget for upcoming overseas trips. In contrast, health concerns and aftershocks from the COVID-19 pandemic still seem to prevent Taiwanese tourists from going abroad. Although 36.4% are willing to pay more for outbound trips, up to 40.7% plan to cut down their spending on travel, saving the budget for health care.

A puzzle for Vietnam tourism

Vietnam is one of the popular destinations of Japanese and Taiwanese visitors. The number of visitors to Vietnam from these two markets grew quite evenly and stably in the period 2015-2019. But Vietnam is not among their top 3 tourist attractions.

In addition, the survey on “outbound travel behavior” by The Outbox Company recently showed that the awareness level of tourists about Vietnam in these two countries is only average. They know Vietnam but do not understand it well.

Just like with the Korean market, Vietnam needs to find a new approach and change previous strategies to shape its image more clearly and prominently. Thereby, we can attract more and more tourists from these potential markets.

Find more details at “Korean-Japanese-Taiwanese outbound travel behavior” Outbox Capture published by The Outbox Company.