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.

After seeing a strong decline of outbound travel in 2020, the tourism industry is now brighter as travelers are eager to go abroad again.

The Outbox Company released “How Vietnamese Are Reconnecting With Outbound Travel?” report, about the trends and behaviors of Vietnam outbound travelers. The report is in the syndicated report series of Outbox Insight, one of the two key areas that The Outbox Company focuses on after rebranding.

Declining concerns lead to increasing travel demand

“Vietnamese travel sentiment” report in June of Outbox showed that concern about the safety of a destination was decreasing over time. In October 2021, the figure was 8.21 points (on a 10-point scale). After only 1 month, the level of concern about safety dropped to 7.85 points and continued to decrease to 6.15 points in May 2022. As sentiment is back, Vietnamese begin to include overseas destinations in their travel plans.

Along with pent-up demand, domestic and international tourism has grown rapidly. According to “How Vietnamese Are Reconnecting With Outbound Travel?” report from Outbox, 88.5% Vietnamese tourists took both domestic and outbound trips in the first nine months of 2022.

65% Vietnamese travelers spend more for outbound travel

Through the survey, Outbox saw that Vietnamese tourists have changed in behaviors and trends while traveling abroad.

They are willing to spend more as a way to help release their pandemic stress. 65% of travelers surveyed said they spent more on overseas trips than in 2019.

Before COVID-19, 48% of Vietnamese outbound travelers preferred guided group tours from travel agents. However, this option fell in popularity, with only 20% of travelers chosen for their outbound trip last summer. They now prefer to take their self guided outbound trips solo, with family members or friends.

Whether before or after the pandemic, the cost of the trip is always the top concern of tourists. Besides, due to COVID-19 impact, in addition to cost, people especially care about the safety of a destination. Top 5 must-do activities of Vietnamese outbound travelers are sightseeing (72.09%), exploring local cuisines (66.8%), shopping in malls (57.3%), visiting amusement parks (51.8%), and visiting cultural attractions (48.8%).

Vietnamese travelers are shortening planning time for outbound trips in less than a month (62% in 2022 compared to 29.3% in 2019). They are increasingly seeking flexible bookings. The reason is because everything is unpredictable. Shorter planning times and flexible bookings can help them reduce risk.

The new middle class with higher consumption

Outbox’s report states that Vietnam’s new middle class will make an important contribution to the development of outbound tourism. They have good income (more than 15 million VND or 750 USD), higher daily spending (from 30 USD) and good education. Nearly 60% of the population in Vietnam under 35 years old are better educated and earning higher incomes than previous generations.

Not only do they spend more while traveling, they also have an awareness of environmental protection and the sustainability of the destination. These make up a promising market for many destinations.

2022 marks the first stage of travel recovery, with all the delayed demand busted in excitement. Nevertheless, somehow people are still very cautious about traveling abroad. Some forecasts say 2023 will see even more optimism in tourism. Businesses and destinations need to grasp new trends and changes in tourist behavior early to achieve good results in the coming time.

 

Many people are confusing the use of these words: reporting, analysis, and insight. This article hopes to shed light on the three terms.

Reporting

Reporting is the first step of working with data. It is the process of organizing data into informational summaries in order to keep track or monitor if the campaign is effective.

Analysis

Analysis follows reports. In this step, we will learn and expect deeper information from reports and data. A good analysis should show the correlation, or the cause-and-effect relationships inside the data.

If there is not enough data to analyze in your existing data set, you will have to collect data from the exterior data, including social media channels or referral channels. These outside data help you see a bigger picture of its effects.

Insight

Insight is the final stage of data. Insight connects data points logically and helps people gain a deep understanding of an object.

Insight is often confused or used interchangeably with data. While data has the potential to become an insight, individual data are just numbers. Just when there is a connection of data points, associated with a specific object, an insight about that will be created.

How to turn analysis to insight?

Many organizations can do some analysis and reports, but sometimes they are lack of cross-discipline knowledge which indeed creates insight.

 

Following the rebrand journey and the new release of the latest Outbox Insight report “How Vietnamese are reconnecting with outbound travel?,” The Outbox Company (referred to as Outbox) will focus mainly on the keywords “data” and “insight” in their activities. These two concepts are sometimes confused or misunderstood.

Known as an industry expert with many years of experience in tourism research, Ms. Nguyen Anh Thu, Co-Founder and CRO of The Outbox Company, has shared specific insights and data on the Vietnam tourism market.

Outbox always talks about “insight”. So what is its most accurate definition?

“Insight” is understood as tacit truth, or accurate and deep understanding of things. However, as the word “insight” has been used more often, its definition becomes more ambiguous. Interpretation, “insight” is new discoveries and explanations about a certain subject, such as a target market or group of customers. Insight lies deep within an object and can be analyzed by its actions or related facts.

Market Insight is often confused or used interchangeably with data, knowledge, or general customer feedback. While data has the potential to become an insight, individual data are just numbers. Only when there is a connection of data points, associated with a specific object, an insight about that will be created.

How important is insight in the current tourism and hospitality industry?

From a business perspective, the more we understand the market we are exploiting and the customers we serve, the more we can create quality products. That is the purpose of finding insight. In addition, the use of market insight helps predict potential changes in the market or industry. Finding patterns in customer behavior, such as spending characteristics or content engagement, can be done very effectively by analyzing data.

In particular about Outbox Insight, Outbox wants to be able to explain as many aspects of the industry as possible through analytics and data connectivity. Thereby, individuals involved in the tourism industry with different purposes will be able to learn and find different values of information. Therefore, insight can support not only business people but also those doing research and studying related to tourism.

In your opinion, what is the most difficult thing in the process of finding insight? How do you and Outbox “troubleshoot”?

In the tourism industry, it’s challenging to find insights that reflect the true nature and trends of the market as well as the characteristics of tourists. The core reason is the complex structure of the industry with many sectors and stakeholders, plus the nature of constant change under the influence of different environmental factors.

When working with Outbox’s customers in many different fields, we have realized that in the tourism industry, especially in Vietnam, there are still many gaps in market data. This leads to lack of exploitation and analysis of data and information to give real insights into the market and users. Therefore, at Outbox, by observing the market, and accessing many different data sources, we build research models that connect the data to generate insights that truly reflect the visitors, markets and various aspects of the industry.

As one of the two core areas of Outbox in a new development phase, what does Outbox Insight promise to bring to customers in particular and the travel market in general?

Outbox in the new phase will provide two segments including Outbox Solutions and Outbox Insight as two solutions for businesses and industry stakeholders. Outbox Solutions will decide the specific problem of businesses and destinations in the tourism industry. Outbox Insight connects information and data, and fills the background data that is still quite empty in Vietnam’s tourism industry in general at present. It is built as a tool to support businesses in their investment and operating decisions.

From my core point of view, data abounds. For example, people who serve customers directly in the hotel or travel industry have countless data of their guests. So what is next, how does the data solve further problems? Data number is not enough. Outbox Insight is born with the ambition to analyze quality data and transform them into business solutions for the travel market, ideally helping the market have a clearer perspective instead of relying on experience or judgment, then making decisions more rationally and appropriately.

Nowadays, outbound travel is no longer a privilege of a few, like elites or business travelers. More and more people can manage to take one or even many trips abroad every year, but when the COVID-19 epidemic spread all over the globe. Nevertheless, the travel interruption in the last two years cannot suppress the robust demand for post-pandemic outbound tourism in Vietnam.

According to Vietnam Outbound Travel 2022, the latest report of Vietnam-based market intelligence company The Outbox Company, the growth of the country’s new middle class can boost Vietnam outbound tourism in the coming times.

The impact of new middle class

The report states that the total number of Vietnamese outbound travelers is forecasted to grow much faster, mainly due to the growth of the country’s new middle class. The middle and affluent class (MAC) are those whose monthly income is at least VND 15 million (around USD 750), a threshold at which consumption is observed to take off.

The MAC population in Vietnam is estimated to triple between 2012 and 2030, with an annual growth rate of 12.9%. It’s higher than other countries in the Southeast Asia region including Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand.

According to a report on Vietnamese consumers from McKinsey & Company, the number of Vietnamese consumers entering the middle class with new consumption power is growing and well positioned in Asia’s consumption map over the next decade. The two highest tiers of the consuming class (middle and affluent class spending USD 30 or more per day) are growing the fastest and may account for 20 percent of Vietnam’s population by 2030.

It can be seen that they will tend to spend more not only for their basic demands but leisure activities like traveling as well. As the quality of life is higher, along with a bigger desire to explore the world, and the quick development of social media and technology, Vietnamese travelers can be urged to go abroad more.

A promising market due to well educated travelers with high incomes

It’s great news that the demand of outbound tourism in Vietnam is increasing after the pandemic. And it’s much better that Vietnamese outbound travelers have a good standard of education, as reported by The Outbox Company. Knowledge and education allow them to better understand and appreciate destinations adding to the experiential component of Vietnamese outbound travel. As a result, they can be aware of supporting the locality as well as contributing to sustainability and environmental protection while traveling to any destination.

In addition to getting a good education, nearly 60 percent of the population under 35 years old in Vietnam earn more than previous generations. The fact that they will spend more and respect the places they visit makes up a promising market for many destinations.

More data and insight about the middle class impact in particular and the Vietnam outbound travel market in general can be found in the Vietnam Outbound Travel 2022 report of The Outbox Company.