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.
