About 20 travel firms in Khanh Hoa Province met on March 7 to discuss a plan to form a club responsible for serving tourists from China, a major source market for the Vietnamese tourism sector.

Chinese tourists are seen at Cam Ranh International Airport in Khanh Hoa Province

Club members would be able to share market information, implement joint promotion programs and develop human resources.

Nguyen Van Thanh, vice president of the Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association, said the club would initially have 20 members and that more firms targeting the Chinese market would be invited to join.

Price undercutting, inappropriate behaviors of some Chinese travelers and a lack of human resources for the Chinese markets have marred the reputation of tourism enterprises specializing in the fast-growing Chinese market. The establishment of the club would allow members to sit down together to set out rules to solve these problems, Thanh said.

Khanh Hoa has about 70 travel firms specializing in the Chinese market. The first 20 members of the club arrange tours for 20,000 to 100,000 guests a year each.

Last year, around 600,000 Chinese visitors came to Khanh Hoa, three times higher than in 2015. China has become the province’s largest source market, followed by Russia.

The number of tourists from Vietnam’s northern neighbor is expected to rise further given more flights between the two countries and better services.

Statistics of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism show that in the first two months of the year, more than 2.2 million international visitors came to Vietnam. China remained the largest source market with more than 651,000 visitors, up 77.7% against the same period last year.

SGT