Only unique tours can attract tourists nowadays

Originality is the key 

Discussing the lack of second-return visitors to the country, experts have commented that products designed for inbound tours have remained nearly unchanged in the last 10-15 years.

Under the City Tour program in the Chinese community area, for example, travelers only go to Cho Lon and Binh Tay Markets, visit Ba Thien Hau Pagoda, and then return home.

In the Mekong Delta, provinces are developing ecotourism, but the tours are nearly the same and lack originality.

The director of a travel firm said some clients from Hanoi, when visiting the Mekong Delta, want to stay in locals’ houses to experience life there. Not only Vietnamese travelers from the north, but foreign travelers also like going to the fields to harvest rice with local farmers.

Phan Thi Ngoc Tuyet, deputy director of Ngoc Minh Tourist, commented that community tourism is a growing tendency. “Travelers like staying at locals’ homes and experiencing daily activities in the countryside,” she said.

For the last two years, Ngoc Minh has been focusing on tours to experience Chinese culture and cuisine in Cho Lon Market area and the Ben Tre – Can Tho tour. With the latter, travelers catch frogs at night, listen to folk songs, enjoy local food specialties and pick up fruits in orchards. 

To satisfy demand from tourists, travel firms are working together to provide services, rather than competing to scramble for clients. This has resulted in tourism products at reasonable costs.

Food tours are a favorite

While food tours have been offered in neighboring countries for a long time, they are still at the very beginning in Vietnam, even though the cuisine is world renowned.

Currently, only a few travel firms provide food tours, including Saigon Food Tour, Da Nang Food Tour and Saigon Street Eats.

Most of the food tour programs offered by travel firms last 4-6 hours. 

Truong Bich Ngoc in HCMC, who joined a tour to discover Chinese culture and food, said she visited shops in small alleys which have been open for the last 40 years.

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), Vietnam received a record 12.9 million foreign visitors in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 29.1 percent. It plans to attract 15 million foreign travelers in 2018 and obtain total revenue of VND620 trillion.

US$1=VND22,000

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