Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia & Myanmar join to develop tourism

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Vietnam prepares for “four countries – on destination” program

LookAtVietnam - The fact that four countries including Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia and Myanmar join forces to develop tourism is believed to bring new big
opportunities to travel firms. However, there are still many things to be done
in order to reap the fruits.

New opportunities

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

The participants at the 7th International Tourism Exhibition (ITE) held in HCM
City several days ago all forecast a new wave of investments in infrastructure,
hotels, resorts and entertainment complexes in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and
Myanmar in the time to come. Therefore, joining forces in the “four countries –
one destination” program will clearly help attract more international investors.

The Lao General Department of Tourism said that the country now has 1028 tourism
sites which are awaiting investments. Laos allows to have 100 percent foreign
ownership ratio in hotels and restaurants, and 30-70 percent foreign ownership
ratios in the travel firms. Tourism is the second foreign currency earner, just
after to mining, in Laos, where the tourism growth rate has been stable in the
last 20 years at 29 percent per annul.

In Myanmar, investors need to have at least 300,000 dollars to set up a legal
entity in the service sector. Foreign investors can team up with domestic
companies to set up joint ventures, while they have to contribute at least 35
percent of capital. Myanmar now has 36 hotel projects with 6560 hotel rooms, of
which 31 projects have been completed.

The international tourism organization has forecast that the tourists in the
world tend to flock to South East Asia and East Asia. In 2010, the region
surpassed America to become the second biggest region in the world, just after
Europe, in terms of the tourists, accounting for 22 percent of the world’s
market share. Meanwhile, the figure is expected to increase to 27 percent by
2020.

Statistics show that ASEAN now attracts 36 percent of the total number of
tourists worldwide, and 38 percent of the total revenue from tourism industry in
the region.

Analysts have also pointed out that joining forces with regional countries to
develop tourism is a wise move. The national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines
said that four out of every 10 international tourists to Vietnam tend to visit
many different destinations, and three of them choose to visit Laos, Cambodia,
or Myanmar.

Great efforts needed

This is not for the first time regional countries sit together to discuss the
cooperation for tourism development. Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia once put forward
the idea of joining forces to attract tourists. A project on the tourism
sustainable development in Mekong sub-region was initiated and funded by ADB,
which aimed to develop infrastructure for tourism and push up the sub-regional
cooperation. However, the initial achievements remain modest

Therefore, Vietnamese travel firms say they need to prepare well for the “four
countries – one nation program). Tran Hung Viet, General Director of
Saigontourist, said that the travel firm has conducted a program on surveying
the trans-Indochina and Myanmar tours, and has released the publications
providing information about the four countries.

Meanwhile, Vietnam Airlines has increased the frequency of the flights on the
air routes to Siem Reap, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, and Vientiane in Laos to 106
flights per week from 59 flights currently.

Vuong Dinh Hai from CFIS Vietnam, a foreign investment research center, said
that it is necessary to make heavier investment in infrastructure in order to
pave the way for tourism development. More and more tourists travel to Vietnam
by sea, while cruises still have to dock at cargo ports, because there still are
no specific ports for receiving tourists.

Meanwhile, there has been no legal document on the development of the ports for
tourism. The overall strategy on seaport development until 2020 also does not
show the investment scale and the details of the tourism ports.

Source: TBKTVN

Vietnam remains an unknown and hidden charm to foreign travelers.

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has spent hundreds of thousands of
dollars to show its beautiful landscapes on famous television channels CNN or
BBC, or to advertise on taxis in London.
However, Vietnam
remains an unknown and hidden charm to foreign travelers.

The arrow
that failed to reach the target

In recent
years, Vietnam
has been paying more attention to promoting tourism. However, the result
remains modest. In the second half of 2010 alone, Vietnam spent 5.3 billion dong to
run advertisement campaigns on CNN, which gobbled up 12 percent of the total
budget for the yearly national tourism promotion program.


A mini survey conducted by the Vietnam Economic Forum conducted on 200 foreign
travelers showed that 77 percent of foreign travelers have never seen
information about Vietnam’s tourism in mass media, advertisements or at tourism
trade fairs. Ninety-three percent of polled tourists said they never see the
advertisement pieces on BBC and CNN.

Vietnam also spent money to place advertisements on 27 taxis
out of 10,000 taxis in London in the UK for six
months. However, local dwellers said they never see the advertisements.

Vu Huy Vu,
Deputy General Director of Saigon Tourist, said Vietnam
needs to do many more things to popularize Vietnam’s tourism in the world. “Vietnam needs to have more and more publications
introducing Vietnam’s
tourism potentials. It needs to set up tourism representative offices in other
countries to promote tourism,” he said, adding that other regional countries
like Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines all have representative offices in
Europe and the US for tens years.

Meanwhile,
a cheap but effective communication channel – Internet – has been ignored.

Ben Chua is
a Singaporean person who builds and runs vietnam720, an website that uses
interactive products like videos, audios to introduce attractive destinations
in Vietnam.

“If you
access to yoursingapore.com, you will find everything about Singapore. For
example, if you type “art”, the website will show all the information about
arts, from the events to places for excursions or the hotels near art centers,”
he said.

Ben Chua
said he has an account on Twitter to listen opinions from people about Vietnam. There
is a tweet posted in every 10 seconds, which means 36,000 opinions come every
hour. However, no official agency has replied to the opinions.

What is a new
image for Vietnam?

In mid
January 2011, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism VNAT officially
announced the result of the logo creation competition for the new period. The
slogan “Vietnam
– a different Orient” has won the competition. However, after two months, the
slogan has not been approved to become the new slogan of Vietnam’s
tourism in the new period.

It seems
that foreigners still see Vietnam
as a war torn country, rather than an attractive destination in peacetime. It
is because Vietnam
is still busy looking for a new suitable slogan to be introduced to the world.

“Vietnam is a
friendly, joyful country, where the prices are reasonable. However, the images Vietnam
introduces to the world do not reflect these things,” said Tim Russell,
Managing Director of Come & Go Vietnam travel firm.

He believes
that since Vietnam cannot
build up a reasonable tourism brand, only five percent of tourists return to Vietnam for the second time, while 50 percent of
tourists come to Thailand
for the second time.

He went on
to say that Vietnam
only has been trying to attract the tourists who are interested in the culture
and discoveries, while it has not been trying to attract holidaymakers.
Meanwhile, tourism does not only mean discovery, but also means relaxing, sunbathing,
playing golf and water sports, meals, nightlife and anything that is a part of
a comfortable life.

He believes
that Vietnam
should look for professional consultants and should carry out surveys in many
places in order to build up a professional marketing strategy.

Lan Huong

New Asian customer in spotlight at Web in Travel 2010

The new Asian customer and the way she plans, books and buys travel will be in the spotlight at this year’s Web In Travel conference taking place in Singapore in October.

“There is a new customer emerging in Asia,” said Yeoh Siew Hoon, owner of the conference.

“She is extremely value-conscious and tech-savvy in the way she seeks and accesses information on the web, comparing not only prices but also what other people are saying about a product or service.

“Game-changing gadgets such as the iPhone or the iPad, social networks such as Facebook and travel review sites such as TripAdvisor are just some of the factors that are influencing traveller behaviour across the region.

“We also have a very Internet-savvy and mobile-connected generation of customers emerging in Asia. In July, Asia became the largest producer of tweets on Twitter and some of Facebook’s biggest growth markets are found in the region.”

This, she said, explains why TripAdvisor, the biggest travel review site in the world, and Facebook are setting up regional headquarters in Singapore.

Social networking activity is on the rise in Asia, as tracked by comScore, the global company that gathers digital media intelligence, showing that 50.8 percent of the total online population in the Asia-Pacific region visited a social networking site in February 2010, reaching a total of 240.3 million visitors.

Brett Henry, vice president marketing, Abacus International, the travel technology company which processes most of the region’s air reservations, said, “The people going to social networks are no longer just the younger generation.

"Granted that in Asia, there is still a market for the 50s and above who are less Internet savvy and prefer to book offline. But if you project ahead, in a decade or less, the Internet and social media savvy Generation C will be ruling the world.”

In India, for instance, more than one-third of its total Internet population visit travel sites with comScore reporting that top online travel brands are seeing double and triple-digit growth as consumers take to the web in search of deals.

AirAsia’s Facebook fan page grew from zero members to more than 200,000 within a year and now stands at 339,009 members.

Said Kathleen Tan, regional head of commercial for the airline group which will fly its 100th million passenger by the fourth quarter of this year, “With an average of 6,500 fans and over 33,000 visits to our fan page weekly, we know that they are taking us seriously on the social media front.”

Said Yeoh, “Everyone recognises the huge travel demand there is in Asia, not only in the major population areas of China and India, but also across the whole of South-east and North Asia.

"People are travelling either for the first time, thanks to low cost airlines, or for the umpteenth time, and they are branching out to try new places. And they are being adventurous not only in where they travel to but how they plan and book their travels.”

In July as well, Google, which commanded 72 percent of the search market in the US in May 2010 (Experian Hitwise), paid US$700 million to acquire ITA Software, a company whose technology solution helps travellers search for air fares.

“This development which sees Google moving into the travel vertical can only benefit travellers as this will spur the industry to improve search and make it easier for us to look for the best air fares to anywhere,” said Yeoh.

It is against this backdrop that leading travel marketing and technology experts from around the world will gather at the Web In Travel conference to discuss and debate the latest customer trends emerging in Asia.

Represented on the speakers list are new brands such as TripAdvisor; travel.co.jp, the publicly-listed Japanese meta travel search site; koreahotels.com, the leading online hotel portal in South Korea; NileGuide, the US-based travel planning site; Holiday IQ, the India-based travel media site that’s expanding in South-east Asia; and Indonesia’s Mandala Airlines, which is launching international services to Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau soon.

Established online travel brands such as Wotif, ZUJI/Travelocity, Expedia and Hotels.com will also be represented, along with the leading players in search, revenue management, social media, branding, marketing and distribution.

“What we wanted to do this year was to widen our net to cover players who are making waves in Asia Pacific, international brands who are entering the region and emerging markets such as Indonesia and Korea,” said Yeoh.

Close to 60 speakers have been confirmed, with more likely to be added in the months to come.

Practical Traveler - 10 Ways to Cut Your Travel Costs In 2010

LAST year was arguably the year of the travel deal, with resorts and airlines practically begging for bookings, and many travelers finding bargain airfares and hotel rooms as a result. But airlines have cut back capacity, meaning there will be fewer seats going unsold, and resorts may not be as quick to cut rates to attract guests, now that the economy looks as if it might be on a slight rebound. So now is the perfect time to review your booking strategy. Here are 10 simple steps you can take to help cut your travel costs in 2010.

1. Sign Up for a Twitter Account

An increasing number of travel companies are using Twitter to market their brands, often by tweeting exclusive deals to followers. JetBlue calls out last-minute discounts at JetBlueCheeps on Tuesday mornings. A recent example: “$89 BOS to LAS this Sat. LAS to BOS this Mon. or Tues. 25 seats avail or til 6 pm ET.” Fairmont Hotels offers its Twitter followers special discounts before anyone else. Farecompare’s “flyfrom” Twitter feed offers location-specific fare sales when you plug in your home airport’s three-letter code, as in flyfromNYC.

All you need to do is sign up for a free account at Twitter.com and start following the companies you like or travel experts who do the work for you. (You can find me at MichelleHiggins.)

2. Find the Cheapest Dates to Fly

ITASoftware.com, which provides the technological backbone for many airfare shopping sites, allows users to scan an entire month’s fares for the least expensive rate. (Log in as a “guest” and click on “month-long search.” ) In January, the 28th and 30th were the cheapest dates to fly nonstop to London from New York ($536) for a week’s vacation, according to a recent search. The next best was Saturday, Jan. 23, at $640. To book the ticket, users must go to another site. Kayak.com has a flexible-dates option (registration is required) and a calendar that shows the best fares found by other Kayak users in the last 48 hours. Bing Travel, the Microsoft search engine, offers a similar option, found under “plan trips,” about halfway down the page.

3. Consider Nearby Airports

A recent Web search showed nonstop flights from Los Angeles International Airport to Miami International from $299 round trip on American in early January. But flying into Fort Lauderdale, roughly 30 miles north of Miami, was $219 on Virgin America, an $80 saving.

4. Go Against the Grain

If possible, avoid popular travel dates like holidays and spring break because airlines have begun to charge anywhere from $10 to $30 extra at those times. Farecompare.com offers a handy breakdown of the new fees by date, airline and amount. Early-morning and late-night flights may also be cheaper depending on the route.

5. Track Price Even After Buying

Airlines have long offered to refund the difference in their fares (minus a change fee) in the form of a voucher to customers who ask. Using your confirmation number, Yapta.com will automatically track the price of your ticket, taking the airline’s fees into consideration, and send you, without charge, an e-mail message or Twitter alert notifying you of the lower price. You can then call the airline to claim the credit.

Similarly, Travelocity.com promises to refund the difference in price for prepaid hotel reservations if you find the same room for a cheaper rate online before check-in.

6. Take the Bus

Cheap express buses with names like BoltBus, Megabus and Washington Deluxe have become increasingly popular along the Northeast Corridor and elsewhere, with seats for $25 or less, depending on when you reserve. With amenities like more legroom, power plugs at every seat and free Wi-Fi, the bus ride, though longer, can often be more tolerable than a flight that costs 10 times as much. Search for seats at GotoBus.com or BusJunction.com.

7. Roll the Dice

Sites like Priceline.com, Hotwire.com and Lastminutetravel.com offer deep discounts to travelers willing to pay before learning the names of the hotels, airlines or car rental agencies they’re committing to. To help you find the best rate, Biddingfortravel.com and Betterbidding.com provide strategic advice and offer tips from other travelers on how to navigate the system.

Getaroom.com offers a new twist to this gamble that may be more agreeable for risk-averse travelers. Unlike these other discounters, Getaroom tells customers the name of the hotel and price before booking. But it offers an even lower rate through its call center — typically 10 to 25 percent off — to travelers willing to pay for the room before finding out just how much of a discount they’re getting.

8. Go Rental

Tourists in most European cities can easily pay $200 a night for basic hotel rooms. By contrast, an apartment or villa can be rented for as little as $1,100 a week in Paris or Rome. Homeaway.com, Zonder.com and Rentalo.com are just a few of the many rental Web sites available. Some specialize in specific regions like Rentvillas.com for Europe or Wimco.com for the Caribbean.

9. Make Yourself at Home

For a 6 to 12 percent booking fee, AirBnB.com connects budget travelers with locals who are offering a place to bed down. The Times’s Frugal Traveler, Matt Gross, described it as “a cross between CouchSurfing.com and the vacation rentals section of Craigslist.” There were more than 2,000 listings in a recent search for New York including a futon in a one-bedroom near Gramercy Park ($65) and a bedroom with private bath and separate entrance in Hell’s Kitchen ($150).

10. Study the Fine Print

Play close attention to which airline you are actually flying, particularly on international flights. With code sharing, you may book a flight to Paris on Delta, for instance, and end up traveling with Air France, a code share partner with Delta.

But while the flight may be the same, the price often is not. Sometimes the difference can be negligible — say, $609 on SAS on a January nonstop flight from Newark Airport to Stockholm versus $627 for that same flight when booked through United. Or $817 for an American flight from New York to Lima versus the $693 that same flight would cost when booked through American’s code share partner, LAN.

There are times though when the difference can be substantial, particularly when the code share partner may be a foreign carrier not well known to American travelers.

Here are some examples, based on a search on Kayak.com for flights in late January, where the round-trip fares vary greatly depending on which code share partner you book through. (Click on “details” for a breakdown of the flight’s particulars.) New York to Singapore: $1,319 on Cathay Pacific; $1,817 on American. New York to Marrakesh: $1,098 on Royal Air Maroc; $3,257 on Delta. New York to Cairo: $908 on Egypt Air; a stunning $4,650 on United.