Vietnam tourist arrivals to Thailand on pace for record year
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Despite Vietnam's currently sluggish economy that is expected to have GDP growth of 5.04-5.35 per cent this year, Vietnamese tourist arrivals to Thailand are on pace to surpass arrivals last year.
More than 618,000 Vietnamese came to Thailand last year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
The first five months of 2013 saw Thailand receiving 260,621 Vietnamese visitors, a rise of 10.40 per cent over the corresponding period in 2012. The economic slowdown in Vietnam is having a beneficial effect on Thai tourism as travellers look for short-haul holiday destinations to save costs.
Taking advantage of this trend, earlier this month VietJet Air, a low-cost carrier of Vietnam, launched a Hanoi to Bangkok service, flying seven times a week. The Hanoi flights are in addition to those from Ho Chi Minh City that the airline started in February. The VietJet Air flights bring the total of air connections between Vietnam and Thailand to 104 flights weekly.
Thailand is proving to be a popular holiday spot for Vietnamese tourists due to the country’s proximity to Vietnam, its attractive value for money and its good range of tourist attractions.
Besides the flights, overland travel is becoming a favourable option because of the presence of many Indochina roads crossing from Vietnam into Laos and ending in Thailand. Tourist traffic from Vietnam’s central region covering Hue, Danang and Quang Tri has risen significantly since the opening of the second Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge spanning the Mekong River at Savannakhet in Laos and Mukdahan in northeastern Thailand.
Thanik Khachonkittisakul (Nguyen Van Tho), managing director of Thai2020, a Thai tour operator serving the Vietnamese market, said his company has been receiving many Vietnamese tour groups from early this year, and it has plenty of future bookings till year’s end.
“Many are opting for the big-city shopping opportunities of Bangkok and the seaside entertainment atmosphere of Pattaya,” he said.
His company is also getting some large MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) groups from Vietnam as Vietnamese corporations dish out trip rewards to their employees and vendors for past sales performance.
Vietnamese companies are finding out that Thailand is a great place to have meetings and corporate activities.
“We have a wide selection of affordable accommodation all over the country, and our convention support services and logistics facilitation are among the best in Asia,” he added.
