Outbound segment still fares well

Despite bad impacts of the economic slow down and the influence of the H1N1 flu virus in recent times, the outbound tourism sector in HCMC has still fared well, with many tour operators reporting better performance than that in the year-ago period.
Luu Dinh Phuc of Viettours Trading & Services Company, or Viettours, told the Daily the number of outbound travelers at the company grew by over 10% in the January-July period. This growth rate was lower than that in previous golden years, but was still good for this year given the general slump in the hospitality industry, he said.
“We have smaller groups than last year but the number of groups is increasing,” he said.
The company has arranged a big group of 100 tourists to Cambodia last week, in addition to a great group of 400 tourists to China last month.
Saigontourist Travel Service Company has arranged outbound tours for more than 16,700 tourists in the seven months of this year, up nearly 7% year-on-year. Similarly, Fiditourist has reported about 12,750 outbound guests, up 28% compared with the same period of 2008.
Operators attributed the increase to cheaper tours.
“Tour prices have largely dropped by around 20-30% that enticed local people to continue to travel,” said Dang Trung Nghia, deputy general director of Fiditourist.
The company’s management have once promised to give a prize to its outbound department if the department were able to attract 2,500 to 3,000 outbound tourists per month. “The department almost gets the prize because it just needs nearly 40 more guests to realize the goal. We never see it before. It’s a surprise!” he said.
At Perfect Tour Travel Co Ltd, the total number of outbound guests was lower than last year’s period but the tour operator said that its business was still good. “The number of local people to the U.S. fell when the H1N1 flu broke out there but now visitors are starting their trips,” a source from the company said.
However, like Viettours, Perfect Tour has received smaller groups than last year.
In this month’s report, the city’s tourism department has reported that around 50,000 local people have visited foreign countries via Tan Son Nhat International Airport last month, down 10% compared to July of 2008. The department has yet reported about the total number of the seven months but based on previous months’ reports, the number of outbound tourists was the same with last year’s corresponding period.
However, the financial crisis is also making local people to think twice when buying tours.
Phuc from Viettours said that companies have decided to cut down their travel budget by choosing tours to short-haul destinations. “Some companies have booked tours to France but they’ve changed to Japan and other near destinations to save on money,” he said.
Nghia from Fiditourist said the tour operator was facing with many difficulties in selling tours to Europe to local guests because such tours are expensive.
Doan Thi Thanh Tra, manager of the marketing department of Saigontourist, said that many tourists have chosen budget tours, which is why the company has launched such tours to attract visitors.
“A six-day tour to Australia costs around US$2,000 per tourist, and all are fully booked after one week of launching because the price is lower,” she said.