Prospects to welcome tourists from Thailand

For many years, Thailand has become an important market for Khanh Hoa tourism. In an effort to diversify international visitors and direct tourism to sustainable development, Khanh Hoa tourism industry is stepping up promotion and advertising to attract Thai tourists.

Impulsing promotion and advertising

Thailand with a population of nearly 72 million people and an average income of about 7,000 USD/person/year is a very potential market for tourism. With close geographical distance and visa exemption, Thai tourists love to travel to Vietnam, including Khanh Hoa. Thailand is the country with the highest number of tourists coming to Khanh Hoa among countries in Southeast Asia. After the Covid-19 epidemic, tourists from Thailand have gradually returned to Nha Trang to enjoy the seascape and experience tourism products. According to statistics from the Department of Tourism, in 2023 there will be about 20,000 Thai tourists traveling to Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa. However, this number of visitors has only reached about 70% compared to before the Covid-19 epidemic. Therefore, the provincial tourism industry is stepping up promotion and advertising to attract Thai tourists.

Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association and Thai Travel Agents Association signed a memorandum of cooperation to promote tourism development.

Recently, Mr. Ha Quoc Tri - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation and the leader of the provincial Department of Tourism had a trip to promote tourism in Thailand. During the trip, the delegation visited and worked with city leader of Bangkok, Pattaya and Chonburi to connect and cooperate in tourism development. In particular, the provincial tourism industry organized a conference to promote Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa tourism in Bangkok with the participation of Mr. Phairush Burapachaisri - Vice Chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Yaowaluck Pimpanit - Director of the Bangkok City Culture and Tourism Office, representative of the Thai Tourism Association and more than 120 major tourism and travel enterprises of Thailand.

At the conference, the provincial tourism industry introduced to Thai travel businesses the beauty of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa and the typical tourism products of the coastal city. Mr. Ha Quoc Tri and leaders of the Department of Tourism and Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association expressed their hope to expand the connection between Khanh Hoa tourism businesses and Thai travel businesses, further promoting tourism cooperation between the two sides. On this occasion, the Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association and the Thai Travel Agents Association signed a memorandum of cooperation agreement, promoting two-way tourism development in the coming time.

Mr. Pham Minh Nhut - Standing Vice Chairman of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association shared: "During this promotion trip, Khanh Hoa tourism industry discussed with Thai tourism businesses about tourism needs of Thai people coming to Vietnam. Thai tourism businesses highly appreciate the potential and attraction of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa tourism. According to Mr. Sitthichai Udomkitthanaku - Vice President of the Thai Travel Agents Association, Thai people currently like to travel to Vietnam because they are exempted from visas and only take about 2-3 hours by flight. Vietnam has beautiful scenery, delicious food and very hospitable Vietnamese people. However, Thai people still do not know much about Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa, so we need to do more promotion."

Expanding connections

According to travel agencies, Khanh Hoa's tourism products are attractive enough to Thai tourists, but more airlines need to open direct flights connecting Khanh Hoa with major tourist centers of Thailand. Besides, Khanh Hoa tourism industry also needs to promote tourism promotion in Thailand. Regarding this issue, Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh - Director of Khanh Hoa Department of Tourism said, “Currently, the provincial tourism industry has invited the Thai Tourism Association to participate in the 2024 Nha Trang Sea Tourism Festival, organizing famtrip delegations to survey Khanh Hoa tourism. From May 5 to 8, a famtrip group from Chiang Mai (Thailand) will come to survey Khanh Hoa tourism and will be followed by other groups of visitors. To attract Thai tourists to Khanh Hoa, in addition to promotion work, the provincial tourism industry will coordinate with the aviation industry to promote more flights from Thailand to Khanh Hoa. Expanding tourism connections with Thailand is also a channel to attract international visitors to Khanh Hoa through the Bangkok gateway - a major international tourist transit point in the Asia…

Thai tourists fly directly from Bangkok to Cam Ranh.

According to Mr. Pham Minh Nhut, the recent tourism promotion trip has brought very good signals. Many Thai travel businesses are interested in Khanh Hoa tourism. To create conditions for Khanh Hoa tourism to promote products, the Thai Tourism Association has allowed the Khanh Hoa Tourism Association to join the group to introduce Asian tourism products of Thai travel businesses. With the current signs, in the coming time, the number of Thai visitors to Khanh Hoa will increase.

According to statistics from the Vietnam National Tourism Administration (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), Thailand is currently in the top 10 major international tourist markets of Vietnam. In 2023, there will be nearly 490,000 Thai tourists coming to Vietnam. In the first 4 months of 2024, the country welcomed 163,790 Thai tourists, equal to 82% compared to the same period in 2023.

Xuan Thanh
Translated by T.T