Vietnam seizes huge potential for solo travel exploitation

Vietnam has been named as one of the attractive destinations for solo travel, which is opening up new opportunities for the domestic tourism sector to grow, stated experts during a series of seminars on the solo travel trend jointly held by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and international units on September 6.

Tourists experience the rice pounding activities of Co Tu ethnic women in Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)
Tourists experience the rice pounding activities of Co Tu ethnic women in Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)

Specifically, TripAdvisor, the US-based well-known tourism website, has ranked Vietnam in third place among the top ten countries best for solo travel. The result is collected based on the voting and assessments of millions of travellers concerning the tourism activities and experiences which they have participated in.

In addition, it is forecast that by 2023 Vietnam will welcome more than 30 million arrivals of visitors and can possibly become a leading destination in the region.

According to Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Tourism, the solo travel trend was first mentioned in 2009 and has now become a favourite taste of global tourists.

The organisation of a series of seminars on solo travel aims to update and provide solutions to access the trend for the units operating in the Vietnamese tourism sector. Also, through the seminars, some experts will bring new perspectives to management agencies, travel units, and businesses, thereby promoting a favourable business and investment environment to accompany and seize the opportunities from the solo travel trend, she said.

Paul Pruangkarn, Director of Communications & External Affairs at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), attributed the rapid growth of the solo travel trend partly to the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), which has created many apps and multifunctional tools effectively supporting solo travel globally.

Travel units and businesses should design strategies to advertise information and images to attract solo travelers and utilise opportunities from the trend, he said, suggesting that investors should promptly access and apply the 4.0 technology aiming to effectively exploit the solo travel potential in Vietnam, as well as making it easier for tourists to find destinations for solo travel.