With the New Year comes tons of new happenings! Isn’t it about time to start planning an inspiring vacation for your 2017. To help you plan your next vacation to Vietnam and give you some updated information about travel trends of 2017, Mr. Son Dang – managing director at footprint.vn has joined me today.
Hong Anh: Hi, Son. Thanks for taking your time to join me today. Shall we start by wrapping up with 2016’s travel trend?
Son: Yes sure! We all know that “experiential travel” became a big trend in 2016. More and more travelers look for local interaction, unique experiences instead of highlight travel.
Hong Anh: yeah. I guess that there will still be growing demand for homestay.
Son: Yes. The homestay has increasingly become a popular choice for our travelers. Additionally, there have been a number of CBT projects of CBT Vietnam in Sapa or CRED in Cao Bang contributing to the livelihood development and increasing the quality of life through the income and employment generation, environment condition improvement and traditional culture preservation. We, as a tour operator, always try to allocate the benefits equally among the households as well as optimize the use of local products.
Hong Anh: What about Airbnb? We are seeing an explosion in nontraditional lodgings like Airbnb.
Son: Yes indeed. However, Airbnb has been changing a lot since the beginning. This is claimed to help the hosts occasionally rent out a spare room in their home to make some extra money. However, there has been a rise in commercial activities in Airbnb. Most of the hosts are, in fact, professional landlords, who often buy up multiple residential properties to rent them out on a full time basic, just like a hotel.
Hong Anh: Oh really. So we can’t ensure a fair and competitive travel marketplace as well as protect communities.
Son: Yes. It’s true. In fact, there has been an increasing concern about responsible travel among travelers too. Our travelers look for not only homestay, eco hotel but also sustainable destinations.
Son: Vietnam tourism has strongly grown with an impressive annual growth of 25.4%. However, there is still room for eco-tourism to develop as the country evolves.
Hong Anh: Yeah. I believe the government is going to implement sustainable development policies.
Son: Yes. For us, we try to develop sustainable products. One of our newest projects is CBT in Cao Bang. We collaborate with the hosts and support them to move towards ongoing sustainable development. You can check out the experience in our blog
Hong Anh: Cao Bang is in the North of Vietnam. What about the Center and South of Vietnam?
Son: While Nha Trang, Mui Ne get all attention from domestic and foreign travelers, keep an eye on some of the pristine beaches in the little explored destinations like Tuy Hoa, Quy Nhon, Phan Rang and Con Dao. Besides, while it’s probably less convenient to discover Kon Tum and Buon Ma Thuot, these destination can provide travelers with culture immersion and interesting cultural elements.
Hong Anh: Far off destinations like Southeast Asia were deemed once in a lifetime trip due to the long distance. Do you think that 2017 is the year to travel to Vietnam and the rest of the Indochina?
Son: well if you’ve ever wanted to go the Vietnam, now’s the time to go. With much improvement in transportation, that is no longer the case.
Hong Anh: What about Visa?
Son: Vietnam has decided to extend a visa waiver program benefiting citizens of five European countries for one more year. You can check more details in Footprint website under visa section.
Hong Anh: Amazing! Also Lunar New Year is fast approaching. There is celebration in every corner.
Son: Agree, it’s fun to be in Vietnam during the Tet! But it’s better to organize in advance.
Hong Anh: Thank you for the talk and see you next time!
Son: Bye!
