 Foreign MICE (meeting,
incentive, convention, exhibition) tourists have begun returning to
Vietnam after one
year’s interruption due to the global financial crisis.
According to some travel firms, hotels and
exhibition
centres in
HCM
City, in the last
year, the number of MICE
tourists was very modest and some companies had no MICE clients. This
yea,
however, the situation has been better.
Most clients are coming
from places nearby in
Asia and the scale of these groups is
smaller than in previous years.
Nguyen Viet Hung,
General
Director of Fiditourist, estimated that, in the first six months of
2010,
they received 25 groups totaling 1300 tourists, an increase of 22
percent in
comparison with the same period of 2009. The tourists mainly came from
Malaysia,
Japan,
Singapore,
whereas European tourists
have not returned yet.
Bui Viet Thuy Tien,
Managing Director of Asian Trails Company, commented that MICE partners
in
Europe last year refused to even
receive
price quotations, while now they are asking about prices and services.
Some
partners have also booked tours again.
“We will begin
having
MICE clients this September, but the numbers remain modest. I hope that
the
totals will be higher in 2011,” she remarked.
New World Saigon
has also
reported the return of MICE tourists. In 2009, MICE tourists from
Singapore and Hong
Kong kept quiet, but now they
have begun returning to
Vietnam. The
hotel has received
booking from MICE groups for August to November and most come from
nearby
markets.
“More and more
clients
are coming to
Vietnam, but the
groups seem to be smaller than in previous years,” maintained Pham Van
Liem,
Sales Director of New World. “Some groups of tourists have booked to
stay
for three nights and reserved 50-100 rooms. Meanwhile, in previous
years,
there were groups that booked 250 rooms.”
Tran Van Hau,
Managing
Director of Saigon Exhibition and Convention Company also stays
optimistic
about business in 2010. He commented that the
Saigon exhibition and convention
centre is fully reserved
for events in July, September, October and November.
Hau believes that
business in 2011 will be more prosperous because there will be many big
events, including large-scale exhibitions that are organized every two
years
for cars, wood furniture and maritime products. According to Hau,
though
European clients have not returned, many Europeans have asked for
information for travel in 2011.
According to HCM
City
Culture, Sports and Tourism Department, 1.5 million foreign tourists
arrived
in
HCM
City in the first
six
months of the year. Of these, 300,000 people came for trade purposes.
The
city’s 3-5 star hotels provide 199 convention rooms and smaller rooms
are
available at convention and exhibition centres.
Source:
Thoi bao Kinh te
Saigon
|
News 
