Yet while numbers overall are on the rise—and adventure operators and infrastructure continue to emerge—the adventure scene is just starting to feel the flow. As Vietnam’s online English-language newspaper VietNamNet Bridge points out, the sector still only accounts for around 10 per cent of the greater pie, with the potential for a far more diverse market remaining largely untapped.
As founder and chairman of Vietnam Bike Tours—one of the first specialized locally owned operators in the region—Ngo Trong Huy has also witnessed the boom, and the potential, firsthand. “We’ve been growing 17-25 per cent a year,” he says. “But in 2017 we have over 10 million foreign visitors—so I think there is still opportunity for more of our kind of [adventure] tourism.”
The figure, as Huy points out, is but a third of neighboring Thailand’s annual 30 million-or-so visitors. While that might seem like something to strive for, the reality is this disparity is probably working in Vietnam’s favor.
According to regional expert Adam Vaught of niche travel specialist Zicasso, Thailand might be the envy of the region numbers-wise, but Vietnam remains top choice for the “savvier traveller.”
“I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I feel like Vietnam has done a good job of learning from what I would call ‘Thailand’s mistakes,’” he says. “I feel like Thailand’s tourism has developed in the same way Costa Rica’s has, where they both have sacrificed their culture to cater to what tourists want. Over time, it leaves a place feeling very accessible to mass tourists, but lacking authenticity.”
1 thought on “Can Vietnam reinvent itself as an adventure destination?”
Fred Avery
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