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At the ASEAN Festival Tourism Workshop in Hanoi, experts discussed developing festival tourism in ASEAN and Vietnam, focusing on product diversification and regional recovery, highlighting Vietnam’s role in promoting cultural tourism and festival experiences.
On 26th December 2023, in Ha Noi, Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) organised the ASEAN Festival Tourism Workshop to share information and experiences among ASEAN member countries, international and Vietnamese experts on solutions to develop and connect festival tourism destinations in ASEAN in general and Vietnam in particular, contributing to product diversification and regional tourism recovery. VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu chaired the event.
The workshop was attended by delegates from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vietnam National Authority of Tourism; ASEAN’s National Tourism Authorities; Foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam; Leaders of tourism management departments in some localities; Vietnam Tourism Association; tourism experts; corporations, travel businesses, hotels; press agency…
VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu speaking at the workshop (Photo: TITC)
Giving his opening remarks, VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu said, according to the latest report from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), international tourism is on the road to recovery and will reach about 90% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year, with many destinations having recovered or even surpassed pre-pandemic arrivals and revenue levels. According to forecasts of many tourism experts, the world tourism industry is likely to fully recover from 2024 onwards.
However, the East Asia region is recovering at a slower pace than the world’s general recovery, specifically in the first 9 months of this year, this region has only recovered about 60% compared to pre-pandemic levels due to the impact of source markets and the slower reopening of international travel. According to statistics in 2022, ASEAN member countries welcomed 43 million international tourist arrivals, only recovering 30% compared to 2019 levels. In 2023, Vietnam is expected to welcome 12.5 million international visitor arrivals, recovering about 70% compared to the same period in 2019.
Delegates attending the ASEAN Festival Tourism Workshop (Photo: TITC)
In the past two years, ASEAN tourism has promoted cooperation for sustainable development and rapid recovery after the pandemic. Many joint cooperation projects and activities have been implemented such as the ASEAN Tourism Marketing Strategy for the period 2021-2025, Tourism Recovery Plan after the COVID-19 pandemic, Framework for sustainable tourism development in the post-COVID-19 period… The issue of building tourism products to improve the competitiveness of ASEAN destinations is one of the important contents of these key policies, of which “Developing ASEAN festival tourism” is one of the projects that is of interest and is expected to contribute to diversifying tourism products, promoting intra-bloc destination connectivity and enhancing regional competitiveness.
Vietnam has actively contributed to tourism cooperation activities within the ASEAN framework. Currently, Vietnam is taking on the role of Chairman of the ASEAN Tourism Resources, Monitoring and Evaluation Committee and is the main coordinator of the project “Building ASEAN festival tourism products”.
VNAT’s Vice Chairman Ha Van Sieu added, Vietnam has identified cultural tourism as one of the most important product lines in the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy to 2030 as well as the Vietnam Tourism Product Development Strategy to 2025, with orientations by 2030. Cultural tourism is also one of 13 cultural industries identified in the Strategy for the Development of Vietnam’s Cultural Industries to 2020, with a vision to 2030. In particular, the festival is one of the outstanding and attractive complementary products, enhancing the experience for visitors to Vietnam.
Representative of VNAT reported an overview of ASEAN festival tourism (Photo: TITC)
Therefore, through this conference, VNAT hopes to listen to the opinions and views of ASEAN member countries, international and domestic experts on solutions to develop and connect festival tourism destinations in ASEAN in general and Vietnam in particular, contributing to product diversification and regional tourism recovery. At the same time, discuss recommendations to manage and exploit festivals for effective tourism purposes, ensuring tourism development in parallel with preserving and promoting cultural and heritage values in a sustainable manner.
According to the reference report of VNAT, ASEAN is one of the most dynamic tourism development regions in the Asia-Pacific region. Most ASEAN member countries focus on tourism development, considering tourism an important industry in the national economy, so tourism is of interest in investment and product diversification. ASEAN countries are considered the country of festivals. Here festivals take place all year round and everywhere with many different nuances.
Dr. Le Tuan Anh, Dean of the Department of Tourism Management and International Languages, Hanoi University of Culture, gave the presentation “Cooperative solutions among ASEAN countries to attract festival tourists” (Photo: TITC)
Festival tourism has contributed to the overall growth of tourists to ASEAN countries. According to the ASEAN Secretariat, in 2019, the ASEAN region attracted about 143.5 million international tourist arrivals (accounting for 9.6% of total international tourists worldwide) with a growth rate of 6 1%, higher than the world’s overall growth rate (4%). The ASEAN region’s tourism source market is mainly intra-bloc and Northeast Asian tourists.
In general, the development of tourism associated with festivals has helped the festival receive more investment attention and the folk festival has been restored. Practical activities in the festival diversify to create appeal and attract tourists.
Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Director of the Department of Tourism of Thua Thien Hue Province presented “Developing festival tourism – experience of Thua Thien Hue” (Photo: TITC)
To improve efficiency in festival tourism activities, develop sustainable tourism and recover quickly after the pandemic, VNAT proposed that Southeast Asia needs to implement a number of solutions to develop festival tourism such as: First, continue to promulgate policies to further facilitate visas, reform customs procedures… to attract international visitors to the region. Second, strengthen propaganda to raise awareness for people, businesses as well as management agencies about the role of festival tourism in tourism development. Fostering and training to support residential communities in developing community tourism associated with festival tourism. Share experiences among ASEAN countries in organising festivals associated with tourism effectively. Third, promote the promotion of festival tourism products through digital technology, implement digital marketing campaigns to promote ASEAN tourism, invest in building festival tourism promotion content on the ASEAN tourism website. Fourth, strengthen cooperation between countries in the region to organise international cultural and tourism events and festivals to attract tourists. Collaborate to organise inspections of tourist destinations to build festival tourism products for the whole region.
Ms. Huynh Thi Huong Lan, Deputy Director of Tourism Promotion Center, Da Nang City Department of Tourism gave presentation “Building a festival and event destination – experience of Da Nang” (Photo: TITC)
At the workshop, delegates listened to Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Director of the Department of Tourism of Thua Thien Hue Province presented the speech “Developing festival tourism – experience of Thua Thien Hue”; Dr. Le Tuan Anh, Dean of the Department of Tourism Management and International Languages, Hanoi University of Culture, gave the presentation “Cooperative solutions among ASEAN countries to attract festival tourists”; Ms. Huynh Thi Huong Lan, Deputy Director of Tourism Promotion Center, Da Nang City Department of Tourism gave presentation “Building a festival and event destination – experience of Da Nang”.
Discussion session on trends, issues, solutions and roles of parties in developing festival tourism in the ASEAN region (Photo: TITC)
At the discussion session on trends, issues, solutions and the roles of parties in developing festival tourism in the ASEAN region, domestic and international experts from the National Tourism Agencies of the countries ASEAN member, Vietnam Tourism Association, research agencies have focused on discussing international experiences, new trends for festival tourism, at the same time, propose solutions and orient the roles of relevant parties to effectively manage and exploit festival tourism, ensuring tourism development in parallel with preserving and promoting cultural and heritage values in a sustainable manner.
Delegates of the ASEAN Festival Tourism Workshop taking souvenir photo (Photo: TITC)
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