The China Vietnam Travel Sentiment Survey 2020, which was conducted by C9 Hotelworks and Delivering Asia Communications, contacted Chinese respondents to analyse the overseas travel sentiment for the remainder of 2020, specifically focusing on Chinese inbound tourism to Vietnam.

Nearly half (49 per cent) of those contacted plan to travel overseas this year, and 45 per cent concede that they would like to travel to Vietnam. Some of the most popular Vietnamese destinations amongst respondents were Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Nha Trang and Halong Bay; and in terms of travel time frame, the majority of those planning to travel overseas seemed to believe that they would be most likely to travel in the month of October (over 20 per cent of respondents).

“Of equal importance is to understand that at the moment, and in the coming months, domestic travel and tourism will define the gradual recovery process,” said C9 Hotelworks Managing Director Bill Barnett, commenting on the post crisis short-term ‘fear factor’, which he expects will manifest as a preference for short-haul, door-to-door flights. “What is significant about the China Vietnam Survey is who are the immediate post-crisis travellers and how can hotels and tourism stakeholders proactively meet their needs. We see a parallel trend in early travellers both domestically and from the China data, which pair up in a new tourism visitor profile.”

Indeed, the survey notes that tourism for the remainder of the year will be heavily leveraged by younger travellers in the age range of 20 to 29 (which made up the majority of those surveyed – about 34 per cent), who increasingly place an emphasis on booking hotels on digital platforms.

David Johnson, CEO of Delivering Asia Communications, added: “Two other significant trends from our China research showed that aside from sightseeing and eating being key activities, nature moved up in preference, which could be a reaction to a post-crisis change in tourism values. Diving into accommodation preferences, the two ends of the price spectrum of budget/economy and five-star hotels drew most positive responses from the Chinese surveyed.”

Elsewhere, the survey also highlighted that 81 per cent of respondents would choose independent travel over group tours. “This fact, coupled by younger Chinese booking travel digitally via WeChat and Fliggy is a new twist in Vietnam’s marketing to China inbound tourists,” the report notes.

Read the survey results in full here.