Delicious cuisine, beautiful scenery in four seasons, quality shopping and a falling yen have motivated more and more Vietnamese tourists to travel to Japan.
Nguyen Ngoc Thao Quynh, 26 years old, living in Hanoi, said she had just been informed by a travel agent that she had passed her Japanese visa and was “very excited” about her trip to Tokyo in mid-May. travel forum, Quynh “just found out that many people like to go to Japan” like me.
The Japan Tourism Promotion Agency in Vietnam (JNTO) on April 22 announced the highest number of Vietnamese visitors to Japan in March in history with 67,400 arrivals, up 41% over the same period in 2019 and up nearly 26% over the same period. with the same period in 2023. March is also the second consecutive month of the year when the number of visitors to Japan exceeds the 60,000 mark.
Reply VnExpress, Chief representative of JNTO in Vietnam Yoshida Kenji said that the number of Vietnamese visitors to Japan in 2023 ranks 10th, but in terms of growth rate compared to 2019, Vietnam ranks in the top 5 in the world. In the first quarter of this year, Vietnam was the 9th largest market sending visitors to Japan.
According to Mr. Kenji, Vietnamese tourists are attracted to destinations with bold Japanese characteristics such as cherry blossoms, Mount Fuji or big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. Currently, JNTO notices that the trend of Vietnamese tourists is changing, they are aiming for experiences to feel the culture or explore less famous localities such as Hokkaido and Kyushu.
Vietnamese tourists came to Kawaguchiko to see Mount Fuji on April 24. Image: Dinh Gia Bao
Director of Asian Gate Travel company based in Hanoi, Nguyen Van Dung, said that Vietnamese people’s perspective on traveling now and 10 years ago “is very different”. People have better living conditions and are more open-minded about spending on tourism. In the past, traveling to high-cost countries like Japan was a luxury and only people with a lot of money could go, but now “customers only need to have enough money to buy a tour to book a tour”. The age of Vietnamese visitors to Japan is diverse, with young people traveling more. In addition to tours, Mr. Dung noticed that the number of self-sufficient visitors to Japan also increased significantly.
One of the big reasons why Vietnamese visitors to Japan have increased sharply recently is the decrease in the yen, making the current tour price about 10% cheaper than in 2019 even though the price of air tickets and some services in Japan increased due to lack of workers.
Deputy General Director of Vietravel Tourism Company, Huynh Phan Phuong Hoang, said the falling yen helps travel companies design many attractive products at affordable costs. with a mid-range customer base, allowing them to expand their customer base. Currently, about 1.6 million VND can be exchanged for 1,000 yen, while in 2019, tourists need up to 2 million VND. “The average price of tours to Japan ranges from 25-39 million, depending on the number of days, departure time and destination,” Ms. Hoang said, adding prices to many other markets such as China (airline), Europe and America increased by about 3-7%.
In the first 4 months of the year, the company brought more than 6,000 Vietnamese tourists to Japan to travel and plans to bring another 200 tourist groups with more than 6,000 arrivals in the 3 summer months. “It is expected that the number of visitors to Japan this year will increase by 20-30% compared to the same period last year,” Ms. Hoang said.
Besides, Japan is a traditional destination loved by Vietnamese people. Japanese cuisine is considered “delicious, nutritious and ensures food hygiene and safety”. The scenery in Japan is beautiful, the same location but visitors coming in different months can enjoy different beautiful scenes such as seeing cherry blossoms in March, seeing yellow leaves and red leaves in November, and seeing snow in January. Mr. Dung noted that the company has welcomed many tourists to Japan for the second and third time. The proportion of Vietnamese tourists returning to Japan accounts for 10%.
Vietnamese customers also like to come to Japan to shop and often spend heavily due to the good quality of goods. Many stores in Japan refund taxes (7-8%) to customers if the bill is over 5,000 yen (more than 800,000 VND).
“Vietnam has Uniqlo, but tourists to Japan still go to Uniqlo here to buy things because of the cheap prices,” Mr. Dung added. The same pair of pants, the price in Vietnam is 999,000 VND but in Japan it is only about 600,000 -700,000 VND. The price to buy one pair of sneakers in Vietnam can be bought for 3 pairs in Japan due to the yen decrease and deep promotions.
Chief representative Kenji also said that the average spending per Vietnamese tourist in Japan in 2023 is about 210,000 yen (nearly 35 million VND), exceeding the target of “average 200,000 yen per person” set by the Japanese government. According to Ms. Hoang, each Vietnamese customer usually spends 20-30 million VND.
Service in Japan, such as the attitude of airport staff, is what many Vietnamese guests are impressed with. A safe, robbery-free environment like some European countries also makes many Vietnamese people increasingly favor Japan.
More convenient and easier visa policies encourage Vietnamese tourists to come to Japan. Visa issuance time is shortened from 9 to 7 working days. The procedures assessed by Mr. Dung are now “much easier than before”. “Recently, the number of Vietnamese people hiding and working illegally in Japan is small, so visa approval is not difficult,” Mr. Dung added.
According to tourism experts in Vietnam, May is the best time for Vietnamese tourists to go to Japan because of the cheap price, about 30.9 million VND, cool weather and fruit harvest season. Visitors to Japan during this time can participate in the experience of picking strawberries, peaches, and plums. Summer is also the time when students have a break from school, so many families often book tours to take their children out. Thao Quynh said that her sister and her husband also plan to take their two children to Japan in June, the tour price is about 31.9 million VND per person. “The children really like Doraemon and the famous detective Conan. So they were excited when they learned they would go to Japan,” Quynh said.
Chief representative Kenji encourages Vietnamese tourists to come to Japan in the summer to participate in festivals and fireworks competition events held in many localities. However, overcrowding will lead to problems such as waste, affecting the environment. Mr. Kenji said “we would appreciate it if tourists behave appropriately towards local people” as well as join hands to protect the environment.