Bienvenue! tourist sector welcomes French

France is regarded as a key market for Vietnamese tourism. The country last year welcomed over 182,000 French visitors, a year-on-year increase of 38%. Viet Nam News reporter Thu Tra sat with Gael de la Porte du Theil, president of France’s Interface Tourism, at a conference in the capital on Monday.

How would you assess the Vietnamese tourism industry?

My view on Vietnamese tourism is that like all the countries relatively new in this sector, you are facing strategic issues about what the industry will be like in the next 20 years.

The main strategic issue is to make a choice about the type of tourism Viet Nam wants to attract in the future: mass tourism and deluxe tourism. Another issue is the environment. Since you have not yet made a decision on where you will go, you are doing many things that may naturally come into conflict.

But what I am sure of is that you have great potential, in terms of sites, culture, food and history, all able to be integrated in a package alluring for French customers.

The number of French visitors coming to Viet Nam has increased significantly over the past seven years. Could you explain the reason why?

After the drop in 1995, it has taken some time to restore confidence in Vietnamese tourism. In 2000, French tour operators (TOs) again began developing business to Viet Nam because French clients were very attracted to the destination, particularly the historical and exotic elements.

Since French tourists have been largely happy with their experiences in Viet Nam, tourism continues to increase.

What should Viet Nam’s tourism sector do to attract more French arrivals?

You have to go on satisfying your French customers. Be careful of contracts with TOs. For instance, price fluctuation during certain seasons or failure to manage bookings appropriately could be very problematic in the future. Other major issues are environmentally and ecologically based. For example, most of the French are displeased with the type of development that is happening in Ha Long Bay. You have to be respectful of nature, one of your greatest assets.

Additionally, in order to attract more French tourists, you have to be represented on the French market by a representative office that will be able to inform and convince the French public through the media that your country has many things worth discovering and that several trips are necessary to explore them. Also, this rep will have to insist to the high revenue clients that Viet Nam has products that will meet their standards. Essentially, everything possible must be done to increase potential French tourists’ knowledge of Viet Nam.

Could you explain your company?

"Interface Tourism" is aone-stop shop network of European based teams and offices offering many kinds of consulting like PR, trade development and marketing services to all types of clients involved in the tourism and leisure industry.

We provide a human and physical interface between tourism products from all over the world and outgoing markets (Southern European and Scandinavian markets presently).

Our main job is to allow destinations and products to efficiently penetrate well- chosen markets and attract new demographics. We work with any marketing budget. "Interface Tourism" offers clients a very profitable business model to get the best possible return on investment in terms of sales and visitors. (Viet Nam News)