According to the World Economic Forum’s report in 2019, Vietnam ranked 65 out of 140 countries with the most developing and competitive tourism industry in the world. Despite an increase of 2 ranks compared to 2017, Vietnam’s tourism industry still faces many issues such as infrastructure, human resources, and service quality. However, one of the most prominent issues currently is the blandness of Vietnam’s tourism brand positioning. This is not only evident at the level of competition among businesses but also at the local and even national brand level, causing Vietnam’s image to become a “melting pot” in the eyes of international tourists.
1. National positioning
Since the 2000s, Vietnam has focused on developing its tourism image through programs, tourism-related events, and policies that facilitate travel for foreign tourists, such as unilateral visa exemptions for visitors from seven countries, including South Korea, the UK, France, and Sweden.
In 2000, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism announced the first tourism brand identity for the industry, “Vietnam. A Destination for the New Millennium.” In 2004, the slogan was changed to “Welcome to Vietnam.” Two years later, the new slogan “Vietnam, the hidden charm” was introduced, and most recently, “Vietnam, the timeless charm” was used to showcase the endless beauty of Vietnam that has been discovered and exploited.
The continuous change in brand identity has seriously damaged Vietnam’s national tourism brand, making it difficult for both international tourists and domestic tourism companies to unify their brand with the national brand.
In addition, Vietnam’s national brand has not been associated with a specific unique selling point (USP), making Vietnam even more obscure. Like how people typically associate casinos with Macao, medical tourism with Singapore, or red light districts with Thailand, tourists often do not know or remember the tourism slogans of various countries but are still willing to visit based on the strengths or factors that these countries have built over a long period.
2. Local positioning
In addition to national brands, there are also subsidiary brands, also known as local-level brands. If designed and executed properly, local brands can also become national brands.
Vietnam has made certain strides in positioning tourism brands for localities, such as “Hai Phong – The City of Red Flamboyant Flowers,” “Hanoi – The City of Peace,” “Da Lat – The City of Flower Festivals,” and “Saigon – The Eastern Pearl.” However, there are still many shortcomings in this process, such as local brands being given by people rather than strategically developed, still a seasonal attribute because of the only focus on attracting foreign visitors, unclear positioning causing overlap or confusion. This leads to a lack of uniqueness in local tourism brands.
Additionally, localities have not synchronized the development of infrastructure according to national and provincial brand positioning. While technical and accommodation services have developed rapidly, overall, the convenience and product styles are still limited. Moreover, the service operation staff are still lacking professionalism, and a system of national tourism resorts with prominent brands has yet to be established.
One of the best examples of utilizing tourism resources and subsidiary brands is Quang Ninh. With the establishment of the Quang Ninh Branding Council on January 31, 2015, the province has implemented extremely clever policies for local brand positioning.
For example, provincial leaders use a heart symbol to convey a profound message about the behavioral rule “Smile of Ha Long Bay” for a greener Ha Long and a better Vietnam. Additionally, Quang Ninh repositions its tourism brand identity through consistency with the white of the ship’s body and the brown of the sails, thereby improving the quality of tourist ships. Furthermore, when international 5-star tourist ships dock at Ha Long Bay, they all follow the standard of white color to create a similar appearance for a modern and dynamic Quang Ninh, which inspires photographers to capture images of white boats and brown sails, contributing to the subtle promotion of the brand.
3. Business positioning
Tourism is a service industry where people pay in exchange for the brand’s commitment. Therefore, for business operations to be effective, service-oriented businesses must have a strong brand positioning in order to attract potential customers and retain loyal customers.
In reality, large travel and hotel corporations dominate 50-75% of the tourism market in the region and the world. (Typical examples are travel giants such as Thomas Cook, Pickfords Travel (UK); TUI, NUR (Germany); Club Med, Transtour (France), Japan Travel Bureau (Japan). The common point here is that they all have strong, reputable, and long-standing brands with a clear brand identity that reflects their brand personality.
So what about Vietnamese brands? Most of us still compete on price, lack uniformity and long-term plans for our brands. This leads to a situation of no differences between businesses and they can easily be replaced in this competitive market. Furthermore, the lack of a clear brand identity is also a trap that brands often fall into, with inconsistent logos and taglines, and lackluster advertising and images without differentiation.
Conclusion
The blandness of Vietnamese tourism brands from the central to the local level, from the government to businesses, stems from four main factors:
(1) Lack of clear positioning due to not utilizing their USP.
(2) Inconsistent brand identity
(3) Lack of tight linkage from top to bottom, from the central to the local level.
(4) Lack of consistency in building infrastructure according to the destination brand positioning.
Therefore, the most important task at present is to figure out how to overcome this pain point and how to make the Vietnamese tourism brand more attractive in the international market. Let’s discuss it below!
Reference:
https://www.quangninh.gov.vn/pinchitiet.aspx?nid=48123
http://www.vtr.org.vn/thuong-hieu-cua-diem-den.html
http://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/index.php/items/15536
https://www.mekongtourism.org/wp-content/uploads/HITT_Inception_Analysis_VIETNAM_English.pdf
https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-travel-tourism-competitiveness-report-2019