PHOTO: Huyen Nguyen attended the U.S. Tour Operators Association Annual Conference and Marketplace in Boca Raton, Fla., earlier this month to promote travel to Southeast Asia. (Photo by David Cogswell)
Huyen Nguyen is business development manager for Passages Asia, a destination management company for Southeast Asia. She is based in Chicago. She attended the U.S. Tour Operators Association Annual Conference and Marketplace in Boca Raton, Fla., in early December to drum up business for her company with tour operators. Travel Pulse spoke to her at the conference.
TravelPulse: You mentioned earlier that the government of Vietnam does not have a budget for promoting tourism, so tour operators like Passages Asia have to do it all for themselves.
Huyen Nguyen: We do have a tourism board, but no support yet. I think the government does want to invest money in tourism because it's one of the most important things in our country, because we are a developing country.
But you know it's very difficult for some people who don't really know the world and how to promote our country. Malaysia and Thailand are doing very well for their countries. But Vietnam has not done very well with it. I know the government tried before, tried and tried. They made some video clips and some promotions, but it didn't work the way they did it.
We have to be special. We can't just tell people we have this and we have that. We have to tell them, "Come to Vietnam! You will never regret it!" I don't think the government is doing well with that. So small travel companies like us, we have to do it ourselves.
We have to do the brochure ourselves and the video clips ourselves in our own way to give out to travel agencies, tour companies and other people who would be telling travelers that Vietnam or Cambodia or Laos is the destination that you must see in the next year or in the near future.
So, I think we have a long way to go, but hopefully we are making progress.
TP: You are here at the USTOA conference, so apparently you have selected a strategy of targeting the top American tour operators. Is this your first time at this conference?
HG: Yes.
TP: How is it going?
HG: So far it's good. I met up with some big names like Brendan and Trafalgar, Wendy Wu Tours, Cox & Kings and GOGO Vacations. I think Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos are still new destinations for them. The companies that I mentioned already do Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, but it's not a big market for them like China or India or Malaysia. So we still have a long way to go with promotions.
What the tour operators are looking for is for us to give them more images and more information about more things to do in Vietnam.
TP: You have a ground operation in Southeast Asia, right?
HG: Yes, we have operating offices in Hanoi, Bangkok, Siem Reap and Luang Prabang.
All we do here [in the U.S.] is the marketing and selling. The offices there do the operating for the tours.
TP: What countries are you marketing?
HG: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, the whole area.
TP: How are you trying to market it? What are you telling them is the main reason for people to go?
HG: When I talk to the tour operators there are two things I tell them. First is what we can do for the tour operators. And the second thing is what we can do for the travelers when they get to Vietnam.
For the tour operators we have the advantage of having a sales office here. So the payment will go to our office here. And then we'll do the brochure for them for free, and we'll do the visa upon arrival free for them. For the travelers we make them feel like Vietnam has so much to do. And Laos and Cambodia. And Myanmar is so untouched and so pure that they will want to go there before everything becomes commercialized.
For example. In the north of Vietnam, the hiking and biking is amazing. In Luang Prabang [Laos] they will feel like time stopped, like nothing changed for many years. Everything is so quiet there. And Angkor Wat, that's something you must see once in your life. And Myanmar! I have nothing to say about Myanmar because you have to go there and feel it yourself.
We want the tour operators to know that Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar are very attractive to clients if they are promoting and sending out images and they let the clients know what we have there.
I tell them that if they need anything from us besides the brochure that we could do a presentation. We could do a fam trip for travel agencies or something like that so they can really get to know it.
TP: Where were you born?
HG: Hanoi.
TP: And when did you come to the States?
HG: I came in 2007. I was born in a province 300 km from Hanoi, but I lived most of my life in Hanoi. I loved it. I also love Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar too, so much.
TP: Are you able to go back?
HG: Sure. I go back every couple of months. My family is still there. I could not leave them forever. The country, Vietnam, is so beautiful. I would miss it.
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