Buffalo Tours Hoping to Ride a U.S. Wave to Vietnam

by James Ruggia
Last updated: 2:00 PM ET, Sun August 31, 2014

PHOTO: Halong Bay has been one of the top tourist sites in Vietnam since the 1990s. (Courtesy of Buffalo Tours on YouTube)

Cultural and travel relations between the United States and Vietnam took some interesting turns this year: the UNESCO World Heritage Committee added the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex to its celebrated list of mankind's treasures; the New York Times made the Mekong River one of its 52 Places to visit in 2014; and McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the country in Ho Chi Minh city.

Though not as noted, it may be more significant that Buffalo Tours, part of the Vietnam-based Thien Minh Group (TMG), opened its first U.S. office based in California's Mill Valley, not far from San Francisco, a favorite city for Vietnamese immigrants to the U.S.

"We were hoping to open in the U.S. four or five years ago, but the economic situation in 2009 made that unrealistic," said Buffalo's General Manager Patricia Huggins. "Our market research shows that Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar have very strong appeal in America, especially on the West Coast and in select East Coast markets such as New York and Connecticut."

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It's certainly a good time to be selling Vietnam. In the first half of 2014, about 4.3 million foreign visitors arrived in Vietnam, for a year-on-year growth of 21 percent according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT). The Vietnamese are expecting to get about 650,000 U.S. visitors this year.

The U.S. market could be particularly important for Vietnam as the political conflict it's having with China over the contested Spratly Islands led to violent demonstrations in May against China in Vietnam that have taken the wind out of an important Chinese travel market.

Chinese visitation was up 37.4 percent through May, but it dropped heavily in June as a result of those demonstrations. Especially hard hit were beaches in Da Nang that were very popular with Chinese travelers and the impact may be long lasting.

Hanoi is said to be altering the quality of its tourism product in order to attract Japanese tourists. Not only is the Japanese outbound market with its 20 million travelers ripe for Vietnam, but Japan is also involved in the dispute with China and apparently many Japanese travelers are avoiding China these days because of the Spratlys. The U.S. market is another alternative.

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"I think overall the Vietnamese travel industry views the United States as a market that will continue to grow," said Huggins. "We are specific in our needs as travelers and the fact that there's a beautiful new Marriott in Hanoi speaks to the fact that they're very interested in the American traveler."

When Vietnam first opened to U.S. travelers in the early 1990s, the most popular destinations were Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, Hoi An, Hanoi and Halong Bay. These constitute a full vacation but plenty more has been added to diversify the experience including beach resorts in the Da Nang area including China Beach and more in the way of explorations of the mountains of western Vietnam and the villages of the country's many ethnic minorities.

"Out travelers are interested in an authentic experience," said Huggins. "They want to visit the great national parks and Mong villages. They're interested in the art scene in Hanoi, which is very hot right now. It's no longer just Saigon, Hue, Hoi An and Hanoi that people come to see. They go for two or three weeks because they want to see it all before it changes. That's why we specialize in customizing."

New destinations are popping up all of the time. Consider Phu Quoc island, which received 268,000 tourists including 72,620 foreigners, in the first half of 2014, a year-on-year rise of 26 percent and 34.8 percent, respectively. Phu Quoc is home to a beautiful national park as well as a historic prison, where nearly 40,000 Vietnamese partisans were incarcerated between 1967 and 1973. The island is seeking hotel investment to meet a growing demand.

In Buffalo Tours, American travelers will find a company not only based in Vietnam but committed to it and the other counties of the former French colony of Indochina, as well as Myanmar. Buffalo launched in Vietnam in 1994 and now has 10 offices throughout Southeast Asia, Australia and the UK. Buffalo promises to bring a line-up of personal and active experiences such as culinary, kayaking and hiking to present an authentic Vietnam.

"Clients stay in French colonial boutique hotels and cruise the waterways on traditional junks and converted rice barges," said Huggins. Buffalo Tours offers customized, guided private and group tours, accommodations, transfers, flights, cruises, day trips and excursions in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar. Buffalo Tours is part of the Thien Minh Group, which brings approximately 90,000 tourists to Southeast Asia and hosts over 200,000 hotel guests in its own hotels annually. TMG currently owns 11 hotels with over 780 rooms in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. According to Huggins, Buffalo pays travel agents commissions starting at 13 percent.

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