Báo cáo ngành du lịch Việt Nam 2010

Báo cáo ngành du lịch Việt Nam 2010

Euromonitor International : Country Market InsightApril 2010

List of Contents and Tables

Executive Summary 1

Still Faced With Inflation and Fuel Price Growth 1

H1n1 Epidemic Affects the Tourism Industry All Over the World 1

More Policies To Attract Tourists 1

More Luxury Hotels Springing Up 1

Vietnam Tourism Hopes To Recover in 2010 1

Key Trends and Developments 1

Impact of the Global Recession 1

H1n1 Flu Pandemic 2

Legislative Environment – Vietnam Offers VISA Exemption for Diplomatic Passport and Special Public Service Passport Holders 3

Inequality Distribution of Hotels Across the Country Poses Problems 4

Homestay and Vietnamese-cuisine-cooking Tours Are Becoming More Popular 5

Arrivals by Sea Start To Increase Again 6

Demand Factors 7

Balance of Payments 7

Market Indicators 7

Table 1Leave Entitlement: Volume 2005-2009 7

Table 2Holiday Demographic Trends 2004-2009 8

Table 3Holiday Takers by Sex 2004-2009 8

Table 4Holiday Takers by Age 2004-2009 8

Table 5Length of Domestic Trips: 2004-2009 8

Table 6Length of Outbound Departures: 2004-2009 8

Table 7Seasonality of Trips 2005-2009 9

TRAVEL AND TOURISM IN VIETNAMEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Still Faced With Inflation and Fuel Price Growth

Vietnam is expected to face big problems of inflation in 2009 The government has also continually made many changes in the fuel price, causing it to fluctuate during the first half of 2009 Vietnamese people have tightened their purse strings and only spend money on the essentials, hindering travel and tourism Therefore, all aspects of Vietnam tourism including arrivals and departures in the year 2009 have declined slightly compared with 2008

H1n1 Epidemic Affects the Tourism Industry All Over the World

In 2009, Swine flu (H1N1),which started in Mexico and quickly spread all over the world mostly by means of tourism, caused a great deal of damage to the tourism industry, not only in Vietnam, but in every country in the world Airports have started strict security checks whereby every tourist has to go through a temperature check before being able to board People have also cut back on travelling for fear of catching H1N1, reducing the number of tourists

More Policies To Attract Tourists

The government has implemented several initiatives to attract more tourists to Vietnam, such as hotels (mostly luxury hotels) and tourist agents all over the country offering lower prices Some leading travel agencies such asSaigonTourist and Vietravel have reduced their prices by up to 30% for tours to major tourist destinations in Vietnam Hotels and travel agencies have also increased the service quality such as room service, car rental, and airport transfers Some provinces are chosen to host festivals like the sea festival at Nha Trang, fruits festival at Can Tho, and the Mekong festival These festivals last a few days and there are a lot of activities like parades, concerts and exhibitions to attract more tourists These are traditional festivals but they were previously on a small scale and celebrated only by locals Since 2005, the government has made them into big events spanning several days, with a lot of activities to attract more tourists Although they seemed to be fascinating for the tourists initially, the festivals just repeat themselves every year offering nothing new and many tourists feel that the festivals are becoming too commercial and have lost their spirit This is the reason why the number of tourists drawn to these festivals is declining every year.

More Luxury Hotels Springing Up

Many international corporations have recognized the promising tourism business in Vietnam and decided to invest Many luxury hotels are being built and existing ones are going through renovation Vietnam’s first six-star hotel is being built in Vinperland, Nha Trang and is said to go into business at the end of 2010 However, there tends to be a mismatch in locations of luxury hotels Tourists prefer travelling to mountainous and quiet areas such as the highlands, Sapa, and the countryside, but the hotel rooms in these areas are often all booked well in advance.

Vietnam Tourism Hopes To Recover in 2010

With good medical attention, most H1N1 swine flu cases took one week to recover According to the WHO, travelling restrictions are not necessary In 2010, the H1N1 epidemic will have been controlled and the global financial crisis should begin to lessen Travel and tourism will recover and tourists will come back to Vietnam, putting the industry in a good position to gain further revenues in the longer term

KEY TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Impact of the Global Recession

In 2008, the world experienced a financial crisis that had a great impact on every country, including Vietnam It continued to have an effect in 2009 Prices kept getting more expensive, especially petrol kept rising Since the beginning of the year 2009, the Vietnamese government has adjusted the price of petrol nine times; only one of which was a decrease With every adjustment, the price of petrol rose about VND500 per litre Especially on 1 July 2009, the price of petrol rose from VND11,000 per litre to VND14,500 per litre (32% increase)

This made people’s budgets smaller as salaries stayed the same Consumer thought hard before buying anything;let alone travelling Even though there have been many promotional campaigns such as reducing prices of plane tickets, hotels and tours, travel and tourism in Vietnam slowed down regardless.

Current Impact

The global recession only made its presence felt on Vietnam’s tourism and travel industry during the first half ofthe year 2009 because after that, swine flu broke out and “stole all the limelight” Due to the global financial crisis, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Vietnam has declined rapidly by about 70% (according to the Investment Report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam).

Inflation is predicted to reach approximately 7% (about half that of 2008) However, GDP growth for Vietnam in the year 2009 is predicted to be at about 5.5% (decrease of one percentage point compared to 2008) but still positive, which shows Vietnam’s economy is gradually recovering from the crisis Luxury hotels may suffer the most from the recession since people resort to much less luxury or budget hotels Value sales of Jetstar, the only low lost carrier in Vietnam, also increased by 24% for the first six months of 2009 This means that people prefer low cost carriers during this hard time Vietnam Airlines, however, did not do so well Because Jetstar has“stolen” tourists from Vietnam Airlines, the sales of the latter decreased around 12% over the first six months of2009 Moreover, Indochina, the first private airline in Vietnam, has been in debt since the beginning of the review period; its sales declining rapidly, by nearly 40%

During the last half of the year 2009, the impact of the global recession and swine flu died down Prices of goods and services started to stabilise thanks to Vietnam government’s policies People’s pockets are growing and sales are increasing again IMF (International Monetary Fund) said that the global recession was coming to an end but many countries were still facing the aftermath of it and needed quite a long time to completely recover Economists also said that the financial crisis in many developed countries such as the US had stopped by this time It is predicted that Vietnam’s economy will completely recover by June 2010.

Future Impact

Along with the recovery of the economy, Vietnam’s travel and tourism industry will gradually increase as tourism is the economic indicator of Vietnam and generates a large percentage in GDP It is predicted that Vietnam’s GDP in 2010 will grow at 6.5% and continue to grow positively until 2014 People will start to travelmore, especially at the time of 2010’s Lunar New Year (mid-February)

However, the prices of rooms will not increase or will only increase slightly because they do not want the tourists to be put off by such a sudden increase If prices rise suddenly, tourists may opt to stay at budget hotels Transportation is important to the travel and tourism industry and there are only a few airlines in Vietnam Therefore, their sales will start to go up and soon will recover completely

H1n1 Flu Pandemic

H1N1 (also called Swine flu) is a new kind of virus that has never before been circulated among humans Swineflu started in Mexico in March 2009 and quickly spread to other countries and continents as people travelled On11 June 2009, the World Health Organization (WTO) announced Swine flu as phase 6 (which means it is considered a pandemic) Until 4 October, according to WTO’s update report number 69 about H1N1, there havebeen 375,000 cases of Swine flu and 4,500 deaths all over the world As for Vietnam, according to the statistics,there have been over 5,000 cases with six deaths Research is being taken in order to find a vaccine for Swine flu but in the mean time, every country and person has to follow some safety instructions to reduce the spread ofthe pandemic

Current Impact

The outbreak of H1N1 has had a great impact on the tourism industry, not only of Vietnam but other countries as well Even though the WTO has confirmed that travel restrictions are not necessary, people are still restrainedfrom travelling as a means of safety Vietnamese tend to worry a lot about small problems Therefore, when Swine Flu broke out, it caused panic everywhere People went everywhere with masks; even in offices and schools If someone had a mild cold and coughed, people would assume that he/she had Swine Flu and took thatperson to the hospital for medical isolation Vietnamese were even scared of foreign tourists for they thought that international tourists were the ones who brought the Pandemic to Vietnam in the first place In Vietnam, at the airports, both domestic and international tourists have to go through screenings to detect infections Many schools and universities have been temporarily closed Vietnam’s tourism has experienced a dramatic decline in the number of arrivals

Towards the second half of 2009, all the panics have died down and the number of newly-infected cases has reduced People start packing their bags and going on vacation again, especially when Christmas drew near

By the year 2010, optimistically Swine Flu will have been controllable As for Vietnam, the Lunar New Year is the time that many international tourists usually come to experience the atmosphere of Vietnam’s New Year with streets decorated with beautiful flowers and the festivals Therefore, this is a good time for the Vietnam government to implement initiatives to attract more tourists It is predicted that Vietnam travel and tourism will have completely recovered by June 2010 Hopefully in the year 2010, there will be no more pandemics or any other diseases and Vietnam’s travel and tourism industry will recover and develop

Future Impact

Since Swine Flu is considered not so dangerous, tourists do not have to go through screening to detect infection at the airport or take their temperature before checking into a hotel The sales of tours, hotel rooms and airline tickets will increase slightly and be back to normal in 2010 What Vietnam needs now is the right policies to attract more tourists and to advertise the beauty of the country to tourists all around the world Vietnam has a stable political background, beautiful scenery, and a wide variety of cuisine With all those potentials, travel andtourism will grow positively over the forecast period

Legislative Environment – Vietnam Offers VISA Exemption for Diplomatic Passport and Special Public Service Passport Holders

Following the trend of integration and expansion of international cooperation, the Vietnam government has also signed 57 agreements on visa exemption with 55 countries; 54 of which are in force According to those agreements, diplomatic passport and special public service passport holders coming from those 55 countries are allowed to stay in Vietnam for up to 90 days.

Furthermore, during summer vacation ( from 15 May 2009 to 30 September 2009), Vietnam offers free visa feesfor tourists going on holiday, provided by some particular travel agencies According to this promotional campaign, named “Impression of Vietnam” to attract tourists, tourists going on tours will be given visas for free at the terminals and stamped “GRATIS”

This is an act of helping travel and tourism in the situation of recession and pandemic The government hopes that this policy will help attract more tourists since they do not need to wait at the check-in desks for such a longtime like before

Current Impact

Since Swine Flu was still all over the news and causing panic everywhere in Vietnam, Vietnam government’s promotional campaign was a smart step to attract more tourists to save the decreasing industry And as a result, more tourists came to Vietnam during summer vacation than any other time of the year

The act of providing free visa for diplomatic passports and special public service passports was a good way to develop business tourism (or MICE- Meeting Incentive Convention Exhibition) which has become a promising area in many other countries in recent years MICE tourists not only stay in luxury hotels but also spend more on shopping and travelling to many other places in the country Towards the end of the review period, Vietnam government has taken steps to attract more MICE tourists As a result, during the first six months of the year 2009, the number of business arrivals increased by 30% (MICE increased by 35%) However, because of the Swine Flu Pandemic, the number has gone down dramatically for the whole of 2009

Vietnamese government is taking steps to sign more agreements on free visas for diplomatic passport and special public service passport holders with many countries across Europe and also the US These agreements will come into effect in 2010.

With the tendency of international trade and cooperation, Vietnam’s government will issue more free visas to tourists coming from some countries in Europe and from the US This needs a lot of consideration as the more free visas are given, the more risks that the country faces in terms of illegal migrants Vietnam’s legislative system still has some loopholes that illegal immigrants can exploit Since 2008, Vietnam has faced illegal immigrants mostly from some African and Asian countries coming to Vietnam to commit fraud , launder money, or withdraw money with fake credit cards This is a very serious problem that the Vietnam government still cannot solve

Future Impact

Due to the policies of giving free visas for diplomatic passports and special public service passport holders, Vietnam is going to establish good relationships with many countries in the world This is also an advantage to develop other industries such as import, export and education

Vietnam’s emerging inbound origins are the US, Japan, Korea, China and some countries in Asia Therefore, Europe is considered a promising market as Europeans travel a lot and spend a lot of money on shopping and entertainment With this act of the Vietnam government, hopefully in the near future, the number of European tourists will increase.

Illegal immigrants cause a lot of damage to the country’s economy and legislative system Vietnam’s

government is tightening the laws, not giving visas to some suspicious individuals coming from some African and Asian countries, as well as heavily fining hotels or other accommodation providers for letting illegal immigrants stay without a visa, expelling immediately illegal immigrants or travellers coming from Vietnam to commit crimes

Inequality Distribution of Hotels Across the Country Poses Problems

Along with the development of travel and tourism comes the need for more hotels Vietnam has a long coastal line so most of the hotels are concentrated near the beaches and in some big cities such as Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, whereas in some other parts of the country with beautiful scenery in the highlands such as Sapa, there is a shortage of hotels This has become a problem, since tourists tended to prefer the mountainous and quiet areas towards the end of the review period, and there is low supply of hotels there

Current Impact

Vietnam is still a developing country and agriculture still accounts for a great part of the country’s economy As tourists are becoming more aware of the environment, most of them would like to travel to the countryside or mountainous areas to get away from the busy life of big cities with noise, traffic jams and pollution Tourists canexperience the beauty of the terraced fields in the Highlands, Mid-lands or the Northern Region in Vietnam.Mountainous areas are a great part of Vietnam’s varied culture There are 61 different ethnic groups in Vietnam.Most of the country’s population is “Kinh” ethnic and live in big cities or plain areas whereas, the smaller part of the population come from other ethnic groups and live in mountainous areas They have their own languages and culture Many foreign tourists find it fascinating to stay among the ethnic groups and learn about their lives

However, the shortage of hotels in mountainous and country areas means that both international and domestic tourists are unable to stay long Usually people just come and leave within the day or stay for just a short time It is also a very difficult problem because if people build many hotels in those mountainous areas, it will destroythe natural beauty of it and tamper with the lives of the ethnic groups But if they do not build hotels in those areas, Vietnam will lose a lot of tourists Some travel agencies do offer tours in which tourists can stay and join the lives of the ethnic people However, those tours are just for a small number of tourists as there are not enough places in the villages to accommodate many tourists

The inequality in distribution of hotels is becoming bigger In 2009, there were 88 new hotels built in coastal areas Meanwhile, there were only five new hotels in mountainous and country areas The shift of tourists’ preference from big cities to much quieter places causing a shortage in hotels In high-peak season, like Tet holiday or summer vacation, all the hotel rooms are booked well in advance while in big cities many of the hotelrooms are available

There is also an inequality in distribution of luxury hotels There are about 31, 5-star hotels in Vietnam in 2009; 21 of which are located in Ha Noi, the capital city and Ho Chi Minh City There is a shortage of luxury hotels inother cities; tourists who visit those cities have to stay in mid-sized or budget hotels with old-fashioned rooms and poor customer service

It is a big regret that Vietnam cannot accommodate tourists for longer in those areas The beauty of the scenery is one very distinct advantage that Vietnam has over other countries It is also a very good way to introduce the country’s various culture and natural and “untouched” beauty to the world Vietnam needs to solve the problem of how to develop tourism in mountainous areas whilst preserving its natural beauty.

Tours to the countryside to experience the lives of Vietnamese farmers are also a really good idea Tourists can enjoy the fresh and peaceful air with no noise, traffic jams or worries about work or school and at the same time experience how farmers work in the fields or harvest crops Some travel retailers such as SaigonTourist and Vietravel are organizing some of those tours as an experiment and received a lot of good response from tourists

inequality in distribution in luxury hotels will gradually decrease

Homestay and Vietnamese-cuisine-cooking Tours Are Becoming More Popular

During the review period, a new kind of tour appeared and immediately became popular among international tourists: homestay tours On homestay tours, tourists are invited to stay with a Vietnamese family The hosts will show them around the area, explaining Vietnam’s traditions and folklore, as well as taking them to the markets, buying ingredients and teaching them how to cook some traditional Vietnamese food Some luxury hotels also provide the same kind of service and give the tourists a small certificate after finishing the course.

Current Impact

Many international tourists really love Vietnamese food because it is made with fresh materials and ingredients In addition, it contains little much fat and is eaten with a lot of vegetables which is very good for the health Vietnam’s cuisine is different for each area Vietnam’s territory is divided into three main regions: the North, the middle and the South Each region has a wide variety of cuisine and the same dish can taste differently depending on which ingredients are used For example, Vietnamese noodle soup in Ha Noi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh city, taste different.

Even though the price of homestay tours is often higher than for other types of tourism, the number of tourists booking this kind of tour increased in the year 2009 However, not many tourist agencies or hotels provide this kind of tour except for some luxury hotels like Sofitel Metropole Ha Noi, Riverside Resort in Hoi An and Caravelle.

Homestay tourism appeals to both international and domestic tourists, because it is new and interesting

With the competition from other nearby countries and the fact that tourists are becoming more concerned about the environment, and travelling combined with learning about the history and culture of the destination country, homestay tours are a new trend It is said that the best way to touch people’s heart is through their stomach Therefore, this is a very promising business area, and in order to develop it, travel agencies and hotels should work together to advertise and provide this kind of tour

Future Impact

In the future, Vietnamese cuisine cookery classes will increase in popularity and attract more tourists, especiallyMICE tourists Local hosts will arrange the interesting classes for their foreign counterparts to experience the Vietnamese food culture.

Meanwhile, it is expected that the number of tourists going on homestay tours will increase too, so as to experience the most authentic Vietnamese culture.

Arrivals by Sea Start To Increase Again

With over 3,269 kilometres of coastline, seaport systems and many beautiful beaches from North to South, Vietnam has every potential to develop tourism Over the 1999-2002 period, Vietnam’s cruise tourism developed rapidly, with an average of 200,000 tourists going on luxury cruises every year Since 2003, the cruise tourism in Vietnam has decreased due to SARS, Tsunami and Bird Flu In 2008, the arrivals to Vietnam by sea started to develop In 2009, despite the pandemic and economic crisis, the number of tourists coming to Vietnam on cruises did not appear to decline.

Current Impact

Since the beginning of 2009, Vietnam has greeted many luxury “floating” hotels with about 234,200 tourists onboard; a slight increase on 2008 Only around 7% of which are business sea arrivals, and the remaining 93% leisure sea arrivals On 2 November 2009, the luxury vessel named Costa Classica, came to Vietnam for the firsttime This was also an experimental cruise to make regular cruises fortnightly to Vietnam during the forecast period Costa Classica, one of the luxury vessels of Costa Crociere Corp’s fleet, is 200m long and can carry 2,000 tourists and crew Costa Crociere Corporation, affiliating with SaigonTourist brought two vessels named Costa Allegra and Costa Marina to Vietnam before April 2009 This is very good news for Vietnam because Costa Crociere Corp is one of the biggest sea tourism corporations in Europe.

Tourists going on cruises are often elderly people who have a lot of time and money and would like to learn about Vietnam’s culture and history Each tourist going on a cruise is said to spend about US$300-400 per day, which is about 20-30% more than tourists coming by air or land

With the affiliation between SaigonTourist and Costa Crociere Corp, Vietnam will have a regular number of tourists on cruises in the future Most tourists coming on Costa Crociere’s vessels are Italian, French, German and Spanish Therefore, with well-organized tours, high quality service and the right policies from the government, Vietnam could attract more tourists from Europe.

Future Impact

Vietnam’s arrivals will increase in sales terms in accordance with its potential and soon enough will reach the number of tourists attracted in the year 1999-2002 It is expected that in 2010, Vietnam will greet about 240,000tourists on cruises and the number for 2014 could reach 300,000 tourists, earning a great deal for the sea transportation industry

DEMAND FACTORS

Each employee is given 12 paid leave days a year according to Vietnam Labour Code.

For public holiday, there are six special occasions a year They are New Year (1 January), Tet Holiday (Lunar New Year, varies according to the lunar calendar), King Hung’s Anniversary (10 March on the lunar calendar), National day (30 April), International Labour Day (1 May), and Independent Day (2 September).

In 2009, students are given about two weeks holiday for Tet and about eight weeks for summer vacation (rather than 12 weeks like before) Only about 27.3% of the population are holiday takers, whereas the majority would stay at home due to the economic crisis and Swine Flu Pandemic Because during Tet holiday most parents are only given about a week off, most Vietnamese family would go on domestic trips to Nha Trang, Da Lat, Vung Tau and Da Nang During summer vacation, some families go on tours to other nearby countries such as Singapore (especially at the end of June due to the big sale season), Malaysia, Thailand and China.

Holiday takers seem to be getting younger (the number of holiday takers aged 15-35-years-old has increased slightly) and the number of females going on vacation has also gone up, which means the women started to enjoy themselves rather than staying at home taking care of the babies or the home

Additionally, the number of trips over seven days has increased slightly (by 13% for domestic trips and 6% for outbound departures), which shows the increasingly high living standards of the Vietnamese However, the numbers of trips lasting less than seven days still make up the most part of the trend of holiday takers This is because each employee is only given about 12 paid days leave a year and even during the summer holidays children are sent to extra classes or English classes to prepare for their new school year

BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

In 2009, Vietnam received VND57.5 trillion from arrivals, decreasing 0.4% compared to the year 2008, and VND39.9 trillion from domestic trips, decreasing 11% from 2008 Vietnamese also spent about VND11.5 trillion on outbound tours, decreasing 15% on 2008 As a result, Vietnam has a surplus of VND46 trillion in balance of payment in 2009, increasing 6% from 2008 Even though, the income from arrivals decreased, the expenditure of Vietnamese tourists on outbound tours decreased much more Therefore, in general, Vietnam’s balance of payments in the year 2009 increased by 6% In 2009, due to the global recession, fuel prices increased making prices of other products increase With the same amount of money, people can buy fewer products Therefore, Vietnamese people travelling abroad shopped less and concentrated more on getting to know the destination country’s culture and history making the expenditure decrease.

Days

Table 2Holiday Demographic Trends 2004-2009

% number of people

Table 3Holiday Takers by Sex 2004-2009

% number of people

Table 4Holiday Takers by Age 2004-2009

Notes:Age of national tourists (domestic and outbound)

Table 5Length of Domestic Trips: 2004-2009

Table 6Length of Outbound Departures: 2004-2009

Table 7Seasonality of Trips 2005-2009

 Car rental Travel retail Tourist attractions

 Health and wellness tourism

Travel and Tourism is an industry encompassing markets as diverse as transportation (airlines, rail and ferry companies), travel retail, travel accommodation, tourist attractions, health and wellness, car rental as well as standard tourism parameters.

Tourism Parameters

Refers to international tourists, ie any person visiting another country for at least 24 hours, for a period not exceeding 12 months, and staying in collective or private accommodation Each arrival is counted separately and includes people travelling more than once a year and people visiting several countries during one holiday Euromonitor International’s arrival figures exclude same-day visitors and transit and cruise passengers as this can distort arrival figures in important border crossings and cruise destinations respectively It also excludes those in paid employment abroad Students that stay in a country for a period of more than 12 months are excluded from arrivals data and are considered as residents of the country of temporary residence The country of origin of the inbound arrival is referred to as the source country and reflects the country of residence rather than nationality of the visitor

International arrivals (given in terms of number of people) is not the same as international trips because during the course of one trip abroad, there may be numerous visits to different countries which would then be recorded separately in the international arrivals figures of each country visited Therefore, one international trip does not equal to one international arrival Military personnel are excluded, along with displaced people because of war or natural disasters Arrivals are measured in ‘000.

Data is constructed from different sources in order to provide the overall number of arrivals Key sources include border statistics collated, border surveys and registered guests at accommodation outlets primarily sourced from national tourist offices and national statistics offices

Arrivals by City

International arrivals by city includes those visitors that arrive at the city as their first point of entry, but also includes those visitors to the city that arrived in the country via a different point of entry, but then go on to visit the city in question.

Refers to the number of residents that travel abroad from their country of residence to another destination country for leisure or business purposes Residents include students residing abroad for a period of over 12 months Departures by country of destination reflect departures recorded at each leg of the journey during an international trip For example, a UK resident on a trip to Rome with a stop-off in Paris would be recorded under UK departures as two departures, ie one departure to France and one departure to Italy Data includes foreigners residing permanently in the country of departure including students residing for over a period of one year

Euromonitor International’s departures figures exclude same-day visitors, transit passengers and cruise passengers (apart from at the initial point of departure from the country of residence) as this can distort

departure figures in important border crossings and cruise destinations respectively Departures are measured in ‘000.

Military personnel are excluded, along with displaced people because of war or natural disasters.

they are considered to fall under the latter If singles, families or couples are not back-packing or part of an organised tour group, then they are counted in their respective category.

Tourism for business purposes includes all business trips which are taken primarily for business purposes including unmanaged and managed If business travellers choose to add on a leisure extension to their trip, the arrival or departure would still be considered as business as that’s the primary motive for the trip

Refers to meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions where these are organised events run by third partieson behalf of companies, either onsite or in hotels or conference centres.

Incoming tourist receipts

These are classified as payments by international inbound tourists, including fares paid to national carriers for international transport and any other prepayments made for goods or services received in the country of destination This includes receipts from day visitors from abroad, although there are exceptional cases that are recorded separately Excludes spending by students that stay in a country for a period of over 12 months Air fare paid to foreign carriers is excluded.

For incoming tourist receipts split by business and leisure, business includes group, MICE and

independent/transient business expenditure Leisure includes expenditure by all leisure visitors including those visiting friends/relatives and others.

Outgoing tourism expenditure

This is expenditure by outbound tourists abroad, including their payments to foreign carriers for international transport This includes expenditure on day visits abroad, except in certain cases when these are recorded separately Data thus excludes international transport fares purchased within the country of origin.

Leisure departures by type is broken out into backpackers, organised tour groups (including school trips and organised sport trips), singles, families, friends, couples (including gay couples) and others Others include travelling for a wedding etc Where singles, families or couples go on organised tours or are backpacking then they are considered to fall under the latter If singles, families or couples are not back-packing or part of an organised tour group, then they are counted in their respective category.

For outgoing tourism expenditure split by business and leisure, business includes group, MICE and independent/transient business expenditure Leisure includes expenditure by all leisure visitors including those visiting friends/relatives and others.

Domestic tourists

This refers to the number of stays by residents within their normal country or residence and is measured in termsof the number of trips which differs from the number of actual resident tourists (measured in terms of people) spending one night or more away from home within their normal country of residence Most national statistics on domestic tourism expenditure exclude that on travel to and from the destination.

Domestic trips

The number of trips taken by residents of the country within the country The definition of the length of a trip varies from country to country Within a trip, multiple destinations may be included, however, the overall destination is the final point of arrival Trips are measured in terms of ‘000 trips.

Domestic tourist expenditure

The spending on travel and tourism services by domestic visitors on the overnight trips, including travel within the country.