Domestic Tourists' Reviews of Attractive Elements on the Tour Itinerary

Loving the fresh air and tranquility of the Saigon River, he felt at peace when walking into the people's villages, visiting fruit gardens and enjoying rustic dishes. A very Vietnamese feature that is not found in India. However, he was a little worried when getting on and off the canoe and wished to incorporate it into the tour schedule of Indian tourists.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh, a passenger on the Elisa cruise, said: He was born in Saigon and thought he knew every corner of Saigon, but when he and his family had dinner on the cruise, he discovered that Ho Chi Minh City at night was so charming, and the Saigon River was so peaceful and cool. He loved Saigon even more. He said he would come back many times with his partners, friends and relatives.

Ms. Ana, an American Vietnamese who joined the Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe Canal river tour, said: Compared to the time she was in Vietnam, Nhieu Loc Canal now has a new look, the scenery on both sides of the canal is more beautiful, the water source is no longer as dark as before. She loves the image of the boatman and the Nhieu Loc Canal at sunset.

It can be seen that tourists' affection for river tourism in Ho Chi Minh City is extremely high . However, why is river tourism still a mystery even though it has been exploited for a long time? And currently there are no statistics on the number of visitors and revenue from river tourism in Ho Chi Minh City. All of this is still a big question. The following comments are based on the author's survey and investigation of tourists, some units participating in river tourism exploitation and the opinions of experts in the industry.

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12.9%

Natural landscape

25.5%

61.6%

Novelty, unique culture

Sightseeing spots on the itinerary

Figure 2.2. Domestic tourists' evaluation of attractive elements on the tour schedule

(Source: Author of survey thesis in July 2017)

18.6%

27.9%

Destination

Quality of service

24.4%

Night activities

River Tour

29.1%

Figure 2.3. International visitors' evaluation of attractive elements on the tour schedule

(Source: Author of survey thesis in July 2017)

2.2.5. Human resources for river tourism

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City is the largest tourism human resource training center in the country, the city's tourism human resources account for about 17% of the total tourism human resources of the country.

Unit: Person

50000

40000

30000

20000

10000

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Travel Hotel Other

Figure 2.4. Direct labor in tourism in Ho Chi Minh City in the period 2010-2016

(Source: Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism)

According to statistics from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, there are currently 156 establishments nationwide participating in tourism training at university, college, intermediate and short-term training levels. In recent years, a number of training establishments have opened the Tourism and Travel Services Management major to train at the Master's level. However, many establishments are too focused on equipping theory and skills without paying attention to cultivating basic knowledge, thus only creating a team of "workers" but not being able to create good managers. On the contrary, there are establishments with a very low rate of practical teaching, leading to poor vocational skills of students."

According to the survey of students, out of 302 questionnaires collected, 218 questionnaires, accounting for 72.2%, evaluated the friendly attitude of the service staff, while the professionalism factor had only 62 questionnaires, accounting for 20.5%. This shows that the professional level of the service staff is one of the extremely important factors that need to be improved, especially in the tourism service industry.

3.3%

20.5%

72.2%

Friendly Professional Unfriendly

Not professional

Figure 2.5. Statistical evaluation of tourism service staff on river tourism routes in Ho Chi Minh City

(Source: Author of survey thesis in July 2017)

According to the survey results on human resource demand in 2013 by the Center for Human Resource Demand Forecasting and Labor Market Information of Ho Chi Minh City (Falmi), among 12 occupational groups with high annual human resource demand in the city, the tourism industry is ranked 2nd (19.92%) (Table 2.9). However, the training of human resources for the tourism industry in general and tour guides in particular has not yet met the above demand. Hopefully, in the future, the city's tourism industry will have a separate training program for human resources for river tourism.

2.2.6. Activities to promote river tourism in Ho Chi Minh City In 2014, the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Department participated in the Singapore Yacht Show 2014 to promote river tourism. This is a good opportunity for businesses and tourism promotion agencies in Ho Chi Minh City to establish relationships with partners and introduce tourism.

river routes and gradually perfect this tourism product.

In 2016, Ho Chi Minh City Tourism has built a multi-purpose promotion program, specifically combining investment - trade - tourism to increase scale, create impression, efficiency and save costs in promotion activities.

Regarding tourism propaganda and promotion, Ho Chi Minh City has developed a plan to organize communication campaigns to raise awareness in the community about tourism development, focusing on new and effective forms such as communication through social networks; improving the quality of tourism columns on local radio and television stations; continuing to develop tourism information infrastructure systems such as the 1087 Tourism Information Switchboard, the tourism electronic information portal and the City's tourism information station.

Regarding tourism promotion activities, Ho Chi Minh City continues to build and perfect the tourism promotion mechanism in the direction of professionalization, focusing on building strategies and plans for market development, promoting the image of the City's tourism destination brand, especially promoting the socialization of tourism promotion activities. In addition, the City will also coordinate with relevant units to organize prominent tourism events periodically in the City; coordinate with the General Department of Tourism and enterprises to organize promotional activities, launch markets in key and potential areas; participate in activities of the Tourism Promotion Organization of Asia-Pacific Cities (TPO),.... (Source: Pham Phuong, 2015).

36.1%

Internet

Travel newspapers and magazines

50.7

Friend referral

13.2%

Figure 2.6. Ratio of information channels about river tourism for domestic tourists

(Source: Author of survey thesis in July 2017)

25.6%

5.8%

68.6%

Internet

Travel Magazine Friends Recommended

Figure 2.7. Ratio of information channels about river tourism for international visitors

(Source: Thesis author surveyed 86 customers in July 2017)

Of the 302 surveys collected, 153 showed that tourists learned about river tourism information via the internet (50.7%), newspapers and magazines (40), and friends (13.2%) introduced 109, accounting for 36.1%. For international visitors, the internet is an essential means of information, accounting for 68.6% of the 86 surveys. The results show that online advertising is developing at a dizzying speed. It is the fastest and most effective channel of information to reach customers today.

2.3. Assessment of the current status of river tourism development in Ho Chi Minh City

2.3.1. Successes and causes

2.3.1.1. Successes

Ho Chi Minh City river tourism has received certain attention from tourists since its launch, contributing to enriching the city's tourism products. Some routes are still being maintained and exploited, such as the Saigon route.

- Cu Chi, Thi Nghe - Nhieu Loc Canal route, floating restaurant on Saigon River,...

Besides, businesses also actively participate in exploiting and investing in boats, travel agencies have promoted and communicated river tourism products to tourists.

2.3.1.2. Causes

As a major economic center of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City has an international airport and a large seaport, which is very convenient for attracting domestic and foreign tourists. Especially tourists who combine business with short-term visits.

Ho Chi Minh City is blessed with a temperate climate, rare natural disasters and a dense system of rivers and canals flowing through the city's central districts, which is favorable for developing river tourism.

In the context that the city's tourism industry is in need of a breakthrough in tourism products, Ho Chi Minh City's river tourism is of interest to the entire city, tourism businesses and local people, who are joining hands to create, invest and renovate in order to soon make river tourism a key product of the city's tourism industry.

It is expected that in September 2017, Bach Dang port in District 1 will be re-opened, making it more convenient to pick up and drop off passengers in the city center. This is also an opportunity for river tourism to attract visitors and promote river tourism in Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, the launch of river buses is expected to contribute to reducing tour prices, creating a new image for waterway transportation and improving the current status of river tourism in Ho Chi Minh City.

2.3.2. Limitations and causes

2.3.2.1. Limitations

The city and the units participating in exploiting the river tourism route had high expectations for this new product, however, when operating, the results were not as expected and the product was not as expected by domestic and foreign tourists.

For tourists, according to the author's survey, most tourists before participating in river tourism think of the beautiful, romantic image of cruising on a boat in the heart of bustling Saigon. But that quickly fades away when the water smells, garbage floats on the river. Throughout the journey, tourists just sit and endure the sun and watch.

The landscape on both sides of the river is almost the same along the route without any construction or activity that plays a role in creating a special highlight. The piers have no parking lots, no waiting rooms, no toilets for tourists. It can be said that the current river tourism product is quite primitive and monotonous, making it difficult for tourists to come back again.

There is no policy to encourage and attract local people to participate in river tourism activities, so the products are still poor, there are no souvenir shops, and there are no resonant activities. Tourists only pay for the boat fee without the opportunity to spend on other activities, which limits revenue.

Units participating in exploiting the river route also encounter many difficulties in operation, such as units not being allowed to invest synchronously, causing poor infrastructure at the wharves. It is mandatory to use small boats with a limited number of passengers per boat to transport in accordance with the low clearance of the bridges, so the cost is high, the price is not competitive, making it difficult to attract tourists, especially domestic tourists. At the wharves, there is no parking lot for tourists, the cars are only allowed to stop for about 5 minutes, causing difficulties in picking up and dropping off passengers, especially for groups with a large number of passengers.

For the above reasons, although newly put into operation, the river tourism routes are currently very empty. According to the author's survey, there are days when the unit operating the Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe Canal inner city route does not receive any visitors, other days there are only a few visitors. For the Saigon - Cu Chi route, there are still interested visitors but not as many as expected. Due to the low clearance of Binh Loi Bridge, only small canoes circulate, so the price is quite high, not attracting domestic visitors to participate.

In addition, communication and promotion work is still limited. Most visitors know about river tourism thanks to information from travel agencies, even local people only know about it when it is put into operation. This causes a loss of a large number of international visitors, who have the habit of researching and scheduling their visits.

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