Luxury tourism industry in Vietnam

Feb. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- Luxury tourism is no longer limited to the domain of the millionaires, players in the travel industry seek ways to catch they needs, pamper themselves with nice products and personal approach. Brenda Sunoo discusses with the pioner of luxury tourism industry in Vietnam, Pham Ha, Founder and CEO of Luxury Travel Ltd.



There are three major products categories; home luxuries, personal luxuries and experiential luxuries such as luxury travel, entertainment, fine dining and restaurant, and beauty, spas, massage services.

Today  luxury is a buzz word, the word luxury shops, cruises, hotels, cellphones….most luxurious brand name likes Gucci, Vertu, Luis Vuition have been arrived in Vietnam and find their fans.  Brand names of luxury tourism industry are there such as Sofitel, Sheraton, Park Hyatt, Inter-continenal and many more to come soon in this emerging luxury destination.   

Established in 2004, Luxury Travel is a privately owned specialist travel company, founded and run by Pham Ha who has extensive the world travel knowledge and an active role within the company and the development of luxury tourism industry in Indochina, Myanmar and Thailand. Luxury Travel has won numerous travel awards for excellence over the years.
When money is no object, the wealthy have plenty of choices from among the many luxurious travel experiences in the market but it is service quality that makes them feel special, and earns return visits.
“Luxury Travel” brand is smart and meaningful in itself, the pampering starts from the time bookings are made, said Ha.
“From first contact, our guest will receive an email in which we let them know about our service. So even before they arrive, our guests can ask our luxury travel advisor to, for example, book for them a game of golf or a spa treatment, or charter a junk, or even secure for them tickets for a show or event here in Vietnam.
Luxury travelers have particular requirements and are people with time and money for their holidays. They are usually FITs and not group travelers, seek qualitative experiences and demand personal and confidential service. They often have requirements that, to the average person, seem absurd but which should be evaluated in relation to the amounts spent for their acquisition.

Today’s luxury traveler is not only sharp, experienced, informed, well-traveled and adventurous but also has an eye for value-for-money and personal service.
“Our luxury limousines pick up from the airport our guests, who stay in suites. They are greeted upon arrival by their names and are escorted to their rooms. Guests like that personal touch and special treatment. They will always be asked whether we can assist them in any way – if they need a car and/or a driver, or perhaps if it’s a special occasion, whether they’d like us to organise a special dinner for a couple in hotel suite, or a nice romantic dinner on the balcony or on the beach.”
Ha believes that it is this personal service that makes guests return to the hotels, luxury travellers these days include a growing number of the middle class, who reward themselves for jobs well done. Hotels, consequently, are scrambling to outdo each other in providing them specialised services.
“Luxury travel advisor and customer service teams have never been more important than now because what we have found is that the luxury traveler wants ultimate service,” continued Ha. “There are reading materials such as magazines, luxury travel guide book in the room, car but our luxury travelers, we know, don’t read them. They want personal service, so they will ask our travel advisors, tour guides and rely on them to recommend everything, even if it’s where to buy an “ao dai dress or a painting.”
He said his tour company attracts an equal mix of MICE and leisure travellers many of them like custom holidays with special interests. “Businessmen play golf, but what have developed over the last year or so are the spa destination holidays, in which our packges fits extremely well.”
Their guests tend to be fairly low key although many are “very powerful people in their own right”, he said.
“Our guests come here because they want to expirence the best of the best in Vietnam, relax in style, and they want to be discreet and have the best available service. Security and safe is key as well because they want to be able to feel at ease.” Luxury Travel Ltd receives bookings both directly or via tour operators and travel agents.
“We get a lot of our business through our luxury tour operators. We are associated with very top end tour operators in the US and Europe and Middle East and the rest of Asia. A good year ahead for Vietnam as luxury tourism looks stronger for 2011.” he said.


http://luxurytravelvietnam.com/

# # #

Luxury Travel Co., Ltd. (Vietnam) is a 100% fully registered and privately-owned Vietnamese company. It was founded by luxury travel specialists since the 1990s when Vietnam had just opened its doors to worldwide tourism.