Thua Thien Hue: Keeping pace with shopping tourism

Travel Association and businesses conduct surveys at
Aeon Mall Hue to build shopping tourism products

Shopping at tourist destinations has become one of the motivations for many tourists to travel. Along with traditional markets in Thua Thien Hue, the establishment of Aeon Mall Hue will promote the development of shopping tourism and tourism businesses will include it in their tours to serve customers.

Opportunities for shopping tourism

At Aeon Mall Hue, we met many tourists from other provinces and foreign visitors, especially at noon and in the evening. Ms. Duong Nguyen Xuan Thanh, from Ha Tinh shared: "While waiting to check in at the hotel, I went to Aeon Mall to buy some things. There is a big shopping center, very nice, during the day I go to sightseeing spots, in the evening I come back to have fun and shop."

For a long time, shopping has been considered a complementary factor and contributes to the experience of tourists during their trip. In particular, one of the hobbies and habits of tourists is to buy local specialties as gifts. As life improves, the need for shopping increases and has truly become one of the factors that has more influence on tourists' travel decisions. Since then, in recent years, people have often mentioned the concept of "shopping tourism".

Ms. Duong Thi Cong Ly, Vice President of the Provincial Tourism Association, said that in foreign tours, travel agencies often combine taking tourists to shopping malls, because this is an experience that customers have high demand for. It is also a great opportunity to bring revenue to the destination. In fact, the birth of Aeon Mall is a great opportunity for Hue tourism, because the demand for domestic and Asian tourists for shopping and entertainment is very large, thereby extending the length of stay of visitors. "Aeon Mall Hue is the largest shopping mall in the Central region. With the great demand of visitors, it can attract visitors from many provinces and cities in the Central region to experience," Ms. Ly analyzed.

In Hue, shopping tourism has initially taken shape. Tourists have a need to visit and shop at traditional markets, especially Dong Ba market. However, in general, traditional markets still find it difficult to create real attraction for tourists, and it is difficult for travel agencies to build tours in a systematic and professional manner, while in the past, Hue lacked high-class shopping centers that could attract tourists.

According to tourism experts, shopping tourism is a tourism segment that focuses on providing shopping products and services to tourists. In addition to the need to buy specialties, souvenirs, clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, etc., tourists also have the need to buy other items through models such as duty-free shopping stores, discount shopping centers, and incentive programs for tourist groups.

Director of the Department of Tourism Nguyen Van Phuc said that tourist spending is one of the important sources of revenue for tourism destinations. For shopping tourism, tourist spending is very important, because this is their main motivation when making a trip. Along with traditional markets, the emergence of large shopping centers such as Aeon Mall Hue will contribute to diversifying shopping experiences, thereby encouraging tourists to spend while traveling, bringing many benefits to the growth of destination revenue.

Research into tour routes

According to Vice President of the Provincial Tourism Association Duong Thi Cong Ly, in many countries, including Korea, Japan and many other countries, shopping malls have policies for tourism, especially tourists and travel businesses. That will stimulate tourists to shop, spend on tourism activities and businesses to bring visitors to shopping malls, the biggest goal is to create the best experiences for visitors.

Referring to the model of other countries, there are many ways to connect and cooperate between tourism and trade businesses, including cooperation with shopping malls to bring food services into the tour. Ms. Ly suggested: “In the tour, you can sell food tickets to tourists at the shopping mall instead of going to the restaurant. For example, each ticket costs 200,000 VND. Customers can pay extra if they eat more than the amount, or get change if they eat less than that amount. The good point of this model is that customers can choose food according to their needs; they can eat and shop in the same area to take the initiative in their schedule and save time.”

A representative of the Provincial Tourism Association said that combining tourism with shopping will help businesses and tourists be more proactive in planning their schedules. Normally, guests have to check out at 12 o'clock but can wait until 15-16 o'clock to board the plane. Taking guests to the shopping center can reduce the worry of waiting for the airport; be flexible when the plane is delayed, apply solutions to change schedules in heavy rain conditions, etc.

According to travel businesses, in the near future, shopping activities at Aeon Mall Hue will definitely be included in the tour. However, to maintain and develop long-term effectiveness, close cooperation is needed, in which the Travel Association and businesses will exchange, give advice, and discuss cooperation strategies with the shopping center. There are many forms of cooperation, including encouraging brands to issue discount vouchers to group guests, large-dollar purchase programs with preferential promotional policies, or incentive policies for travel businesses to bring guests.

During the cooperation process, travel businesses, shopping malls, brands and shopping destinations can discuss and resolve difficulties together. The long-term goal is to cooperate to bring benefits to all parties and help the tourism industry develop.
* Huynh Phuc, Thua Thien Hue Newspaper online - baothuathienhue.vn 
Keywords: Thua Thien Hue,shopping tour,