With the launch of a new airline, Vietravel Group, one of the leading tourism and hospitality industry players in Vietnam is keen to expand its footprint in India due to the large potential that it offers, Tran Doan The Duy tells India Outbound in an interview.

Vietnam has been aggressively targetting the Indian outbound market and seen a significant growth in numbers in 2022. The growth has also attracted large players in Vietnamese tourism segment that had not been focused on India so far. One such firm is Vietravel, a USD 1.4 billion conglomerate founded in 1995 and which encompasses all segments of tourism, including an airline, Vietravel Airlines. In an interview with India Outbound, Tran Doan The Duy CEO of Vietravel Group says that his group is keen to expand its business in India.

How important is the Indian market for you?

Before the pandemic, our biggest market was China but when there was an outbreak of Covid-19 China was closed. Not only Vietnam, but many other countries across the globe are also looking for a good market to reduce the impact of the absence of China and India is very suitable for the replacement because India is a very big market with the population of nearly 1.4 billion and demand for travel is also very high in India. Indian tourists travel to Thailand a lot and the countries nearby. Indian tourists should come to Vietnam so they can look for new destinations and maybe Vietnam can be the right choice so it is very important for Vietnamese in general and for our company in particular to promote Vietnam tourism in India.

What is the objective of today’s event?

The objective of the event is to introduce Vietnam as the right choice for Indian travellers to visit and we also introduce our corporation with the biggest travel industry operating tourism in organising holidays.

Which segment of your diversified group is performing the best in India?

In travel industry, we are promoting tourism and are introducing our ability to organise groups from India to Vietnam with many kinds of tours.

What is the current fleet size of your airline?

We are starting with two aircraft and under a new company.

When do you intend to enter the Indian market?

We will initially cater to domestic airlines and our first international flight will be from Hanoi to Bangkok and maybe after that we will enter India as the plan is underway.

If entering Indian market next year, what cities will you target?

We will start with Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and we will offer direct flights from India to Vietnam.

You launched your airline during pandemic. How did you survive?

During our airline launch which took place a few months after the pandemic outbreak, we kept our staff to a minimum level in order to keep the costs under control. And while the pandemic continued, we focused on the domestic market because the domestic travel had increased. We managed to survived that way and now it is time for us to deploy our international plans.

You signed some MoUs during your visit to India. What are they about?

We have signed two MoUs, one is for inbound and another for outbound, since we are a significant player in both the segments. We will have cooperation with the Indian partners both for organising the visit of Indian tourist groups to Vietnam and for organising the visits of Vietnamese tourist groups to India.