Tourism boosts Vietnam’s aviation industry

HANOI: The number of international tourists visiting Vietnam has grown from 4.25 million in 2008 to 15.5 million last year.

This has led to growth in the aviation sector, with more airlines and routes creating a new landscape for the industry.

The total revenue from tourism increased more than tenfold from US$2.59 billion (RM10.8 billion) in 2008 to about US$25.9 billion last year, contributing to 7.8 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the nation’s aviation industry saw an average revenue growth of 17.4 per cent, double the 7.9 per cent average in Asia.

Vietnamese airlines transported 50 million passengers last year, five times higher than in 2008.

In its latest report, IATA also ranked Vietnam the fifth fastestgrowing aviation market in the world and the fastest in Southeast Asia, with an estimated 150 million passengers by 2035.

Vietnam has five airlines but only Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific, Vietjet Air and newcomer Bamboo Airways have been commercially exploited. Vietstar Airline operates only light aircrafts. The number of airlines operating in Vietnam is smaller than in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar, and five times less than Indonesia’s 22 aircraft fleets.

Seeing the potential of the market, AirAsia and Thai AirAsia have submitted proposals for a low-cost airline in Vietnam.

Without elaborating whether it would continue to apply after four unsuccessful attempts, a representative from Air Asia told

Vietnam News: “We will continue to expand our network to connect Vietnam with Asean and beyond.”

The recently approved airline, Kites Air, is being developed by the Thien Minh Group tourism company. Kites has bases in Chu Lai and Da Nang, and focuses on connecting small and medium airports with limited infrastructure.

Vietravel, one of the leading travel companies in Vietnam, also plans to launch its own airline in the first quarter of next year.