Ben Thanh Tourist Service Co. Ltd: Service Quality is Competitive Edge

Ben Thanh Tourist Service Co. Ltd was set up under Decision No. 741/QD-UB dated December 9, 1999 of Ho Chi Minh City People&rsquos Committee. Ben Thanh Tourist mainly operates in travel, hotel, commercial import and export service and development investment service. Ben Thanh Tourist has continuously developed in size and operating form. The company has a complete business network empowered by a wide range of products. Currently, the company provides many products and services such as inbound and outbound tours, conference arrangement, event tours, tour transportation, hotels and restaurants &ndash dancing, karaoke, import and export, distribution agents and tourist agencies, money transfer, foreign exchange, precious metal and stone import and export and development investment service.

 

Ben Thanh Tourist has developed a world class professional network and workforce. The company established the relationship with 40 travel agencies of 25 countries and territories, and is a member of many associations such as ASTA, PATA, JATA and Central Heritage Road. Ben Thanh Tourist also cooperated with localities to build new projects such as Ben Thanh &ndash Phu Xuan tourist site in Hue City, Ben Thanh - Non Nuoc in Da Nang City and the projects under progress in Binh Thuan, Quang Binh, Ha Long, Can Tho and Khanh Hoa. To date, Ben Thanh Tourist is the unique tourist service provider to be voted &ldquoTop Ten Travel Agency Cup in Vietnam&rdquo in eight consecutive years (1999-2006) and elected by the readers of Sai Gon Tiep Thi as &ldquopleasing travel service&rdquo two years in a row (2003-2004). Besides, it also won the &ldquofavourite Viet Travel Agency&rdquo Award in 2005 voted by readers of Sai Gon Giai Phong. The tourism magazine The Guide granted it &ldquoThe Excellent Operator&rdquo award four years straight (2004 -2007).

With a coastline of more than 3,000 kilometres, Vietnam can exploit sea tourism throughout the year. Sea tourism is an advantage of Vietnam thus, BenThanh Tourist pays high attention to its development. Regarding inbound travellers, Ben Thanh Tourist applied sea tourism to trans-Vietnam tours for international visitors. Tours to Ha Long Bay are indispensable. Especially, up to 90 per cent of Russian tourists head to the sea. Russians are very keen on coastline resorts in Vung Tau, Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, Da Nang and Hoi An. Vietnamese travellers are also interested in sea tours and their favourite places are Vung Tau, Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, Ha Long, Phu Quoc and Con Dao. Besides, the company has also cooperated with the 5 Star Express Train Company to organise tours by train to VinPearl Land Resort in Nha Trang City. Ben Thanh Tourist also invested in the 4 star Sandy Beach Resort in Da Nang City and resorts in Long Hai and Phan Thiet.

In 2007, the number of arrivals to Vietnam did not grow high but revenues increased. At present, room ge at 4-5-star hotels is increasing, pushing up tour fees while the service quality is almost unchanged. This caused international visitors to wonder if Vietnam is better than other locations. The Vietnamese tourism industry will have to pay more attention to this element. Other concerning issues are the role of tourism associations, the relationship between Vietnam Airlines and travel firms, tourism infrastructure development, tourism career standardisation, and human resource training.

 

To improve quality and expand the market, we hope to receive cooperation from tour operators and travel agencies across the world, and even setup joint ventures to develop inbound and outbound tours.