Vietnam-based Absolute Asia Travel is spurring business recovery by pivoting its gaze to a different source market — Mongolia.
The tour operator, which specialises in inbound travel to Vietnam and
the Greater Mekong Subregion, started looking at other source markets
beyond its traditional traveller base of North Americans and Europeans
during the pandemic.
Acting on the belief that Asian markets or regional trips would be
faster to rebound compared to the longer-haul ones they were used to
handling, Absolute Asia Travel teamed up with Cruise Tour Mongolia, a
Mongolian travel agency.
Their first joint venture involved arranging for 130 Mongolian
passengers to fly into Vietnam on 24 March 2022 on an 8-day itinerary
that took them to Hanoi and Phu Quoc.
Cruise Tour Mongolia is now planning 15 back-to-back direct flights
to Hanoi with Absolute Asia Travel as their partner for all the
arrangements Vietnam-side.
With more countries in Southeast and East Asia opening up, Dong Minh
Tuan, Absolute Asia Travel’s director of sales and marketing, said that
the tour operator is keen to work together with new Asian partners to
showcase Vietnam's offerings.