TTG Asia Luxury May 2018 | Page 18

luxury market report vietnam Circle of elite grows larger in Vietnam Vietnam’s luxury outbound market is booming as the country’s appetite for travel grows and the circle of elite swells at a staggering rate, reports Marissa Carruthers Vietnam’s high-end outbound market looks set to soar as the number of millennial travellers grows and the economy continues to strengthen. According to a Future Outbound Travel in Asia-Pacific 2016 to 2021 report by MasterCard, an estimated 7.5 million Vietnamese will travel abroad by 2021, compared with 4.8 million in 2016. A study by Euromonitor adds that the country’s outbound market has been growing at a healthy annual rate of 10 to 15 per cent since 2012. Eric Schneider, senior vice president for Asia-Pacific at MasterCard Advisors, said a “burgeoning middle-class” is driving the growth, along with other trends, including the emergence of the Asian millennial traveller and senior travellers, as well as new technology and infrastructure developments. The report added that in emerging markets, outbound travel 12 TTG Asia luxury | May 2018 A burgeoning middle-class in Vietnam is driving the growth, (as well as) the emergence of the Asian millennial traveller... Eric Schneider, senior vice president for Asia-Pacific, MasterCard Advisors is expected to grow faster than real GDP, with Vietnam looking at 9.5 per cent versus 6.2 per cent. Latest figures from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism show that Vietnamese tourists are becoming bigger spenders. In 2016, more than US$8 billion was spent by travellers from the country – more than double the US$3.5 billion spent in 2012. Throw into the mix the fact that Vietnam has 200 super-rich people, with collective fortunes of more than US$30 million, according to the Wealth Report 2017 compiled by real estate consultancy Knight Frank, and the country’s luxury outbound market looks set to soar into the future. The report revealed the number of Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWI) – those who have investible assets of more than US$30 million – rose by 32 people to 200 people in 2017, compared with 170 in 2016 and only 50 in 2006.