What European Travel Agents Should Know About Selling Thailand and Vietnam

These two countries are easy to sell and easy to underestimate. The gap opens the moment a booking becomes real.

Four things decide whether it holds: the season, the entry rules and their lead times, the internal logistics of a multi-region trip, and how ground rates are structured. Get those right and the rest is product, so I would check all four before polishing the itinerary. If the term is new to you, we set out what a destination management company does separately, and our destinations and experiences pages carry the product.

One plan across two countries

A combined itinerary crosses an international border mid-trip, and the handover is where things break. A missed transfer. A guide nobody told about the change. A payment split across two sets of terms. Planning both legs together is how you close that seam. With us you can brief both countries at once and get back one coordinated plan, with the international sector built around the internal flights. Our two licences belong to two Pai Dai companies: PAIDAI ONLINE CO., LTD. holds the Thai one and PAIDAI VIETNAM COMPANY LIMITED the Vietnamese one. The quotation names the contracting entity, the invoicing and the contacts for each leg. One brand does not automatically mean one contract or one invoice, and our guide to choosing one DMC or two sets out what to confirm.

For routing, see our guide to two-country itineraries; our combined Cambodia and Vietnam journey is an example of a cross-border route planned as one trip. The long-haul end matters too, and our guide to Vietnam Airlines' direct flights from Europe shows which European cities fly to Hanoi, to Ho Chi Minh City or to both.

Seasons shift what you can sell, and when

Neither country has a single best time, and the two rarely line up. Thailand runs a cool dry peak from roughly November to February, a hot stretch from March to May, and a green season across the middle of the year, with the Andaman and Gulf island coasts on opposite weather patterns. Vietnam is more complex still, because the north, centre, and south each run on a different calendar. That has commercial consequences. Peak space sells out first and prices firm up. The green season opens value and quieter sites. Match the region to the dates, and never the whole country to a single month. Vietnam's Lunar New Year (Tet) and Thailand's Songkran are peak periods that need long lead times; our guide to Vietnam during Tet 2027 covers Tet. Our regional guides to the best time to visit Thailand and the best time to visit Vietnam break this down so you can set client expectations before you quote.

Visas, arrival cards, and lead times

Since 15 September 2026, passports from every EU member state, the rest of the Schengen area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), the UK and Ukraine get up to 30 days in Thailand without a visa, and only for tourism. Until 14 September 2026 the same passports had up to 60 days. A programme that keeps a client in Thailand for more than 30 days needs its visa position settled before you sell it. The exemption does not cover business either. Anyone travelling for meetings, a site inspection or a fam trip, or to work, including a tour leader escorting the group, needs the appropriate visa, applied for through Thailand's official e-Visa site.

Those European countries are among the 60 countries and territories on Thailand's 30-day list, which also includes the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and the six GCC states. Not every passport in a group is on it. Thailand also has a 15-day exemption for Seychelles and Mauritius, visa on arrival (cut to three countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus and Serbia) and bilateral agreements giving 90, 30 or 14 days, and a passport covered by none of these needs a visa. Our guide to Thailand's 30-day visa exemption sets out who gets what.

Two procedural points are easy to miss. Every non-Thai traveller entering Thailand must file the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card online within the three days before arrival (no earlier), visa or not. Vietnam splits arrivals into visa-exempt nationalities and everyone else, who applies for an official e-visa online. Vietnam issues e-visas only after review. That is several working days, not same-day. Add passport-validity rules, which differ by country and by nationality, and proof of onward travel. Build a documentation buffer into every booking, and check each traveller's nationality, because a mixed group can sit under more than one track. Our Thailand and Vietnam entry requirements guide links the official portals; treat any figure from a past trip as a starting point to re-check, never a guarantee.

How rates and margins work with a DMC

Working with a DMC, you buy at net rates and set your own selling price, which is what keeps the margin and the client relationship yours. We quote net rates, which are trade buying prices for a trip's ground services (the hotels, guides, transport, permits, and support), and you add your markup and present it to the client under your own brand. The quotation states the currency, the tax treatment and the payment terms, so you can check the basis of the number before you price it. We do not publish floor prices. A real quote depends on dates, group size, season and standard, and I would rather cost your brief properly than post a figure I cannot stand behind. Our guides to how a DMC booking settles and what is in a DMC contract cover the payment schedule and the clauses to read before you sign.

An EU agency that sells these services as part of a package is the organiser under the Package Travel Directive, (EU) 2015/2302, with liability for performance and a duty to provide insolvency protection. Your contract with the DMC is business to business. From 29 March 2029 the revised directive, (EU) 2026/1024, adds a new Article 22(2): a travel service provider that cancels or fails to provide a service in a package must refund the organiser within seven days, so EU organisers may ask for that in contracts signed now. UK sellers fall under the UK's Package Travel Regulations 2018.

What to look for in a ground partner

Not every company that calls itself a DMC operates its own trips. The checks that matter: genuine local presence in each country, licensed guides and proper operating credentials, direct supplier contracts and not resale through a third party, and clear communication in your working language and time zone. Ask who runs the trip on the day. Not who sells it to you. Ask how a weather day or a flight delay is handled, because that is where a real operator earns its place. For a trip that spans both countries, ask which company operates each leg, who signs the contract and where responsibility changes hands. A local partner is not by itself a warning sign. The honest test is whether the ground complexity, and the value of someone local when something changes, justify a partner at all. For most multi-region Asia trips sold from Europe, I think it does.

How Pai Dai works with European agents

Pai Dai is a destination management company for Thailand and Vietnam. You brief both countries in one go and we plan them together, through two Pai Dai companies, one in each country. We design the itinerary against real transfer times and flight schedules and coordinate the services in each country, licensed guides included. The quotation names the contracting company and the local delivery arrangements for each leg. You keep your client relationship, and the same quotation states which documents we prepare and who contacts your travellers on tour. We also help you sequence the documentation and the regional timing around a planned length, so the trip holds up in practice. If your work runs toward the events side instead of leisure travel, our guide to Thailand for MICE and incentive groups covers that track. Send a brief or a wish list and we will return a shape you can sell. Net rates are issued on registration, which is free; see how we work with travel agencies.