VN plans international tourism push
HA NOI — The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) plans to open its first two international representative offices in Japan and France to further promote the country’s image as an attractive tourism destination, said VNAT’s deputy general director Pham Tu on Thursday at a seminar in Ha Noi.
Tu made the statement at a conference to review the development and accomplishments of VNAT since its inception 44 years ago.
He said the tourism industry expected to lure about 3.5 million foreign tourists and roughly 17 million domestic ones, resulting in US$2.5 billion of revenue by 2005.
Tu said the industry had predicted that by 2010, international visitors would number 6 million and domestic tourists would reach 25 million, resulting in $4.5 billion in total revenue.
"The industry plans to become a spearhead of the country’s economic growth and contribute to making Viet Nam into a formidable centre of tourism, trade, and service in the region by 2010," Tu said.
To reach these targets, the industry has begun organising and participating in international and domestic fairs to further promote traditional festivals and big events, he said.
Also, tourism development needs to be tied in with the development of culture, traditional festivals, biology, and environmental protection, said VNAT’s general director, Vo Thi Thang.
In addition, the industry must boost co-operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam Airlines and others relevant offices to accelerate tourism promotion activities.
Another industry focus is to enhance the quality of service at hotels, restaurants and tour routes.
Specifically, the industry has invested nearly VND1.6 trillion ($102 million) in 385 projects spread over 53 cities and provinces, to improve infrastructure in the past four years.
Of this, the largest amount was allocated for use in 2004, an amount of VND500 billion, he said.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) also played a significant role in the development of the tourism industry. From 1998 to 2003, around 215 FDI projects with a total investment capital of $5.9 billion have been granted licenses, said Thang.
In the first six months of this year, two more FDI projects worth $107 million were licensed.
Thang said the governments of Luxembourg, Japan, Germany, France, Spain, Singapore, along with other foreign organisations, have donated tens of millions of dollars to help develop the industry.
Thang called for faster equitisation of State-own enterprises to lure more money for expanding tourism companies’ financial resources as well as building up regionally and internationally competitive conglomerates.
Some key markets that the industry should focus on are China, Japan, South Korea, the US, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia, she said.
Viet Nam hopes to attract 500,000 Japanese tourists and 300,000 Koreans per year following the Government’s decision to exempt visas for visitors from these countries, Tu said.
The administration has gone to great lengths to complete the Law on Tourism in order to submit it for Government approval. The new law would replace the current tourism ordinance, which was considered to be "narrow" and lagging behind the sector’s speed of development, Thang said.
A fledging industry
Tourism in Viet Nam is still a fledging industry that lags about 20 years behind other regional countries, Tu said.
On average, a visitor travelling to Viet Nam spends about $400-$450, while in another country that amount is closer to $750.
Despite this, Viet Nam has seen tremendous development in luring overseas tourists in recent years.
In 1994, Viet Nam for the first time attracted one million foreign visitors. By 2000, it was attracting two million visitors per year, and that number is expected to increase to three million by 2005, Tu said.
He said that during the SARS outbreak in 2003, foreign visitors to Viet Nam dropped only 7 per cent lower than the yearly target, while in the rest of the region tourism numbers dropped by 14 per cent.
In the first half of this year, Viet Nam welcomed about 1.4 million overseas visitors and 6.6 million domestic ones, increases of 30 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, over the same period last year, Tu said.
During this period, the industry’s total revenue increased by 30 per cent to VND13.2 trillion.
Viet Nam has roughly 5,200 tour guides and more than 3,800 hotels. — VNS
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Tight-@ss international tourists. On average only spent $400-$450. My family spent over $10,000 earlier this year.