Promoting Advantages and Export Tourism Service of Vietnam

The experience of other countries indicates that if the export structure focuses only on a number of industries, particularly those having few opportunities to increase production efficiency and improve product quality, it is difficult to achieve the goal of sustainable growth. Therefore, boosting service exports (in Vietnam, currently service export is largely dependent on tourism) brings great impact in all aspects.

 

According to the report evaluating the export potential of Vietnam recently published, analysis of the data showed that exports growth of Vietnam’s tourism reached 17.85 percent in 2008-2012 period, an impressive growth compared with the increase of less than 3 percent of the world’s tourism; and every region in the North, the Central and the South is developing in quite different ways.

 

Regarding domestic tourism, the World Economic Forum ranked Vietnam at 80/140 on competitiveness index of Vietnam’s tourism industry in the world in 2013; 16/25 nations in the Asia - Pacific Ocean area. Among the index components, cultural and natural resources and human are strengths.

 

Regarding the advantages and potential of tourism service exports of each region, the report pointed out that the North has great potential for tourism with many attractive destinations such as Ha Long Bay, Sa Pa and Trang An (Ninh Binh). International tourists to the northern region increased by 9.9 percent a year in the 2006 – 2012 period. With rich tourism resources, the Central region has many favourable conditions for tourism development. The value of exports in 2012 reached nearly US$1.7 billion, accounting for 0.16 percent of the world market. The average growth rate of tourism export in the Central area in the 2010-2012 period was 28.23 percent, higher than the average export growth of the whole country (23.89 percent). In the South West region, the number of tourists has increased sharply in recent years. In 2012, regional tourism exports reached US$1,226 million.

 

Another advantage that can be seen clearly when promoting tourism service exports is that the industry is attracting much labour, directly and indirectly. With its unique characteristics, added value it generates is also very high. Moreover, tourism development will also help other sectors such as agriculture and handicrafts increase their direct exports of products.

 

In addition, tourism has high association, thus contributing to generating employment opportunities and income for the community. Tourism has high dissemination, creating driving force and markets for sectors such as agriculture and transport. Tourism also contributes to the conservation and development of cultural and ethnic traditions.

 

Nevertheless, in terms of individual support services for tourism, the majority of tourism services in Vietnam do not have high efficiency; infrastructure for tourism remains poor. Although being famous for its rich and attractive cuisine, the Northern areas have not been able to make the signature cuisine of the region, thus unable to attract international visitors. The taste is purely local and has not been transformed to suit the taste of foreign tourists, particularly in the northern mountainous provinces.

 

A fundamental weakness of Vietnam's tourism is poor infrastructure. The report on the competitiveness of the tourism sector in 2013 by the WEF assessed that Vietnam’s tourism infrastructure is at a low level (112/140). Accommodations in the North are rich in number but the quality is not high. The number of 3-star and above hotels in the North accounts for only 23 percent of that of the whole country. This is also a major limitation in attracting international tourists. That the quality of tour guide is not high also affects the outcome of tourism services. According to general evaluation, professional level of tour guides is low; there remains a lack of rare languages and certified tour guides, particularly in remote areas. Although the central region has high potential, its tourism exports still faces many obstacles such as tourism products are not diverse, the quality of tour guides is not high, application of technology in management and marketing remains weak, connections among the industry is still not good. In addition, tourism in the central region concentrates only in five provinces of Quang Nam (Hoi An), Hue, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, and Binh Thuan. There is currently an encouraging increase cruise tourism trends. In the first quarter of 2014, Da Nang port welcomed 72 guest ships carrying around 53,000 tourists.

 

In the Southwest area, the quality of tourism products is not high; tourism destinations are not attractive; tourism infrastructure is poor. Transport infrastructure in the area is still poor, which also affects tourism. Tourism promotion remains weak and dependent on businesses in Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Direct consequences which can be seen through quality tourism is that visitors’ spending has increased but still remains low at US$105 per day, mainly for food and travel; short stays and the rate of return is low.

 

To improve this situation and to maximize the potential and advantages of each tourism region, in the upcoming time, it is important to improve market access of enterprises and tourism promotion agencies by the tools updated in accordance with modern life and using mobile and social networks such as Twitter.

 

In addition, it is essential to support tourism promotion centres to publish travel guides to inform visitors about the region’s tourism; position product features and boost tourism industry links; facilitate the tourism association and other associations to advertise, recommend and consume the area’s products.