Presenting Image of Charm and Friendliness

To cope with the negative impacts affecting the growth of Vietnam's tourism in the remaining months of 2014 and the following years, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is actively coming up with solutions. The first is to strengthen communication, domestically and internationally promoting the business environment of Vietnam and its image as a “safe, friendly and high quality” destination country. Second, Vietnam's tourism will kick off the promotion and marketing of the image of the country to expand its international tourism markets and avoid dependence on the existing markets. In addition, Vietnam tourism will boost domestic tourism with the program "The Vietnamese travel Vietnam".

 

Referring to the solutions to overcome difficulties and to help diversify the travelling business markets, the leadership of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that the businesses need to change their mindset for the diversification of services. Annually, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Vietnam Administration of Tourism and the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will announce the organisation of activities to promote Vietnam destinations in some key and potential markets. The local businesses and the provinces need to follow up and actively participate in programs to reach out, expand and develop the tourism markets. Businesses also need to be flexible and timely in giving solutions to diversify the markets and actively promote new markets like the European markets. The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also needs to support the local businesses with the efforts to introduce and promote the local image and in particular, and accordingly promoting Vietnam to be one of top 20 national tourist destinations in the world.

 

The Ministry has a policy on organising short-term training programmes for tour guides and to promulgate the regulations on foreign language skills required for international guides as well as provide the official examinations for professionals who have in-depth knowledge and interests in being a tour guide but who have not had conditions to attend training courses.

 

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training to disseminate knowledge, organise career orientation events for students and build up tour guide standards to meet the requirements of the market.

 

In recent years, Vietnam has put in a lot of effort in creating and promoting the country's image to the region and the world. The achievements of the innovation, industrialization and modernization of the country and in foreign affairs have contributed to making the country reach out to the world. Vietnam is now known as an economy with a high growth rate, political stability, young labour force and creative intelligence.

 

Vietnam is known as an attractive destination with spectacular natural scenery, many natural heritages and unique culture, friendly and hospitable people, and rich culinary diversity. The effort to promote Vietnam as a tourist destination is through the "Tourism Action Plan" at the national level with clear slogans, the very first slogan of the early years of the twenty-first century was "Vietnam: Destination for the New Millennium"; and then the slogan was changed to "Vietnam: A safe, friendly and attractive destination" that is more specific in order to differentiate the tourism products of Vietnam from other countries in the region and the world, and also highlighting the strengths of the country. The current slogan is "Vietnam: Hidden Charm" and recently, the "Vietnam welcomes you" slogan has helped the country attract more visitors during the financial crisis. Both of them are contributing to convey a message to attract foreign tourists.

 

The promotion of the country's image and the people of Vietnam have been enhanced with specific activities like regional conferences and international festivals, travel fairs, market launching phases, and Vietnam's cultural weeks abroad. The Vietnam Administration of Tourism has organised trips for foreign tour operators to visit and explore the potential of Vietnam tourism; besides, the Administration of Tourism and the businesses in the tourism built websites to introduce the landscapes and people of Vietnam that contributes to the increasing number of international tourists and promotes the beautiful images, and especially the rich and diversified culture of the country, to the world.