Improving Tourism Competitiveness

The participants of the conference "Assessment of Vietnam’s Tourism Competitiveness" said that in order to improve competitiveness, Vietnam's tourism needs the participation of related agencies, while strengthening promotion and advertising to affirm Vietnam's tourism brand, and that natural resources conservation must go along with developing tourism in a sustainable manner.

Speaking at the conference "Assessment of Vietnam’s Tourism Competitiveness" by the Institute for Tourism Development, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, held on November 25, Director of Institute for Tourism Development Research Nguyen Anh Tuan emphasised that in the context of tourism of other countries is developing and Vietnam’s tourism has received the attention and expectations of society, the urgent demand for Vietnam's tourism industry must assess and enhance its competitiveness, otherwise it will lag behind other competitors, especially in Southeast Asian countries.

Vietnam is blessed with cultural and natural diversity. These are favourable conditions for tourism development and improve competitiveness. Besides, statistics of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism showed that infrastructure systems of tourism have been increasingly improved, the number of accommodation establishments increased. In 2010, there were 12,352 accommodation establishments; by 2015, this figure had increased to 18,800. The means of transport for tourism service are in the variety, and the quality is improved with 22 international and domestic airports. Information system for tourists is investing more, some cities and famous tourist sites are equipped with free wifi for visitors. Tourism products, entertainment services meet increasingly diverse needs of tourists. Support resources such as transport, telecommunications infrastructure and health care facilities are completed, to ensure safety and security for travellers.

Accommodation establishments system in Vietnam is growing to meet the needs of many types of visitors to the different levels of payment. However, Dr Nguyen Quang Vinh, from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said that the international tour operator is often limited in resources due to low competition, low ability to maintain and expand market, slow product innovation, limited management ability and unstable cooperation. So it is necessary to focus on supporting business capital, control the supply, diversification and enhance product quality, improve management, strengthen links of cooperation and market information.

Nguyen Thanh Binh, Deputy Director of the Hotels Department of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism also emphasised that the capacity of accommodation establishments of tourism in Vietnam is good enough to meet the needs of visitors and competitiveness in the market, but the quality of human resources is still limited, affecting service quality and management efficiency. General global trend now is opening up, cooperation, integration to meet the development requirements so Vietnam needs to understand the requirements of integration, solve weaknesses, improve competitiveness and create strong brands.

Based on the tourism situation, the draft report has proposed several measures to improve the competitiveness of tourism in the future.

Through evaluation of international experience in raising competitiveness of tourism in Japan and Thailand, representatives of Institute for Tourism Development Research analyzed the competitiveness of Vietnam Tourism and compare competitiveness of Vietnam and Thailand. The reports have suggested 5 views, 8 orientations and 6 solutions to enhance competitiveness for Vietnam tourism; including solutions groups on policy mechanism, increase investment and attract investment, market development, product and tourism promotion.

Giang Tu