Vietnam May Fail Tourism Targets This Year

Vietnam May Fail Tourism Targets This Year

Vietnam may not gain the expected target of 3.2 million foreign visitors and serving 15 million domestic vacationers this year, tourism officials have said.

Chairwoman of the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism (VNAT), Vo Thi Thang, said from the beginning of the year, there were doubts whether the projected targets would be reached due to unexpected changes such as the tsunami disaster in Asia and the spreading bird flu in southern Vietnam.

Though there are no official statistics about the number of tourists canceling their tours, many are hesitating due to the bad news, she said.

Additionally, according to Mr. Nguyen Phu Duc, Vice Chairman of the VNAT, the hospitality industry is facing an infrastructure shortage. There are only 18 five-star hotels and four four-star hotels mostly in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh, and Khanh Hoa, representing a mere 2.8 per cent of accommodation places.

Forms of tourism are also monotonous and unattractive, he said, adding that for many years, Vietnam has promoted tourism simply with slogans.

To settle its shortcomings, the tourism industry has prepared a comprehensive program. In 2005 a series of tourism promotion programs are going to be organized from Northern Vietnam to Southern Vietnam in order to attract more tourists.

In addition, VNAT is going to launch a promotion program on the CNN TV station and hold four road shows in India, ASEAN, Australia and the US to promote Vietnam’s image. Local tour companies will also take part in 11 international tourism fairs in key markets.

Vietnam initially expected the number of tourist arrivals and total tourism revenues this year to grow from between 10-15 per cent against last year’s figures.

The country hosted 2.9 million foreign tourists and earned total revenues of VND27 trillion (US$1.71 million) in 2004.
Vneconomy