Vietnam Expecting Three Millionth Foreigner in Mid November

Vietnam is to receive its three millionth international visitor this year in the middle of this month, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said, expecting that the day may drop on November 10 or 11.

 

A small ceremony to welcome the special guest will be held, the national tourism management body revealed.

 

In October, Vietnam reported 289,200 foreign arrivals, up 13 per cent on-month, raising the total number in the first ten months to almost 2.85 million, up 20.3 per cent on-year.

 

China still tops as the nations greatest tourism market with 621,800 visitors, followed by US, Japan, S. Korea, and Taiwan with 275,600, 264,900, 262,100 and 236,600 arrivals, respectively.

 

In 2005, Vietnam targeted 3.5 million international arrivals and 15 million domestic holidaymakers, earning VND30 trillion (US$1.91 billion) from tourism services, and posting respective year-on-year increases between 10-15 per cent.

 

By 2010, the figures are expected at six million and 23 million earning around US$4.4 billion, correspondingly.

 

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has recently forecast that Vietnam will receive 3.36 million foreign arrivals in 2005, 3.64 million in 2006 and 3.89 million in 2007. The total will account for 5.87 per cent, 5.8 per cent, and 5.75 per cent of the total visitors to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), respectively.

 

Vietnam, in the next three years, will rank fifth in attracting foreign visitors among ASEAN members, after Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, PATA noted. Five other members of the grouping are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines.

 

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has shortly forecast that Vietnam will become one of the world’s top ten major tourist destinations in the next ten years.

 

“Vietnam's oriental character will attract tourists in the years to come,” it said.

 

At the Viaggiatori international tourism fair held in Switzerland from October 28-November 1, Vietnam was selected as the best tourism destination in the Far East region in 2005.

 

Recently, Vietnam and other five countries in the Sub-Mekong region including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and China have coordinated with the Asia Development (ADB) to map out a strategy on sustainable development of tourism in the region from 2006 to 2015.

 

The region is hoped to cater 52 million visitors by 2015, earning revenue of US$52 billion from the sector.