"Vietnam Tourism Looking towards more Foreign Visitors"

 

2005 was a year of opportunities and challenges for the world and Vietnam was no exception. International terrorism, natural calamities, epidemic diseases, especially the danger of bird flu seriously affected tourism in 2005.

 

With great efforts, Vietnam tourism over-fulfilled the year’s plan, receiving over 3,430,000 foreign tourists, 16 million Vietnamese tourists and over VND30,000 billion in turnover. Those figures exceeded the 2005 plan with a growth rate of over 17 per cent.

 

The success was due to the joint efforts of the whole sector, the staff, related agencies and companies as well as the guidance and support of the central government and local authorities.

 

Article 5 of the Tourism Law points out that one of the principles is to develop on parallel with local and foreign tourism, attracting ever-increasing number of foreign tourists to Vietnam. The same principle has also been reaffirmed in the development strategy of tourism until 2010. Therefore, it has become a strategic objective of Vietnam tourism.

 

Vietnam tourism has maintained key markets in north-east Asia, West Europe, ASEAN-Pacific as well as new markets in North America, Nordic countries, Russia and SNG countries, South Asia and South Africa. Vietnam tourism continues to promote potential markets and develop suitable products to new markets or even parts of them. For instance, at present, North America’s market still relies mainly on overseas Vietnamese. In the future, the Vietnam Administration of Tourism will make greater efforts to increase both the number of tourists and business efficiency.

 

Our comparative edge is the strong point of Vietnam tourism. Vietnamese tourist products have attracted tourists from developed countries in West Europe, north-east Asia and North America. The tourists found Vietnamese culture attractive from its daily life to friendly behaviour.

 

The products are diversified and attractive with simple charm, different from strongly industrialised products of Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore. Therefore, Vietnam tourism must continue the tradition and maintain the unique charm of Vietnam.

 

With the support of the government and the national programme of action on tourism started in 1999, Vietnam tourism has been promoted to a new height. It has been demonstrated by the success of the programme of action including the marketing and promotion activities. However, due to limited resources, it still falls short of its potential. Vietnamese tourism remains little known in many markets.

 

In the next five years, promotion activities must be intensified and improved. In 2006-2010 plan with the new trademark: Vietnam, the hidden charm, Vietnam tourism together with concerned authorities, central and local, will make Vietnam a truly destination of the hidden charm.

Vietnam has been elected by advertisement companies and magazines as a safe and attractive destination for foreign tourists. In recent years, a new tourist product MICE (tourism combined with conferences and fairs) has increased in Vietnam.

 

In the past 5 years, the government and related agencies have made big investment in the development of infrastructure in key tourist centres. However, the shortage of hotel rooms remains critical especially for big conferences. Vietnam is still without large centres for international conferences and trade fairs. Vietnam tourism will call on local and foreign investors to build hotels and conference rooms in major cities and resorts in coastal and mountainous areas as well as special tourist centres and shopping centres. Those projects will boost Vietnamese tourism in the coming years.