Vietnam travel sector hunts for harmony with 3-in-1 destination package

Vietnam travel destination package: director of the Vietnam Tourism Administration, spoke with Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam (Vietnam Economic Times) about plans to boost international tourism.

There was a reduction in the number of international visitors travel to Vietnam last year. What was the reason for this?

Vietnam travel package, the reduction in the number of visitors travel to Vietnam last year was mostly due to fewer people arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan following China's travel ban on temporary passport holders in 2005. This ban is still in place despite our efforts to change the situation.

The good thing is that our main markets are stable, such as the US, Republic of Korea, Japan, Western Europe and some ASEAN countries.

Another reason for falling tourism figures could be that we haven't paid enough attention to studying the market to find ways to develop the sector. Furthermore, tourism promotion abroad is still weak.

There is also a lack of harmony in the sector. For example, some areas charge more for entering villages and natural sites.

So what do you plan to do to solve this problem?

The tourism sector is planning to boost the programme "Three Countries - One Destination," in conjunction with Laos and Cambodia, to exploit the tourism potential of the three countries.

ASEAN visitors account for 14% of all visitors travel to Vietnam. Of those, 60 to 80% come from Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, which are considered the most important markets in the short and long term.

There are opportunities for visitors travel to Vietnam tours by caravan, left-hand drive car and high-speed motorbike. The travel industry is also planning to offer more up-market services to top-end travellers.

The administration has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work with their Chinese counterparts to permit its citizens to travel by road to Vietnam on a temporary passport.

Furthermore, we are planning to promote the attractions of Vietnam in the US, Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as France, Australia and Taiwan. We have suggested that the Government exempt tourists travel to Vietnam by sea from requiring visas.

Vietnam has 8,556 hotels offering more than 170,000 rooms. Will that be sufficient to meet your target of 4.4mil visitors this year?

There is an imbalance here. The number of Vietanm hotel rooms we have now cannot meet visitor demand. Moreover, we have too few four-star and five-star hotels, which together have just 25,000 hotel rooms. Furthermore, room prices are always rising due the shortage of high-end accommodation in the high season.

One solution would be to upgrade suitable two-star hotels in Hanoi and hotels in Ho Chi Minh City to serve visitor needs.

Can the Tourism Administration's plan to welcome 4.4mil visitors this year come true?

For that to happen we must immediately carry out certain projects.

First, we must promote Vietnamese travel in mainland China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Britain and the US.

Second, we attract visitors from international travel agencies, reporters and investors.

Third, we must promote our "three nations" travel programme with Laos and Cambodia.

Fourth, we must set up tourism offices in Russia and France, and advertise Vietnam on the internet, CNN and TV5.

Fifth, we must hire foreign experts for the promotion work. And finally, we must boost the quality of our tour guides.

(Source: Viet Nam News)