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Foreign arrivals drop 18.7%
The local hospitality industry is feeling the pinch of the global crisis and H1N1 flu, with the first seven months of the year marking a 18.7 per cent fall from the same period last year.
Only 2.17 million foreigners travelled to the country between January and the end of July. They included 1.3 million tourists, 400,000 business people and 340,000 coming for family reunions, according to the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism.
The agency revealed that the number of foreign visitors coming from key markets such as mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan fell 12-37 per cent during the period.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has conducted an action plan with focus on promotional tourism in a bid to attract more domestic and foreign visitors.
Under the programme, seven international tourism firms, three transport businesses, 61 hotels and 14 shops have registered to cut the prices of their services by 30-50 per cent for 99 tours from now to next month.
The move would prioritise holiday goers from neighbouring countries such as China and ASEAN in the latter months of this year, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, Ha Noi will organise seven special tourism programmes to celebrate its millennial birthday in 2010, according to the Ha Noi Cultural, Sports and Tourism Department.
Related tours aim to provide visitors with an insight into the ancient and modern history of the capital.
In particular, the "Journey to Vietnamese ancient capitals" will take visitors from Ha Noi to Phong Chau in the northern midland province of Phu Tho where the nation’s legendary founders – the Hung Kings – established the capital, and then to the old seats of government of past dynasties including the Ho, the Le and Nguyen.
The tours also cover famous pagodas and traditional handicraft villages such as Bat Trang, Van Phuc and Chuyen My.
However, the outlook for tourism across the world looks gloomy, and local agencies forecast the number of foreign visitors travelling to Viet Nam this year will drop by 20 per cent year on year.
Industry analysts say the Vietnamese tourism industry should put together a programme of tourism promotions, and not rely only on short-term stimulus solutions.
Do Trong Tan, deputy head of the Centre for Tourism Consulting and Promotion suggested that in the current context, local tourism firms should continue improving the quality of services and personnel rather than pumping too much investment into their advertising campaigns.
"Developing new and distinguish tourism products is also vital," he said.
vietnamnews
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