Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Outbound tourism has become increasingly popularamong Vietnamese, however, the tourism industry has been slow to embrace thisnew phenomenon.

Currently, the tourism industry has three main markets: inbound tourism(bringing international visitors to Vietnam), outbound tourism (Vietnamesetravelling abroad) and domestic tourism.

In countries with developed tourism industries, there is even growth in allthree markets. However, in Vietnam, outbound tourism has not been paid enoughattention to and appreciated by the tourism industry.

That can be seen by the fact that the number of and revenue from foreignvisitors and domestic tourists are announced while those of Vietnamese touristsabroad are not.

According to vice director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, HaVan Sieu, in order to develop the tourism industry, we need to pay attention toboth inbound and outbound tourism.

"Until now, in the Law on Tourism or in the action programmes of thetourism industry, we have only focused on receiving foreign visitors. This isbecause the more tourists come, the more they spend, the longer they stay, thebetter the tourism business will be," Sieu said.

However, developing outbound tourism is also important for tourism businessesas well as meeting increasing demand.

The important thing is that State management agencies need to have policies andregulations to organise travel abroad in a safe and healthy way and ensure thequality of travel services, Sieu said.

“This is a big issue we need to figure out to serve the needs of the people,”the vice director said.

Travelling is a regular need and a human right and tourism is said to be a"happy industry", bringing joy and happiness to people on each trip,according to the official.

According to Assoc., Dr. Pham Hong Long, head of Tourism Department of theSocial Sciences and Humanities University, said that outbound tourism servicesprove that a country's economy is stable from the ground up. When people travela lot, it proves that the country's economy is growing.

The high volume of outbound tourists contributes to stronger connectionsbetween countries, thereby opening up more investment cooperationopportunities. In fact, many people travel abroad in the form of businesstourism and they bring with them greater investment opportunities.

"When people travel a lot, their knowledge and awareness also increase,helping society develop better," said Long.

Outbound tourism as a development strategy

After the pandemic is controlled, the number of Vietnamese travelling abroadhas dramatically increased.

Along with package tours to Southeast and East Asian countries, Europe, Americaand the Middle East are also chosen by tourists as destinations, therebyshowing that people's living standards are increasingly improving.

However, some travel companies say that facilitating Vietnamese travel abroadalso carries some risks. There are companies hiding in the shadow of travelcompanies who send Vietnamese people abroad in the form of tourism but thenthese tourists stay to work illegally, which badly affects the reputation ofVietnamese travel companies.

According to experts, to make outbound tourism activities effective, thereshould be sanctions to strictly punish tourism profiteers who send workersabroad illegally. Firms must also strengthen the awareness of tourists tobehave civilly and elegantly in public places so as to contribute to enhancingthe image of Vietnamese people in the world.

Sieu said that many countries developed outbound tourism as a strategy todevelop tourism industries.

"Currently, there is no specialised management programme on developingoutbound tourism services. The benefits of outbound tourism have not beenproperly analysed. If we want to become a powerful tourism country, we must paymore attention to these services," said Sieu.

"Currently, we have 14 departments specialising in tourism. If the mindsetof doing outbound tourism is to take care of people's needs to travel abroad,to provide information and to recommend safe travel programmes, outboundtourism will be effective," Sieu said.

The state management of tourism from central to local levels should focus moreon the management of outbound tourism, he said.

"To develop sustainable tourism, it is necessary to continue to amend thelaw to enhance the role of outbound tourism so as to comprehensively develop thetourism industry," he added./.