Tourists in Hoi An ancient town (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam aims to receive about 18 million foreign visitors and85 million domestic ones in 2019, and earn more than 700 trillion VND (30.2billion USD) from tourism, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports andTourism.
To attract more foreign holiday-makers, the Vietnam National Administration ofTourism (VNAT) has enhanced tourism promotion activities and informationprovision.
Vietnam joined the 39th International Tourism Fair (FITUR) in Madrid, Spain fromJanuary 23-27, aiming to introduce Vietnam’s potential for tourism development.
The administration plans to attend a series of other promotion programmes inGermany, Russia, Venezuela, China, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Japan andASEAN countries in 2019.
Vietnam served some 15.5 million-15.6 millionforeign tourists and 80 million domestic travelers in 2018, earning 620 trillionVND (26.66 billion USD) for tourism revenue.
The success has been attributed by some to the efforts oftourism authorities to promote the country overseas.
Thetourism sector focused on promoting tourism in traditional markets and thosewith high growth potential. It worked with the tourism advisory council tofoster e-marketing in tourism promotion activities, and build tourism apps formobile devices.
Localities also made videos to promote tourism and received internationaldelegations to explore tourism development potential in Vietnam.
To aid such efforts, VNAT has adopted a system of indicatorsto evaluate a destination and a tourism code of conduct; designed various plansto strengthen the management of travel agencies and tour guides; and raisedawareness of the importance of quality among tourism service providers, localadministrations and tourism authorities.
According to the VNAT, to meet the demands of visitors fromdifferent markets, Vietnam has developed a range of tourism products that makeuse of the country’s advantages, including cultural tours, sea-based tours,eco-tours, adventure tours, luxurious resort vacations and more.
In recent years, a range of popular holiday destinations likeHa Long, Phu Quoc and Da Nang have helped develop the image of Vietnam, promotingnational tourism among international visitors and becoming the main drivers ofthe industry’s growth.
Also in 2018, the country won a series ofinternational awards, recognising it as a safe and friendly destination.Vietnam was named “Asia’s Leading Destination” for the first time at the 2018World Travel Awards in Hong Kong this September. Two months later, it washonoured with as “Asia’s best golf destination in 2018” at the Golf WorldTravel Awards.
In December last year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucapproved the establishment of a State-run tourism development fund, worth about300 billion VND (12.9 million USD), which will be used for financing tourismpromotion activities.
The PM also approved a project which hopes torestructure the industry to turn it into a spearhead economic sector and makeVietnam one of the most developed tourism nations in Southeast Asia.
The project aims for 45 billion USD in tourismrevenue by 2025, with exports through tourism reaching 27 billion USD.
The sector is hoped to contribute more than 10percent to GDP and create 6 million jobs, including 2 million direct jobs. Atthe same time, it expects to serve 32 million foreign tourists and more than130 million domestic visitors in 2025. –VNA
VNA
