29 October 2009

Vietnam tourism continues to drift

HANOI - Authorities in Vietnam are becoming increasingly worried by the slow recovery of the countryÃ¢â¬â¢s tourism industry.

While the number of tourists to neighbouring countries shows signs of a recovery, VietnamÃ¢â¬â¢s international visitor figures are decreasing.

In September, 294,000 foreign tourists arrived in Vietnam, a decrease of 6.4 percent over August. The number of tourists in the first nine months of the year decreased by 16 percent over the same period of 2008, a more difficult year than 2009.

According to VietnamNet, travel firms say that big discounts on tours offered by Vietnam Airlines are not powerful enough to lure more travellers.

The Vietnam National Tourism Administration (VNAT) believes that the problem lies in the way tourism promotion campaigns are carried out.

Dr Do Cam Tho from the Tourism Development Research Institute, told VietnamNet that many localities in Vietnam organise cultural festivals, but none have special characteristics to lure tourists.

Tran Truong Kien, chairman of Thien Minh Travel, said at a recent workshop on VietnamÃ¢â¬â¢s tourism prospects that Vietnam expects to receive six million foreign travellers by 2010, but it may have to settle for four million.

Thibault Paquin, Asian Development director of the Accor Group, said plans for receiving six million foreign travellers by 2010 would be fulfilled only if Vietnam carried out a series of measures, such as building more 3-4 star hotels in secondary cities, putting more international airports into operation and developing more strands of tourism.

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VietNam: Difficult to position in the travel market

Positioning VietNam in the travel market is challenging. Many older visitors are ex-military personnel who return to revisit their former combat locations and the balance are general tourists. Weather conditions vary from one area to another as the south is tropical and the north is temperate. We even have snow in February int the northwest. August through early November is simply terrible between Hoi An through Da Nang to Hue which is the monsoon season. The air infrastructure is world-class, as are the air carriers. Unfortunately, some obvious routes, such as Ha Noi to Hai Phong (Ha Long Bay), are non-existent. Land transportation is different. The one-metre rail track limits the maximum speed to 70 km/h, which is the same as the highest road speed! Apart from two excellent national bus lines, many travellers resort to OpenTour buses which are frequently repainted used buses from Korea driven by minimally skilled people who account for an astounding amount of the annual roadkill. The police reported some 5,500 people have been seriously injured in the accidents, a prime cause of which have been reckless bus drivers and unsafe buses, in the first 9 months of 2009, along with this people killed on the roads totalled 8,178 people. (UK - 2008 - 2,538, Australia - 2008 - 1,463) International chains and local owners are well represented in the 5* property class, the 3 & 4* properties are generally locally owned as is the largest number of hotel properties that make up the Standard and 1* classes. Five star properties seem to be disproportionately hit in the tourist down turn. Thibault Paquin, Asian Development director of the Accor Group, mentioned in the article, should be pleased with a position taken this week, at the Jaccar investors meeting in SaiGon, where it was emphasised tha investment in mid-range hotels should be increased. VNAT (VietNam National Administration of Tourism) says there are 32-5*, 92-4* and 178-3* properties in VietNam at present. The VNAT tourism promotions do seem to be missing their targets and use language that is somewhat quaint. Of all the Indochina countries, VietNam requires visas be obtained prior to leaving for the country, which is a major deterrent that the government should address. Even visa-on-arrival is preferable to the present situation. Travel agents should know that VietNam is a very welcoming country, with a delightfully friendly people, many of which have at least a minimal understanding of English, It is safe, in fact the CIA World Factbook states that is many aspects VietNam is way safer than the U.S.A. Road transportation is the exception. Few of their clients will be disappointed after a visit, which can easily be combined with a side trip to the Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia. VietNam is ideally geographically shaped for entry through Ha Noi and departure through SaiGon, formally known as Ho Chi Minh City.

By J Hewson, Thursday, October 29, 2009