Vietnam tourism continues to drift
HANOI – Authorities in Vietnam are becoming increasingly worried by the slow recovery of the country’s tourism industry.
While the number of tourists to neighbouring countries shows signs of a recovery, Vietnam’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 Vietnam’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.
Ian Jarrett
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Qatar Airways offers reduced timetable to over 60 destinations
Hands In, UATP join forces for airline multi-card payments
AirlineRatings reveals world's safest airline rankings for 2026
Vietnam warns airlines of possible flight reductions amid jet fuel shortages
Fliggy opens AI-powered travel bookings and developer tools