Asian tourists push arrivals up 9.4 percent

The number of foreign tourists who visited Vietnam reached 4.38 million in the first eight months of this year, up 9.4 percent against the same period last year.

With this result, it is possible for the industry to realize its target of 6.5 million by the end of this year.

The good performance stemmed from the rising figures of some markets. Particularly, visitors from South Korea saw a sharp increase at 34.4 percent from the corresponding time last year. Next, visitors from Malaysia accelerated by 23.2 percent, Thailand at 19.6 percent and Japan at 18.9 percent, as well as Taiwan and France.

In contrast, the decline of some markets has partly reined in growth. Cambodian tourists decreased strongly by 23.9 percent, as did Australians, who went down 4.6 percent. Mainland China went down 1.9 percent and the US went down 0.8 percent.

Local tourists hit 20.5 million during the period, a year-on-year increase of 6 percent.

As a result, the non-smoking sector earned a total revenue of VND86 trillion ($4 billion) from international and domestic tourism.

The industrial experts attributed the good result to the fact that the industry had enhanced tourism promotion, improved the quality of tourism products and services, developed tourism infrastructure, trained the labor force and completed a legal framework to bolster the sector’s development.

Nguyen Van Tuan, director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said that large-scale and high-quality projects have helped develop infrastructures, such as high-class resorts in Da Nang City and Binh Thuan Province.

Some key tourism areas have formed such as Ha Noi and Quang Ninh in the northern region; Da Nang, Nha Trang and Binh Thuan in the central area; and HCM City and Vung Tau City in the southern region.

The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Hoang Tuan Anh, asked the VNAT to build up specific tourism development plans next year and the upcoming years; improve qualification of the industrial leaders; promote key tourism markets; tighten co-operation among relevant ministries and State bodies to further promote Vietnam’s image; and publish the tourism development strategies by 2020 and orientation by 2030.

Under the strategies ratified by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last March, Vietnam’s tourism sector aims for an annual growth rate of 11.5-12 percent.

Herein, Vietnam expects to approach 10-10.5 million international tourists and 47-48 million domestic ones with a total income of $18-19 billion, contributing about 7 percent of the country’s gross domestic products (GDP) by 2020. The industry will likely generate 870,000 jobs.

It is estimated that the industry’s total revenue by 2030 will double that of 2020.