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Ha Noi-With a nation-wide theme of "Heritage Tourism" this year,
Viet Nam's tourism industry is expected to experience an increase of tourists
and strong competition with other countries in the region, said General Director
of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Van Tuan.
Number of visitors on the rise during Tet holiday
During the Tet holiday, the number of international and local tourists to Ha Noi
increased, according to the city's Culture, Sport and Tourism Department, adding
that the number of overseas Vietnamese who visited Viet Nam for the Tet holiday
rose dramatically due to visa exemptions.
Non-Vietnamese arrivals reached 183,000, up 16% over the same period last year,
while overseas Vietnamese arrivals totalled nearly 700,000 people. The
department also predicted the number of tourists from traditional markets
including China, Japan, France, Australia, South Korea and Southeast Asian
countries would increase in the first quarter of the year.
Domestic tourist numbers to Ha Noi during the Tet holiday rose 40 per cent over
the same period last year or about 1.8 million visitors. The Huong (Perfume)
Pagoda festival and the Thang Long Imperial Citadel relic site attracted the
largest number of tourists.
The ancient capital of Hue in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue also
welcomed 51,000 tourists, a 40 per cent increase during the one-week Tet holiday
against last year's figures. As a result, the city's tourism industry made a
turnover of more than VND23 billion (about US$1.1 million) during the week.
Targets for 2012
Vietnam's tourism industry expects to welcome 6.5 million international tourists
and 32 million local visitors this year, for an estimated turnover of VND150
trillion (about US$ 7.1 billion), the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
said.
To reach these targets, the industry will launch campaigns to raise awareness
for community-based tourism. Tourism development must bring benefits for the
community and boost the local economy in a sustainable way. Indigenous people
will not run tourist businesses but will participate in their services. Tourist
companies will run tourist services and have a duty to contribute 10 per cent of
their profits to the local authorities.
Also, the 11 million euro, five-year responsible environment and society tourism
(ESRT) development programme, funded by European Union (EU) last year, set up
ESRT services during 2011-2015 period. This will support the implementation of
the Viet Nam Tourism Development Strategy and will financially contribute to the
implement key tourism development programmes.
Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh predicted travel to
increase in popularity and for international tourism to continue growing.
According to the World Tourism Organization, in 2012 the number of international
tourists will reach 1 billion, and the total income of the world's tourism
service is estimated at over one trillion dollars. Viet Nam's tourism industry
will continue to promote growth and sustainable development with an average
yearly growth of 11.5-12 per cent between 2011 and 2020. Viet Nam hopes to
receive 10-15 million foreign tourists and 47-48 million domestic tourists by
2020. The industry also expects to obtain a total revenue of about US$18-19
billion, contributing from 6.5 -7 per cent of GDP, creating 3 million jobs
including 870,000 workers directly employed by the tourism trade. Minister Hoang
Tuan Anh also said the industry should focus on improving the quality of
services and develop unique tourism experiences to compete with other countries
both in the region and throughout the world. Viet Nam should promote maritime
tourism, heritage tourism, eco-tourism in the future and tourism companies
should strengthen links between regions and localities towards the formation of
specific regional tourism products to attract visitors.
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