Home > Vietnam > Vietnam Travel News > Vietnam’s marine attractions capture great European interest |
Vietnam’s marine attractions capture great European interest
European visitors including
representatives of travel companies crowded the Vietnam Sea Festival that took
place at the fashion center Pierre Cardin in the French capital city of Paris
last week.
The first major Sea Festival of diverse business and cultural activities ever
held in France attracted nearly 60 leading travel companies from European
countries including Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the Netherlands,
according to Vietnam Airlines.
Vietnam Airlines general director Pham Ngoc Minh said the number of
participating travel companies showed the Vietnamese market had drawn great
interest of European tour operators and travelers.
Minh said as the visitors to Vietnam from the Western Europe was on the decline,
Vietnam Airlines and other entities staged a major promotion event in order to
bring back travelers from this market.
Vietnam Airlines held and sponsored the Sea Festival in collaboration with the
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Vietnamese Embassy in France and
the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam to promote Vietnam’s tourism
in the context of global economic recession.
The Vietnam News Agency quoted Minh of Vietnam Airlines as saying that the
country had great potential for tourism, especially beautiful landscapes and
tranquil beaches along its coastline of more than 3,000 kilometers.
Minh also highlighted the country’s reputation as being home to UNESCO-listed
heritage sites including Halong Bay in the north, Phong Nha-Ke Bang Caves and
the former imperial citadel of Hue in the central region.
The national flag air carrier spent around 90,000 euro promoting the Sea
Festival on more than 1,500 panels at metro stations in Paris before the event
kicked off.
Most European visitors were impressed with Vietnam’s coastal attractions as well
as marine tourism services. However, they agreed that the country was not very
competitive in price or service quality.
Experts urged Vietnam to consider falling demand for travel worldwide as an
opportunity to enhance tourism services and adjust tour prices so to attract
more international visitors and to better compete with regional destinations.
The Vietnam News Agency quoted journalist Jean Claude Cartier as saying that
tours and airfares in other countries were lower and that they had more diverse
and quality services.
“If Vietnam can overcome these factors, the country could become the region’s
leading tourist destination,” Cartier said.
Figures show the number of international visitors to Vietnam in the first four
months of this year dropped by 17.8% year-on-year to nearly 1.3 million, though
the arrivals in April was up 0.6% on the month before to more than 305,000.
The number of foreigners traveling by air to Vietnam in the first four months
was 1.12 million, down 10% on the year earlier period while those coming by sea
plunged by more than 63%.
To counter the impact of global economic turbulence on international arrivals,
the local tourism sector is expected to offer more promotions as part of the
national tourism campaign announced earlier this year.
Vietnam Airlines has pledged to offer fare discount of up to 25% for those
travel agents who arrange tours for French visitors to Vietnam from April to
June and from August to October as part of special promotion programs for
travelers from this European market.
The airline plans to operate at least one more flight from Paris, Frankfurt of
Germany and Moscow of Russia to Vietnam from October this year to meet
anticipated increasing demand for air travel from these markets.
The national tourism industry expects to attract at least 4.3 million
international travelers this year, or 500,000 more than last year. However, this
number has turned out to be a hard target to realize in a time when the global
crunch has dealt a heavy blow to the tourism industry.
Source: VietNamNet/SGT |
High Quality Tour Service:
Roy, Spain
Fransesca, Netherlands
A member of Vietnam Travel Promotion Group (VTP Group)
Address: Room 509, 15T2 Building, 18 Tam Trinh Str., Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi, Vietnam (See map)
Tel: +84.24.62768866 / mail[at]tuanlinhtravel.com
Visited: 1967