Foreign visitors to Vietnam down 19 percent in first half

      About 1.8 million foreigners visited Vietnam in the first half of the year, down over 19 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).
Nguyen Manh Cuong, deputy general director of the VNAT under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that the decline was attributed to the impact of the global financial crisis and the A/H1N1 flu epidemic.
However, the VNAT forecast that the number of foreign tourists to the country is likely to increase again once the world economy recovers late this year and early 2010.
Currently, along with short-term policies under the tourism stimulus programme, the tourism sector has been asked to create a roadmap to promote tourism in the long-term. Businesses have been also urged to fully tap Vietnam’s traditional cultural assets to attract more tourists.