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Vietnam tourism on the border line
Vietnam is looking to its neighbours to provide
more tourism as well as opening up options for those from further afield.
Travelers flocking across border
Vietnam has nearly 4,550 kilometres of borders with China, Laos and Cambodia
and has 42 border gates. By the end of September this year Vietnam had received
447,000 cross border travelers - mostly from China.
In the golden age, 2004-2005, Vietnam witnessed a boom in the number of tourists
through its border gates with 800,000.
Under the new regulations, tourists from other third countries can even drive
vehicles themselves through the gates. In the last three years, 2006-2008,
Vietnam received 3,500 vehicles of different kinds driving through its borders.
The sheer size of China means it remains the country with the most untapped
market.
Luu Duc Ke, Director of Hanoitourism, is pleased with the great strides taken in
opening up the borders but is troubled by what “dumping” from Chinese tour
companies
Ke says that ultra low prices are being offered to tourists which means that
once they cross the border costs are cut so hard their trip is affected.
“They are scrambling for travelers by dumping on the market,” said Ly Mon,
director of Ha Long Travel Firm.
National tourism body VNAT calls it a kind of ‘swindling’ in tourism and says it
must be stopped.
What to do to attract more cross-border tourists?
Participants at the workshop on border tourism held in Lang Son province on
November 6, 2009 emphasised that the first thing provinces need to do to attract
travelers is to improve infrastructure.
Director of the Lang Son province Culture, Tourism and Sports Department Hoang
Van Tao said that Lang Son needs some hundreds of billions of dong to build
roads for tourism sites. The current road is just 3.5 metres wide which does not
fit 50-seat buses. Therefore, travelers have to get into smaller buses when
traveling to some places.
Vu The Binh, a senior official of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration,
agreed that the bumpy roads cannot attract many travelers. Especially, the roads
in the central region which suffer landslides in flood season.
Meanwhile, Tao from Lang Son province authorities says they must get better at
receiving their guests. The Huu Nghi border gate in Lang Son province, for
example, can receive 20 travelers at a time – not the thousands that it needs
to..
Source: Ha Yen |
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