More Vietnamese tourists use central border gates

 Due to the economic crisis and flu A/H1N1, the number of overland tourists passing through border gates in the central and central highland regions seems to have slowed down. It is expected to reach 60,000-70,000 in 2009, one-third less than in 2008.
Nguyen Dinh Thanh, vice director of Vitours, said that in recent times caravan tourism has become increasingly popular attracting visitors from other ASEAN member countries and from third countries via Thailand.
To attract more visitors to the central region, many travel agents, such as Saigontourist, Vietravel and Vitours have signed agreements with partners from Thailand, Laos ad Cambodia.
However, Vietnam and Laos are not yet able to meet increasing demands, for lack of hotels and tourist guides, not to mention the fact that Laotian travel agents collect immigration fees several times at the border gates, pushing up the prices of these tours.