Promoting Vietnam Image

Vietnam has ever topped the Asia Pacific region in attracting international visitors. However, the country saw an on-year fall of 11 % in foreign arrivals in 2009, much more than the region’s average drop of 5 %.
Vietnam welcomed nearly 3.8 million international travellers last year. This was the first time for many past years that the local tourism sector witnessed a sharp fall in foreign visitors. Meanwhile, more Vietnamese people go abroad for holidays. The nation posted US$3.05 billion from exporting tourism services in 2009, accounting for 52.8 % of the total service export revenue. Bad impacts by the global economic downturn had exposed weaknesses of the Vietnamese tourism sector more clearly.
Advantages should be fully tapped
A report on the Vietnamese tourism sector’s competitiveness announced by the World Economic Forum showed that, Vietnam was ranked the 96th in terms of tourism competitiveness among 140 countries and territories surveyed. The biggest advantage for the Vietnamese tourism industry is cheap prices, standing the 7th in the list. The competitive advantages include ability for sustainable tourism development, stable policies, transport network and natural and landscape resources.
Visitors select Vietnam for its distinguished features, including cultural identities. Coming to Vietnam, tourists can enjoy an environment which is very different from where they live. Therefore, more travellers still like Vietnam than neighbouring countries where boast better tourism infrastructure. In Vietnam, there are many beauty spots for visitors. The nation is known for nice islands such as Phu Quoc, Nha Trang and Con Dao and attractive destinations like Danang, Hue, Hoi An and My Son.
In terms of tourism point of view 5S, Sea, Sun (sunlight), Smile (local people’s friendliness), Sand (beautiful beaches) and Stomach (good food), the Vietnamese tourism is well-known for windy and sunny and hospitability.
This is the local tourism sector’s strength, but not the biggest competitive advantage to make difference between regional countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Philippines.
Danang has Bac My An Beach which is listed among the six most beautiful beaches in the world by Forbesmagazine and Nha Trang was named among the nicest bays. This is a favorable condition for was named among the nicest bays. This is a favorable condition for Vietnam to promote its image to the world. But, if you have a chance to go abroad and talk about nice beaches, you will hear much about Bali in Indonesia and Phuket in Thailand.
Recently, another tourism criterion was introduced, named 5H, including Hospitability, Hotel, History, Health and Humanity. If considering each letter H, at this time, it is difficult for the Vietnamese tourism sector to compete with famous destinations in the region due to weak infrastructure and ignored humanity and historical factor.
Historical museums and relics should be invested more to attract tourists. Festivals should be organised in a truly historical and cultural space for wide promotion. This remains a big weakness of the local tourism industry.
Meanwhile, quality of transport infrastructure and the number of hotel rooms fail to meet the real demand. Traffic accidents and quality of human resources weaken the country’s tourism sector.
Improving Vietnam image
The fall in revenues last year proved difficulties that the Vietnamese tourism sector is facing. The report on Vietnamese tourism issued by EuroMonitor Intelligence in December last year showed that while the travel demand has been on the rise for recent years, the Vietnamese tourism infrastructure has still failed to meet the situation.
In 2009, travel firms were worried about the sharp drop in visitor number and luxurious hotels only saw the room coverage of between 40-50 %. Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s tourism centre, lowered the goal to serve 2.6 – 2.7 million tourists from the previous 3 million, but it only welcomed 2.5 million in reality.
The country received nearly 3.8 million international travellers last year thanks to the participation of thousands of athletes participating in the Asian Indoor Games III held early November.
For these, tourism authorities are determined to promote Vietnam’s image to targeted customers. For instance, Hoi An is related to stories about Japanese entrepreneurs who crossed the sea to come here fore trading and traces of the first French people who conquered Vietnam in Danang as well as their discoveries during the domination at this place. Cham Museum, Ba Na Resort in Danang, My Son Sanctuary, Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang and any evidences about American people and where they passed can help to promote Vietnam’s image.
Besides, the country owns a series of tangible and intangible cultural heritages recoganised by UNESCO.
These are advantages for the local tourism industry to develop its special products to lure more visitors. To do this, boundary between localities should be removed to make a common trademark for the Vietnamese tourism industry. Destinations has their own features and support one another in attracting tourists and form a common tourism space in which one will be identified as the centre.