Tourism sector in need of promotion

Although tourism showed signs of recovering from the economic downturn in the first two months of this year, with foreign arrivals growing 27.4 per cent over the same period last year to a total of 900,000, the nation still needs to step up tourism promotion efforts to ensure reaching its goal of 4.2 million foreign visitors in 2010.
Nguyen Quy Phuong, deputy head of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT)'s travel department, said that the tourism sector had only received about US$1 million for tourism promotion from the State budget, compared to around $50 million in Thailand and $120 million in Malaysia, resulting in sporadic efforts.
This year, the tourism sector has conducted a promotional campaign in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia which ends today, according to the VNAT. The campaign focused on Ha Noi's image, with its millennium-old culture, and covered sites of tourist interest that range from natural heritage to traditional craft villages.
The campaign, part of a larger VNAT orientation under the theme of "ASEAN 10 member countries: a destination", was co-sponsored by VNAT, Vietnam Airlines, and the Vietnamese embassies in the three target countries. It also included the participation of over 20 leading travel agencies.
To enhance tourism promotion, Viet Nam needed to build its image and focus its marketing effort on specific tourism products, including food, traditional arts, and historical monuments, and especially the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi and the Hue Festival this year, said Paul Stoll, general director of the International hotel management group, Celadon International.
Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran Chien Thang vowed that his ministry would contract with international marketing agencies to promote tourism, while VNAT would be responsible for consulting and suggesting policies to enhance tourism promotion to the ministry.
Meanwhile, all Vietnamese citizens had a concrete responsibility to promote the image of the nation and help develop tourism, Thang said.
La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Sports, Culture and Tourism, said the tourism sector needed to increase its co-operation with relevant agencies, including the aviation sector and Vietnamese embassies abroad, to increase tourism promotion efforts.
The hospitality industry also lacked the resources to open representative offices in major overseas markets, Khanh said.