Vietnam tourism grows despite global economic downturn

Despite the global economic downturn, Vietnam’s tourism industry will still grow this year, with international arrivals increasing 30%.
In 2010’s first quarter, Vietnam enjoyed double-digit tourism growth, trailing only slightly behind Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and Israel, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) reported.
Vietnam received a total of 432,600 international travelers last month, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, a 31% year-on-year increase.
The growth is attributed to Vietnam’s many natural attractions, including its diversified geography, long coastline, pristine beaches and biodiversity. Pham Trung Luong, deputy director of the Institute of Tourism Development Research Vietnam, said Vietnam also had a rich culture and history given the 54 ethnic groups.
Accounting for 8.3% of the nation’s total investment in 2009, capital investment in tourism was US$3.5 billion. The sum is expected to grow to US$6 billion in 2019, Luong said at an international tourism meeting in Hanoi on Monday.
According to the WTO report, in recent years, the world’s poorest countries have had far greater tourism growth than developed countries.
Tim Bartlett, a WTO consultant, said: “Vietnam is close to the world’s two-star outbound growth markets, China and India. Well over 20% of China’s population can be classified as middle class with the means for outbound travel. Even in crisis-ridden 2009, Chinese spent a total of US$43.7 billion on outbound travel, a massive 21% increase compared to the previous year. China is sending over 40 million travelers abroad per annum.”
A similar situation is occurring in India. With its 1.1 billion population and increasing GDP (more than 8% annually), India is a great outbound travel market.
India’s international travel expenditure has increased from US$1.3 billion in 1997 to US$8.2 billion in 2008.
In on Tuesday’s economic climate, money has become a critical element in choosing a travel destination and as such, Vietnam’s value for money is also attracting tourists.