VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, together with travel agencies, hosted a conference in Ha Noi on Wednesday to brainstorm solutions for the suffering tourism sector.

The Vietnamese travel and tourism sector growth rate in the first six months of 2009 may be 0 per cent or lower.

The country’s tourism sector has been greatly affected by the world’s financial crisis. This year, the number of foreign visitors was half of what it was last year with declines starting last April, Tuan Anh said.

Pham Ngoc Minh, general director of Viet Nam Airlines stated that the number of foreign visitors has already fallen to the same lows seen during the SARS and bird flu scares a few years ago.

Minh worried that the picture of the Vietnamese tourism sector would be even more sombre after the lunar new year festival which is in just over a month.

These worries are well-grounded. The number of foreign visitors booking tours to Viet Nam in the first months of 2009 has seen a reduction of 20 per cent compared with 2008. Many tours have been cancelled. The numbers keep declining even as some hotels offer up to a 30 per cent discount.

Conference delegates discussed ways to stimulate the tourism market and pointed to increasing domestic demand as a high priority. Another idea is to plan more events and conferences for foreign investors.

In addition to price reductions, hotels are encouraged to create other kinds of incentive programmes and improve their services.

Given the political situation in Thailand and terrorist attacks in India, foreign visitors will likely choose destinations considered to be more safe. As a stable country in the region, the consensus at the conference is that Viet Nam should create an action programme to capitalise on this market opening.

Director of Viet Nam Airlines suggested airlines should co-operate with hotels and travel companies to set up attractive tours with competitive prices, even when facing losses.

The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism and Viet Nam Airlines asked the Government for US$20 to $30 million to help the tourism sector from the newly announced $1 billion economic stimulus package.

Conference attendees suggested companies work to better exploit the ASEAN market. The number of ASEAN tourists is currently only 17 per cent, and a target of 30-40 was discussed.

Some delegates such as La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of HCM City’s Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism, found that proposed solutions at the conference were too theoretical and more concrete measures needed to be mapped-out.

(Source: Viet Nam News)