More than five million international tourists travelled
to Viet Nam in 2010 – the highest number for 20 years. Last year, the domestic
tourism industry also posted significant growth of 35 per cent.

Viet Nam News spoke to Vu The Binh, chairman of the Viet
Nam Travel Association and former head of the Viet Nam National Administration
of Tourism’s Travel Department, on the industry’s development plans for this
year.

What can you say about the tourism industry’s
achievements last year?

Welcoming the five-millionth tourist was an historical
landmark and a new page in the sector’s development. We have waited a long time
for this moment.

It was the result of ongoing efforts by tourism companies
and provincial authorities’ promotional campaigns, most notably the “Viet Nam
Impression” programme and the Government’s incentive policies. Things don’t
happen overnight. It takes time for these promotional campaigns to reach
holiday-makers.

There’s a widely held belief that tourism numbers don’t
mean anything. That is simply not true. By attracting so many visitors, we have
affirmed our presence in the regional and world tourism markets. I really hope
this achievement will provide the impetus for even more development this year.
We have achieved a positive result compared with other regional countries and
should strive to do more this year.

The five millionth visitor was from China. Can you read
anything into this?

China is an important tourism market. Out of a population
of more than one billion, 50 million travel overseas each year. It is therefore
understandable that we pay appropriate attention to this market. It is not just
Viet Nam but many other Asian countries that strive to attract visitors from
China. It was formally believed that most of the Chinese visitors that came to
Viet Nam came through the border gates. This situation changed in 2010. There
was a two-fold increase in the number of Chinese tourists travelling by air.

What should the sector do this year to further boost
visitor-numbers?

There are many things to do this year. Top priority should
be given to creating new tourism products that focus on adventure, marine and
cultural tourism. In my opinion, product diversification is the key to
attracting more visitors.

Improving the training of tourism staff is also vital to
the industry’s development. Currently, it lags behind the tourism services
offered by other regional countries. The industry needs to co-ordinate more
closely with universities to boost standards.

In addition, there need to be more tax incentives and
further investment by the Government to upgrade infrastructure facilities.

Last but not least, the industry should continue to invest
in tourism promotion with a focus on traditional markets such as Japan, South
Korea, Southeast Asia and Western Europe, while continuing to implement the
“Viet Nam-Your Destination” campaign to attract high-end spenders.

Source: VNS