The Vietnam tourism sector received nearly 3.4 million foreign tourists in 2005, surpassing the set plan and achieving a record figure so far. This year the sector aims to welcome around 3.6-3.8 million foreign tourists.
According to the Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VAT), Vietnam still remains an attractive destination for visitors despite the impact of the bird flu epidemic. However, VAT has warned of a more strict and demanding tourism environment in the near future.
2005 was not a bumper year for attracting foreign tourists but more and more foreigners visited Vietnam. Markets such as Northeastern Asia, Europe, America and ASEAN, even the US - a demanding market - achieved quite high growth. Other traditional markets such as Japan and the Republic of Korea are still among the five leading markets. Although the number of Chinese visitors to Vietnam fell, it still ranked first among countries with the highest number of visitors to Vietnam.
According to travel agents, Vietnam’s safe environment, novelty, landscape, culture and cuisine are the main factors in attracting foreign tourists. Nowadays, not all foreigners come to Vietnam as tourists, many also want to visit relatives or do business in the country. Saigontourist last year welcomed four delegations of French doctors who provided free medical treatment to Vietnamese people while studying oriental medicine.
November is often the peak of the tourism season. Last year the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam began increasing sharply from October. The number of visitors from Germany rose by 60 percent and from France by 37 percent compared to previous years.
In the coming years, the demands and tastes of visitors from Europe and Asia will change. They will choose short journeys and prefer sports and adventure tours to sea-going holiday. Individual and group tours will also be on the increase. But how to meet their strict requirements for good services at cheaper prices is no easy task.
Shortcomings remain
Recently, thanks to the penetration of many low-cost airlines into the domestic market, Vietnam’s tourism sector has seen further opportunities to develop. However, many passengers could not enjoy the preferential prices. Travel agents did not reduce tour price because the tourism sector has not developed co-operation with aviation agencies like other countries in the region. The tourism sector still fails to compete with other regional tourism sectors in terms of price, while the quality of its human resources is not good enough to attract tourists for second visits. In fact, tourism staff, both managers and tour guides, have limited knowledge, professional skills, and foreign language ability, as well as underdeveloped cultural and information services. Foreign language skills are the weakest strength of tourism staff.
According to the VAT, 32 percent of tourism staff directly providing services to customers can speak English, and only 3.2 percent of them can speak French. In particular, China is one of Vietnam’s largest tourism markets, but only 3.6 percent of tourism staff can speak Chinese. Recently, a large number of tourists from Japan and the Republic of Korea flocked to Vietnam, but tour guides for the two markets have not developed strongly enough to meet the increasing demand. Furthermore, tourism training activities in Vietnam have not developed comprehensively and intensively.
In a recent conference, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan, who is also head of the National Steering Committee for Tourism, said that in the context of tough competition in regional countries, the Vietnamese tourism sector should focus on three major issues relating to intellectual and professional skills and cultural behaviour style.
Tourism staff must understand Vietnamese history properly, the State policies, as well as the cultures and customs of foreign countries. It is essential to provide fresh impetus for the tourism sector to increase its quality and secure sustainable development, Mr Khoan added.
Source: Vietnamnet, 6/2/2006