Vietnam welcomes five-millionth foreign visitors

The Vietnam National Administration of
Tourism (VNAT) presented a gift and an insignia to Chinese visitor Zhu
Ying, the five-millionth foreign visitor of Vietnam this year, who
descended at Noi Bai National Airport on the evening of Dec.
24.

She was also offered a package tour of Hue-Da Nang-Hoi An for two people by the Vietnam-Hanoi Tourism Company.

VNAT
General Director Nguyen Van Tuan described it as an important event of
the tourism sector, affirming the position of Vietnam on the world’s
tourism map.

The tourism sector also presented gifts and
insignias to two other Chinese tourists, who were the 4,999,999th and
5,000,001st visitor to Vietnam.

The year 2010 is the
first year that Vietnam set a record growth of foreign tourists with
an increase of 1.2 million people from last year.

The year also sees the highest number of foreign arrivals to Vietnam over the past 20 years.

The achievements were attributable to tourism promotion campaigns launched in 2009 and 2010./.

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Tourism industry targets 12mln foreign visitors

The tourism industry plans to earn 8.9 billion USD in 2015 when the
country expects to welcome 12 million foreign visitors and host 28
million domestic travellers, according to a draft on tourism development
from 2010-20.

The industry would earn 15.9 billion USD in revenue in 2020, which would
contribute to 6 percent of GDP, according to the draft.

Nguyen Manh Cuong, deputy head of the Vietnam National Administration
of Tourism, said the development plan was drafted after his
administration extensively surveyed related ministries and sectors.

The draft would be submitted to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for approval, Cuong said.

In this period, the Vietnamese tourism sector would promote products
rather than images, said the deputy head of the Marketing Department
under the National Administration of Tourism, Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong.

The country's tourism sector has so far created specific tourism products to attract visitors.

Officials are now eyeing Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition
(MICE) events and health care tourism as potential sectors that might
attract tourists from Southeast and Northeast Asia.

The industry will also need to focus on attracting more tourists from
the EU, North America, Australia and Overseas Vietnamese.

In addition, programmes to study market opportunities in India and the Middle East will also be established.

Recently, the administration kicked off a slogan and symbol contest for the Vietnamese tourism sector.

The first prize is worth 50 million VND (2,500 USD) and the deadline
is December 15. Domestic and foreign companies, organisations and
individuals are able to participate./.

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