Tourism industry maintains high growth

The number of foreign visitors to Vietnam continues to increase

Vietnam attracted almost six million foreign visitors in the first four months of 2019, up 7.6 percent from the same period in 2018. Thailand ranked first among tourist markets in terms of growth – 46.5 percent, followed by the Republic of Korea with almost 1.5 million tourists (up 23.2 percent), Japan with more than 302,000 guests (up 8.2 percent), and Chinese Taipei with 284,000 tourists (up 25 percent). The number of European visitors grew 5.7 percent, while that of American tourists increased by 5.1 percent.

According to the VNAT, tourist arrivals from Asian countries and territories totaled nearly 4.5 million in the first four months of 2019, up 8.5 percent from the same period in 2018.

At a recent meeting with the VNAT leadership, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Quang Tung said it is important for the tourism industry to mobilize all possible resources to speed up growth and reach sustainable development. That includes improved policies, creating favorable conditions for tourism businesses to develop, better state management of tourism, improved competitiveness, and stronger tourism promotion at home and abroad.

Referring to the tourism industry restructuring, Tung said that the industry should increase financial and workforce investment in tourism promotion, improve tourist service quality, diversify the range of tourist offerings, and develop infrastructure. The VNAT’s leading role in launching and implementing tourism promotion programs abroad needs to be stimulated, the deputy minister said.

When organizing roadshows and participating in international tourism fairs abroad, VNAT should promote Vietnamese tourism through foreign media, apart from working with foreign tourism authorities, businesses and business associations. The VNAT needs to prove its role as a “chief architect” of the tourism industry in institution and policy development and the industry’s competitiveness improvement.

According to the tourism restructuring project, Vietnam will welcome 30-32 million foreign tourist arrivals and more than 130 million domestic tourists, earning total revenues of US$45 billion by 2025. The industry is expected to contribute 10 percent plus to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by the same year.