Tourism enjoys a booming year

August 26, 2011 | 08:53

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Vietnam has welcomed almost 4 million foreign visitors since the beginning of this year, a year-on-year rise of 18.3 per cent, and earned nearly 85 trillion VND in revenue from tourism.

Nguyen Van Tuan, General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said that the numbers of visitors from all foreign markets have increased over the same period last year, led by Cambodia with 74.2 per cent. It is followed by China and Malaysia with 53.5 per cent and 18.7 per cent, respectively.

The success is attributable to a series of activities held by VNAT, localities and businesses to promote tourism at international tourism fairs, as well as activities during the National Tourism Year programme in the south-central coastal region to popularise sea and island tourism, which is the country’s strength and development focus in the near future, he said.

During the remaining months of the year, VNAT will coordinate with agencies and localities to host professional events in the country and promote tourism linked with culture through the Vietnamese Cultural Days in Japan and Russia, or through international television channels, tourism fairs and roadshows in major cities of Russia and China.

VNAT will also hold the International Travel Expo in Ho Chi Minh City, themed “Four Countries, One Destination” from September 14-17, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

As a model that manifests linkages among the Great-Mekong sub-region countries through introducing the latest tourist and service products to the world, the event aims to popularise Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam as a prime destination, and promote cooperation to exploit the potential and strengths of tourist products in each country.

The organising board has received registration applications from domestic and foreign organisations with 207 booths.

Vietnam has also been added to the list of countries where the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) will implement a project to provide training in professional tourism skills for the private sector.

In coordination with the European Union, UNWTO is speeding up the project to train 8,000 tourism employees and managers in Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal and Vietnam.

According to the UNWTO, the tourism sector in these countries is becoming an increasingly important economic sector which has helped create jobs and promote economic growth.