Viet Nam fails to meet 10-year tourism goals

Viet Nam failed to meet its 10-year target to turn the country's tourism industry into a key sector, although it met two of its goals, achieving 25 million in domestic tourists by 2009 and reaching an annual of US$4 – 4.5 billion in revenue by 2010.

For the period 2001 – 2010, the Government aimed to make the tourism industry the leading sector, taking full advantage of the country's natural resources, ecology, culture and history.

But the tourism industry still lags behind others in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, according to experts.

Viet Nam still plans to become a significant tourism centre in the region after 2010.

Speaking at a recent seminar about the country's tourism industry held by the National Tourism Authority, experts said the industry had not taken full advantage of the country's potential.

The tourism sector had planned to receive 5.5-6 million foreign tourists in 2010, but reached only 5 million.

The industry had targeted annual GDP growth of 11 per cent, but was unable to reach that figure.

Zoning for the tourism industry has not been done properly, experts have said.

In addition, some coastal cities lack land to build large hotels and resorts.

The quality of human resources working in the industry is still restricted.

Besides tour guides who can speak English well, there was also a shortage of guides who can speak German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese or Korean to serve tourists from those countries.

Tourists flock to Lam Dong

More than 3 million tourists have visited Lam Dong Province last year, a jump of 24 per cent compared to 2009, according to local officials.

Of that number, 160,000 were foreigners, an increase of 14.3 per cent over the same period of 2009.

Though the province has experienced setbacks this year, including a dry Xuan Huong Lake, market fluctuation, and downgrading of roads, it has exceeded its target for the year, which was 3 million visitors.

The increase was achieved thanks to reduction of prices, improved service quality, more diverse products, and better tourism coordination among other provinces.

According to the province's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the average length of stay for tourists was 2.4 days, a rise of 4.3 per cent compared with 2009.

Tourism revenue has reached VND4.35 trillion, up 23 per cent year – on – year. Next year, the department expects to welcome 3.5 million visitors, including 180,000 international tourists.

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