Vietnam enjoys jump in tourist arrivals

Nguyen Van Tuan, director general of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said the country had welcomed 10 million international tourists, an increase of 25 per cent from last year. The sector also served 62 million domestic tourists and generated tourism revenue of 400,000 billion dong ($18 billion) (Bt648 billion).
Most of the country’s tourism source markets saw an increase in 2016. Leading the way are China, Japan and South Korea, accounting for about 30 per cent, with high spending.
The number of tourists from Western Europe, including five countries exempted from visas - Italy, Britain, France, German and Spain – rose 16 per cent from the previous year. Significant growth was also seen in Vietnam’s biggest tourism market in Europe, Russia, as well as smaller markets such as the Netherlands and Sweden.
Officials say the effectiveness of the state administration has been significantly improved, while investment in infrastructure and other facilities has also risen.
Tourism promotions have been bolstered, including the contributions of e-marketing campaigns that aim to improve the country’s image via mass media. 
Besides, tourism co-operation and products have received proper attention, while the central region has been supported to revive its tourism activities after the maritime environmental incident.Tuan said the state tourism agency would co-operate with Phu Quoc International Airport in the southern coastal province of Kien Giang to greet foreign visitor number 10 million, a Briton arriving on Christmas Day. Tourists from Germany and Sweden, coming in one rank below and above this mark, will also be welcomed. 10 millionth foreign visitor from Britain this year on Christmas Day, December 25, together with the 9,999,999th from German and the 10,000,001th visitor from Sweden. The three visitors, arriving on the same plane and bound for Phu Quoc Island, will be presented with campaign medals and souvenirs.
Despite the positives, Vietnam’s tourism still encounters many difficulties, including poor services in several destinations, a lack of competitiveness among regions, inadequate tourism administration and the impact of tourism-related accidents.
, the lack of suitable management policies for special kinds of tourism and the limitedness in both quantity and quality of human resources.Tuan said that for 2017, VNAT was aiming for 11.5 million international tourists and 66 million domestic travellers, generating 460,000 billion $21 billion. The tourism sector was on track to become a key industry in the country, he said.
Addressing a meeting of the state steering committee on tourism yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam urged local officials to seek to attract big investors in the tourism sector in order to boost business.
The Deputy Prime Minister, also head of the committee, cited tourism hotspots such as Trang An in Ninh Binh province, Sam Son in Thanh Hoa and Phu Quoc in Kien Giang, as benefiting from big investment projects.
“Scattered development will not help attract tourists,” he said. “Localities with high tourism potential that have not been able to attract big investors should not be tempted to accept small ones.”