Asia Times: Vietnam tourism drive targets ASEAN, China


	April 6, 2002	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Vietnam tourism drive targets ASEAN, China

HANOI - Vietnam has taken full advantage of its relations with international organizations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to develop and carry out tourism projects. The country developed new transnational tours by road, river, and air in cooperation with regional neighbors to attract more tourists with a combination of cultural and historic sites.

Vietnam's economy as a whole is also benefiting from two tourism-related regional projects: the Economic West-East Corridor (EWEC) and the transnational Singapore-Vietnam-South China Railways Route. The two projects have received government approval and have been granted funding from international financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank.

The EWEC project is designed to narrow the disparity of development in the poor regions of Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The EWEC will run through the EWEC project countries and link the Bay of Bengal with the Eastern Sea, paving the way for the exchange of trade between ports as well as for the development of tourism in these countries.

In addition, the corridor's highway network will be designed to reach numerous cultural and natural tourist sites in EWEC countries, including places recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as world heritage sites. These will include sites in Vietnam such as the cluster of royal tombs in the ancient imperial city of Hue, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An, and My Son Stupa.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VAT), as many as 1,307 travellers using various kinds of transport left Vietnam for Thailand via Laos in 2001. To support overland tours among Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, the three countries agreed to organize a meeting for their authorized agencies to discuss ways of coordinating with each other at checkpoints so as to make entry-exit activities more convenient for travellers.

Meanwhile, at the ASEAN Summit in Brunei last November, leaders of ASEAN countries gave the green light to a project on a railway route running from Singapore to southern China via Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The railway will form part of an infrastructure system, serving as an important transport route similar to the one developed in the South-North Economic Corridor.

The project will aid other infrastructure projects such as transport corridors through countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam), and trans-Asian highway routes, thus creating a diverse transport network in Southeast Asia and Asia. The railway project will assist ASEAN's common goal of greater trade integration, especially in trade relations with China, whose entry into the World Trade Organization should act as a catalyst for economic development in the region.

The railway route will link Singapore with Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Hat Yai, Bangkok and Sa Kaew in Thailand, Poi Pet and Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang City in Vietnam, and Kunming in China. The route will bring benefits not only to the trade and transport services of these countries but also to the promotion of trans-tourism tours among China and ASEAN countries.

Vietnam's tourism administration plans to attract more tourists from ASEAN in order to achieve its target of 4 million international arrivals and more than US$2 billion in annual revenue by 2005.

VAT deputy general director Pham Tu said his agency has made plans to speed up its promotion campaign themed "Vietnam - a new destination in the 21st century", focusing on better tapping the ASEAN market. More than 1.5 million people from ASEAN countries traveled to other member countries in 2000, making up 40 percent of the international arrivals into all the 10 member countries, while Vietnam welcomed just 250,000, only a small fraction of the potential market.

Efforts are being made to attract foreign tourists to traditional festivals, especially the Hue festival scheduled for May, and major sports events such as the 23rd SEAGAMES next year. Localities, regions, travel companies, and hotels have been making concerted efforts to improve tourist facilities and services to encourage foreign tourists to stay longer in the country and increase their spending by 10-20 percent.

Tourist spending remains low in Vietnam, with most of the money being channeled into food, accommodation and travel. Foreign tourists in Vietnam spend relatively little money on recreation, entertainment, and goods. It is therefore necessary to upgrade traditional craft villages, and promote the production and sale of handicrafts and fine-art articles as a way of increasing the revenues earned from tourists. Vietnam also aims to increase the number of foreign arrivals at the same rate, the senior tourism official explained.

In addition, the tourism administration has planned to upgrade infrastructure, including traffic systems, and build large tourist complexes with recreation and entertainment centers. In 2001, the government invested VND266 billion ($17.5 million) in upgrading local infrastructure facilities in four major tourist sites, said Tu.

The State Tourism Steering Board has encouraged close coordination between the travel agencies and civil aviation with other relevant ministries: Foreign Affairs; Public Security; Defence; Culture and Information; Trade; Transport and Communications; Science, Technology and Environment, as well as the Planning and Investment and Finance branches. All these efforts are aimed at creating a friendly and safe environment for tourists while ensuring high economic efficiency, said Tu.

In addition to government support, the Vietnam tourist industry has received its best ever foreign financial assistance, including 12 million euros for personnel training from the European Union. The tourism administration also signed cooperation agreements with Brunei, Belgium, Cambodia and Germany, Tu said.

The country now boasts 110 hotels with almost 13,200 three-to-five-star rooms. An increasing number of sites, including former imperial Hue city and Ha Long bay, recognized by the UNESCO as World Heritage Sites, have also helped raise Vietnam's tourism opportunities, said Tu.

Vietnam Airlines has also contributed to opening Vietnamese tourism to the world by cooperating with foreign partners to open a large number of direct flights. Thai Airways, for example, has opened direct flights from Bangkok to central Da Nang city, providing easy access to three UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Sites: the old imperial citadel of Hue, the ancient town of Hoi An, and My Son Temple.

Vietnam Airlines has opened direct flights to Vietnam from Singapore, Taiwan and the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Kunming and Beijing. Next April, the national flag carrier is scheduled to open a route from Ho Chi Minh City to Tokyo in order to serve the increasing number of tourists from Japan. Arrivals from Japan rose by 29 percent while those from China rose 30 percent in 2000, the tourism official concluded.

(Asia Pulse/VNA)