International tourist arrivals to Vietnam continue to rise

HANOI -- More than 460,000 international visitors traveled to Vietnam in April, a 6.3 percent rise against the same month last year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

This brought the total number of foreign arrivals during the first four months of the year to more than 1.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 10.5 percent.

Despite the recent earthquake and tsunami, Japanese visitors to Vietnam still numbered 177,000, surging 21 percent against the previous year's same period.

Vietnam also saw remarkable increases in the numbers of tourists from China, up 20 percent, U.S. arrivals rising by 6.8 percent, South Koreans by 6.6 percent, French tourists by 6.3 percent and Australian visitors 5.7 percent.

A strong brand name would be established for tourism in Vietnam during the next four years to promote the country's attractions, said director of the Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Van Tuan.

The administration planned to hire a consultancy firm to carry out the strategy, he said, adding that this was the first time promotion would be conducted by a professional agency.

Chairman of the Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA) Vu The Binh said efforts to create a Vietnamese brand should focus on what was unique about the country. He said he believed one thing Vietnam could be proud of was its spectacular landscape.

Binh said it was also important to identify potential markets. To date, Vietnam's traditional markets were people from Northeast Asia and Western Europe, but another promising market was the country's own region of Southeast Asia.

In countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, people from within the region accounted for 70 percent of visitors while in Vietnam, the figure was not even close to 20 percent, he said.

“A strong and effective brand name requires close co-operation between authorities and hotels, airlines and tourist companies,” said Saigontourist Marketing Manager Doan Thi Thanh Tra.

“Such co-ordination can help create attractive tourism services and products, a key factor for the success of our hospitality industry.

“A brand name will not work if foreign tourists cannot book air tickets or hotel rooms are not easily available,” she added.

Tourist companies were attempting to build their-own brands to attract more international tourists, she said.

The tourism industry aims to welcome 5.3 million foreigners and serve 30 million local tourists, earning about US$5 billion from tourism revenue this year.

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