Launching the 2013 tourism stimulus program

Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said that to attract international visitors to Vietnam as well as stimulate domestic tourism, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has launched the 2013 Tourism Stimulus Program.

The program is expected to attract transportation, aviation, travel, hotel, restaurant businesses, etc. to participate in reducing prices on services, which will narrow the gap in tour prices between Vietnam and other countries. This will contribute to increasing competitiveness and stimulating tourism demand both domestically and internationally.



Illustration photo.

In addition, in April 2013, the Vietnamese tourism industry will organize the Vietnam International Tourism Fair (VITM Hanoi 2013) with the theme "Discovering the Red River Delta - Origin of Vietnamese culture." This will be an opportunity for domestic travel businesses to cooperate with international travel agencies to introduce new attractive tourist destinations of Vietnam to foreign visitors.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in February 2013, the number of international visitors to Vietnam reached over 570,000, down 11.2% compared to January 2013 and down 18.3% compared to February 2012. Thus, in the first two months of 2013, the total number of international visitors to Vietnam is estimated at over 1,213,000, down 9.6% compared to the same period in 2012.

Also according to the General Department of Tourism, although this is not yet the low season for the international tourism market, this is an unusual and worrying sign of decline because in January 2013 the number of international visitors to Vietnam still increased slightly (2.2%) compared to the same period in 2012 and increased by an average of 10-15% during the Lunar New Year in major tourist centers.

Moreover, in the last 3 consecutive years (2010-2012), international visitors to Vietnam in the first months of the year increased quite high (from 25-30%) compared to the same period last year. Some markets that decreased sharply compared to the same period in 2012 are Germany (down 69%), Hong Kong (down 55%), Laos (down 39%), Denmark (down 36%)...

However, there are still markets that maintain strong growth momentum such as the Russian market increasing by 38%; New Zealand increasing by 24.8%; Indonesia increasing by 21.9%; Thailand increasing by 18.8%; Korea increasing by 10.4%... (usually from April to October every year).

For domestic tourism, in the first two months of 2013 there were 7.8 million domestic tourists, an increase of 11.3% over the same period in 2012.

Total revenue from tourism is estimated at 35,000 billion VND, up 7.9% over the same period in 2012. The reason is likely that in recent years, the spending level of domestic tourists has increased and the demand for travel has also increased, so domestic tourism, travel agencies and hotels have also shifted to tourism products to meet this market./.

According to (Vietnam+) - LC