The State authorities and the private sector already closely coordinate, but Vietnam needs to do many other things to make tourism one of its spearhead industries, said Joe Mannix, head of the Tourism Group at the mid-term Vietnam Business Forum 2007.
Tourism is playing an important role in Vietnamese economic development. Tourism export ranks fifth among the top five exporters of Vietnam, with export revenues of US$3.6 billion in 2006. Moreover, it creates direct jobs for 230,000 people and indirect jobs for 600,000 people.
Therefore, stable tourism development is a vital issue which not only demands the concern of the state, but also the participation of the entire society. At the recently concluded Vietnam Business Forum, Mr Joe Mannix, in the meeting between the private economic block and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), mentioned many key points including the perfection of the tourism industry master plan - a plan that reflects comprehensive cooperation in marketing, advertising, educational, environmental and infrastructural aspects.
Solutions
Definitely, when the state and private sectors cooperate, more issues are resolved. The first issue of concern is that the tourism industry growth rate outstrips current and future infrastructure system expansion. Moreover, sometimes the situation on the ground in this sector contradicts international standards, as well as WTO regulations.
Meanwhile, many initiatives for basic improvement to hotels, rest houses and transport infrastructure systems are slowly carried out. Sometimes, government approval is still held up in the bureaucracy.
The outcome of sluggish infrastructure planning is a double disadvantage for the hotel sector. The insufficient supply and excessive demand for rooms in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi lead to quickly rising rates.
On business terms it is understandable, but the problem is hotels break booking contracts with travel firms to raise room fares.
Mr Joe Mannix stressed this situation needs to be put to an end, because it damages the fame and prestige of the tourism sector in general. In the long term, the Vietnamese tourism sector will gradually lose business opportunities because potential visitors will be hesitant to choose Vietnam if they feel uncertain that advertisements will be matched by reality. Therefore, Vietnam needs a solution for both the hotel sector and travel firms.
The final issue is education. The quality and quantity of tour guides are insufficient. While the Tourism Law provides detailed measures supervising tour guide activities, these measures are not consistently applied. These are several of the thousands of matters affecting the quality of human resource training for the tourism sector.
Thu Huyen
Vietnamese
