The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) in coordination with the Dan Tri newswire July 9 organized a ceremony to honor 20 best hotels and tourism businesses in 2006 in recognition of their contributions to the national tourism development.
Four of the ten best hotels come from Ho Chi Minh City, namely Ben Thanh, Majestic, Caravelle, and De Nhat (First Hotel), and four from Hanoi, namely Melia, Sofitel Plaza, Nikko, and Sofitel Metropole.
Central Danang City and the beach city of Nha Trang each had a hotel on the ten-best list as the Furama (Danang) and the Ana Mandara (Nha Trang) both placed.
The ten tourism enterprises named were Saigontourist, Apex Vietnam, Vietnam Tourism, Ben Thanh, Ho Guom Diethelm, Tan Dinh, Vietravel, Hoa Binh, Huong Giang, and A Dong.
The Ho Chi Minh City-based tourism company Saigontourist topped the list thanks to its outstanding performance in 2006.
Additionally, Hanoi’s Melia Hotel won an award for best conference and seminar service and the central Quang Nam province’s Hoi An Pacific was honored with the friendliest staff award.
Vietnam, the sun warm Southeastern Asian nation, welcomed more than 3.58 million international arrivals in 2006 with a turnover of VND36 trillion (nearly US$2.3 billion).
To date, Vietnam has had over 400 international and 10,000 domestic travel firms, more than 6,000 hotels, (2,575 of which are starred), totaling more than 72,458 rooms, and more than 5,194 tour guides, including 2,149 speaking English.
Currently, tourism, which contributes 8 per cent to the country’s GDP is considered one of the key economic sectors of Vietnam.
H.L
Vietnamese
