Vietnam's tourism industry will most likely fail to meet this year's target of welcoming 4.8 to five million international arrivals as rising costs and inflation reduce the country's competitiveness, the national tourism leader said.
The national tourism would not obtain the goal now that only over three million foreign visitors had arrived in the first eight months of 2008, Hoang Tuan Anh, Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism, explained.
“We just have four months left, and I think that the country's tourism will have only around 4.6 million international arrivals in 2008,” he added.
This is the first time since the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003 that the tourism sector will fail to realize the annual target, he admitted, noting that due to the economic slowdown, many travelers from key markets of the country's inbound sector have changed their mind, taking domestic trips rather than traveling overseas.
Ineffective publicity programs were also to blame for the poor performance, the minister also admitted.
In some recent tourism meetings, tour operators said they foresaw the decline of foreign arrivals, and gave comments from overseas buyers that the situation would be more difficult in the coming time.
The sector would carry out more promotion programs overseas and on international media networks in the remaining months this year to lure more visitors to Vietnam. The national tourism body has just finished a promotion trip to Spain, and is preparing for next trips to Japan and Russia this month, and other programs in Australia and Taiwan.
Last year, Vietnam welcomed around 4.2 million international visitors, up 17.2 per cent compared to 2006.
The tourism industry now contributes 8 per cent to the national GDP in Vietnam. (SGT, VietNamNet)
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