Vietnam Yet Revises Down 2009 Tourism Target

Vietnam tourism authorities have decided not to reduce the target of international arrivals from the initial target of 4.5 million this year to 3.7 million-3.8 million after recent recoveries of the tourist arrivals.

 

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said at a meeting early this week that it thought of revising down the target to 3.7 to 3.8 million tourists; however, it has not decided yet after the actual number of foreign tourists rose 16% in August from a month earlier to 315,000.

 

In mid-2009, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh was concerned that the outbreak of the swine flu and the financial crisis would make the number of international arrivals to drop around 20% to 3.4 million this year.

 

“We see good signs of recovery and will pin hopes in inbound sector,” said Nguyen Van Tuan head of VNAT.

 

The government’s General Statistics Office showed that the number of international tourists to Vietnam for the first time this year increased in August, with nearly 315,000 visitors, up 16% against that in July.

 

“Vietnam’s tourism sector can maintain the target set for this year, but we want to minimize the decline,” he noted.

 

Vietnam welcomed over 4.2 million foreign visitors last year, up 0.6% compared to 2007. (STD)