The Vietnamese government will allow the domestic tourism industry to hire foreign organizations as well as individuals to carry out activities abroad to promote the country's tourism, according to head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Vo Thi Thang.
The government’s plan comes as local companies are not yet capable of meeting advertising demand overseas to make Vietnam better known as a safe and interesting destination, she said.
"Presently, the quality of Vietnamese tourism promoters is still low and the promotional budgets for the sector are still limited. These factors have made the country's tourism industry fall behind in comparison with some countries in the region," Thang admitted. She also revealed that foreign countries have allocated big funds for tourism promotion, even a poor country like Cuba has opened its own representative offices in foreign countries to promote tourism.
Under the plan, local travel companies are permitted to hire foreign organizations and individuals for promotion activities which they cannot execute or satisfy the requirements themselves.
Tenders will be put out to select foreign promotion partners. For projects subject to appoint a contractor without open tenders, the Finance Minister will make the final decision and for forward projects which go beyond the minister's authority, he will have to submit to the Prime Minister for approval.
The central government has assigned the Ministry of Finance to formulate a mechanism governing the issue for submission in the first half of 2006.
Quality of tourism promotion will, therefore, be a top concern of the tourism industry in the year 2006, Thang emphasized.
The sector expects to attract 3.6-3.8 million international arrivals next year compared to this year’s estimated figure of 3.43 million.
In related news, the VNAT has strongly turned down Hanoi's proposal for training foreign guides on cultural reasons, after explaining that the refusal aimed to preserve the Vietnamese cultural identity as well as the tourist environment.
Youth, Vnexpress
Vietnamese
