Vietnam received around 3.34 million foreign tourists and 15 million domestic tourists in 2005, up 7.6 per cent and 18.4 per cent on-year respectively, earning revenue of VND30 trillion (US$1.91 billion), up 14 per cent against the last year, according to the National General Statistic Office (GSO).
The number of foreign arrivals was higher than the set target of roughly 3.3 million for the whole year, but lower than forecast by experts and international organizations in the middle of the year, since October, the number of foreign tourists to the country was slightly decreased over earlier months for fear of the bird flu epidemic.
However, this was considered a significant number of the country's tourism sector, resulting in good safety promotion of the country, Vo Thi Thang, director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said.
Among 31 listed markets, only China and Finland reported respective falls of 3.3 per cent and 11.2 per cent on-year, all others posted rising rates with Cambodia being the highest jumper at 105.4 per cent, followed by Spain at 76 per cent and Myanmar at 68.1 per cent.
Unofficial sources attributed the drop in the influx of tourists from China to the northern country’s policy on limiting cross-border travel to curb the number of Chinese people gambling in Vietnam.
However, China still remained Vietnam’s number one tourism market with nearly 752,600 arrivals during the year, surpassing the US with roughly 333,600 arrivals, up 22.4 per cent, Japan with 332,600 up 20 per cent, S. Korean with 317,200, up 36.1 per cent and Taiwan with 286,300, up 11.5 per cent.
Arrivals from visa-exempted countries, including six ASEAN member countries, four Scandinavian nations, and Japan and South Korea, also showed an increase, excluding Finland.
According to Thang, tourists coming to Vietnam in 2005 for holidays registered the highest figure. The following were arrivals in the communist country for other purposes and for business. Those arriving in the country to visit relatives posted the lowest increase rate.
In December alone, the country welcomed 308, 257 tourists, a slight on-month decrease. However, it witnessed a rocketing increase of tourists from European countries, notably, those from Finland, Norway, Belgium and Denmark.
The decrease in December 2005 was attributed to the falling number of tourists from 13 countries, an official from the VNAT said.
In the year 2006, the country is expected to host many important tourism events such as the Central Heritage Road, Hung King Worshipping Festival and APEC Summit, Thang said, hoping that these events along with lots of interesting festivals and fairs will bring more foreign tourists to the country.
Vietnam expects to welcome 3.6-3.8 million foreign tourists and 16.7 million domestic vacationers with total revenue of VND36 trillion (US$2.28 billion) in 2006.
Science & Development, Tourism
Vietnamese
