Vietnam, the sunny and warm Southeast Asian nation is currently among the favorite destinations in Asia for Russian tourists, said Andrey Matveev, General Director of Top Tour, one of the top ten leading tourist companies in Russia.
“One year ago, Russians used to think about Phuket in Thailand or Bali in Indonesia when traveling to Asia. However, after natural disasters and bombings at these sites, many Russian have turned to visit Vietnam instead,” Matveev said.
According to tourism companies, the number of Russian tourists to Vietnam has suddenly increased within the past month.
The General Statistics Office (GSO) revealed that Vietnam estimates to welcome as many as 349,000 foreign tourists in the first month of 2006, an increase of nearly16 per cent over the same period last year.
Among 31 listed markets, Russia posted the highest position for its top percentage growth with 138.7 per cent on-month and 68.5 per cent on-year.
Russia is a new but very good potential market, said Nguyen Minh Quyen, Deputy Director of Ben Thanh Tourist. Their spending is considered highest among international visitors to Vietnam. They often stay in four-five star hotels and use high-class services and often take long tours of ten days upwards, in both winter and summer.
Pham Thanh Tra from the Saigon Tourist said that Russia is an open and large tourism market. Based on its previous ties with Russia, Vietnam is a charming place to Russian visitors.
Notably, Saigontourist Travel Service Company in Ho Chi Minh City received 450 Russian visitors, including 170 from the Far East region that flew to Vietnam aboard chartered aircraft in the first half of January.
Ben Thanh Tourist, also in Ho Chi Minh City, welcomed more than 210 Russian visitors in January, of them, 130 rented two helicopters to tour Halong Bay, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site in northern Quang Ninh province.
Khlyakhovoy Andrey, President of Far East Bank, who has led a group of 170 Russian guests to Vietnam, said the Southeast Asian nation could attract more Russian tourists with promotional campaigns to this market.
Recently, many cooperative activities between Vietnamese and Russian companies to promote Vietnam tourism to the Russian have been geared up. Particularly, on January 17, Ben Thanh Tourist in collaboration with Top Tour Company opened a representative office in Russia and sent staff there to tap into the lucrative market.
However, many local travel agencies are currently facing a shortage of tour guides who can speak Russian and attractive entertainment activities and services. Meanwhile, Russian visitors usually asked for the best accommodation, catering and tourist services, Hoang Huu Loc, Head of Saigontourist’s Russian Market Department revealed, adding that they are striving to deal with these possible problems to well meet demands of Russian visitors in particular and all international tourists in general.
With more and more Russian travelers choosing Vietnam in first days of the News Year, travel agencies at home and abroad are predicting 2006 to be an even better year for tourism numbers from the European nation.
Locally, Vo Anh Tai, Director of Ho Chi Minh City-based Saigontourist, the biggest tourist company in Vietnam, expects the company would receive some 3,000 Russian visitors in the coming months.
Last year, the communist country welcomed more than 23,000 Russians in 2005, up 94 per cent from 2004. Most preferred the beautiful beaches of Nha Trang in the central region and Phan Thiet and Phu Quoc in the southern region.
Youth, Vietnam Panorama
Vietnamese
