The sun warmed Southeastern Asian nation of Vietnam welcomed more than 3.58 million international arrivals in 2006, failing to fulfill the set target of 3.8-3.9 million foreigners for the year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The figure is around 7.89 per cent lower than 2006’s goal and only 3 per cent or 200,000 higher than the 2005 figure, an official from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) admitted, although the hospitality sector netted a turnover of VND36 trillion (nearly US$2.3 billion) in 2006, a year-on-year rise of nearly 20 per cent.
The reasons for the failure are ineffectiveness of tourism promotion and loose collaboration among concerned agencies. The lack of hotels and suitable entertainment complexes was also blamed for the timid rise of the year.
Most of tourists visiting the country during the year were from APEC member economies.
Domestic holidaymakers, meanwhile, reached 17.5 million, Hoang Tuan Anh, Vice General Director of the VNAT said.
Among the 31 listed markets, China remained the number-one market of Vietnam in the January-December period with more than 516,280 visitors, although the number of Chinese to the communist country also fell the most among all groups of foreign arrivals, by 28 per cent on-year.
Unofficial sources attributed consecutive monthly drops in Chinese tourists to China’s policies limiting cross-border travel to curb the number of Chinese people gambling in Vietnam, and a regulation to stop granting entry-exit visas for 14 countries bordering China.
South Korea and the US kept their second and third rankings with 421,700 and 385,650 holidaymakers, respectively, in the reviewed period, posting respective on-year increases of 29.4 per cent and 16.8 per cent.
Thailand posted the highest on-year growth rate in the number of tourists visiting Vietnam, at 42.6 per cent. Following were Malaysia 31 per cent and South Korea, 29.4 per cent.
The GSO also reported year-on-year falls in six markets last year, namely China, Cambodia, Italy, Laos, Indonesia and the Philippines. Among the six, Cambodia ranked the second with a year-on-year decrease of 22 per cent and the Philippines, 13.6 per cent.
Despites many favorable local government policies, visitor numbers from these markets have not much improved compared to last year, VNAT said.
In December alone, the communist country greeted approximately 324,625 foreign vacationers, some 6.2 per cent higher than last months. Of those, South Korea came first with more than 43,400 visitors. The runners-up were Japan with 36,000 and the US with 34,330.
Vietnam witnessed growth in three groups of international arrivals, those traveling for businesses, visiting relatives, and for holidays, in 2006.
Specifically, visitors coming to the communist country for business registered the highest growth rate at 16.2 per cent, followed by those arriving to the country for visiting relatives at 10.4 per cent, and for holidays, 1.5 per cent.
However, the percentage of tourists arriving in the country for other purposes still fell, posting a decrease of 13.1 per cent on-year.
In the first days of the New Year, Vietnam welcomed thousands of foreigners, signaling a good future for the hospitality sector in 2007.
Vietnam targets to cater to 4.2 million foreign arrivals in 2007, 16 per cent higher than that of last year, and earn revenue of US$2.5 billion. (GSO Edition Dec, Vietnam Panorama)
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