Vietnam will earmark VND750 billion (US$46.9 million) to develop tourism infrastructure this year, while hoping to receive 4-4.4 million foreign tourists.
The money will be used for some major projects in the central and central highlands regions, and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with the country setting its sights on receiving 23-24.4 million tourists.
The tourism sector targeted earnings of VND55 trillion (US$3.5 billion), 10 per cent higher than last year, heard a meeting organized by the Vietnam Administration for Tourism (VNAT) in Hanoi on February 10 to review last year’s activities and discuss programs for 2007.
Deputy head of the National Administration of Tourism, Hoang Tuan Anh, said the government had selected the northern mountainous province of Thai Nguyen to launch the 2007 Tourism Year.
The VNAT selected 2007 as the year for administrative reform and improving the quality of tourism services and products.
The sector will also focus on enhancing competitiveness and boosting integration into regional and international tourism markets.
Addressing the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said the tourism sector had made little progress last year and urged it to improve.
He suggested that it focused on planning for both local and national projects with a long-term vision.
Tourism development had boosted infrastructure like post and telecommunications, improved food safety standards, and increased public awareness of protecting natural resources and the environment.
He urged the sector to diversify investment and forms of ownership.
It should foster human resources to acquire skilled personnel with fluency in foreign languages and knowledge of foreign cultures.
Last year there were more than 20 million tourists, a year-on-year rise of 6.6 percent, with foreign arrivals exceeding 3.5 million.
Anh said his agency recently submitted to the central government two draft decrees comprising guidelines for implementing the Tourism Law and for penalties for violations.
He expected them to be adopted after the Tet holidays on February 17-20. “It will help enforce Tourism Law," he said.
The law was passed in June 2005 and VNAT has held meetings in an effort to enact the law. It was supposed to have come into effect on January 1 2006 but remains in abeyance because of lack of guidelines. (Young People)
Vietnamese
