Vietnam will be one of the destinations with the highest tourism growth rates in Asia in 2007, the world leading consulting organization Globalysis Ltd. said, crediting the communist country’s current position and policies.
According to Globalysis, the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam grows 10 per cent annually and will reach around 3.94 million this year, and total tourism industry revenue may reach VND56 trillion (US$3.5 billion), 10 per cent more than 2006.
“Vietnam is striving to make its destinations more attractive by boosting cooperation with foreign partners, improving infrastructure and paying more attention to promote tourism image worldwide,” an official from the organization said, adding that Vietnam is an emerging Asian dragon in the tourism field.
“Vietnam has huge tourism potential, and the country’s WTO accession has signaled that Vietnam is ready to receive foreign investment in this field,” the official noted.
“In its five-year plan, the VNAT targets six million foreign visitors, and double its income to reach US$5 billion by 2010. The government also announced spending of US$7.6 million for this five-year plan. This amount of money is equivalent to the spending of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia within only one year, Globalysis added.
To turn tourism into a key industry, the Vietnamese government needs to pour more money into the industry from now on, until it becomes lucrative,” said Karl D John, Director of the TCK investment consulting company in Vietnam.
In the first two months of this year, Vietnam welcomed more than 749,000 foreign tourists, posting a year-on-year rise of 11.3 per cent.
Tourism industry, contributing 8 per cent to national GDP, is considered one of the key economic sectors of Vietnam. (VietNamNet, Vietnam Panorama)
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