Vu The Binh, Director of the Travel Department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said that the VNAT pinned high hopes on these markets owing to the high numbers of visitors this year as well as arrivals in recent years, and the potentialities from these markets in the near future.

China and ASEAN are attached greater importance in terms of the number of visitors to Vietnam, while Europe and Northeast Asia supply more moneyed visitors.

The number of visitors from China this year is expected to hit a record of 900,000, while that from ASEAN, mostly Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia, has also been soaring in the past two years.

“We still focus more on China. We meet more difficulties in developing the market but no one can miss it because of the huge number of travelers,” Binh said.

The arrivals from Japan and South Korea markets are increasing strongly this year, but Binh said the current tension between the two Koreas would pose more challenges to the tourism industry next year.

As for Europe, there is much room for development given the big potential and the increasing number of visitors this year. Vietnam expects to welcome up to 800,000 visitors from Europe this year.

“We don’t see Europe as separate markets. We see it as a whole when doing marketing activities there. Europe is very important for us in generating high revenue,” he said.

About marketing campaigns for these markets, Binh said the VNAT singled out the important markets first before making the action plans. “We are planning all needed activities to develop the markets,” he said.

Binh said the VNAT is mapping out other big plans for tourism development in the next five years.

“We have very high expectations to receive two million Chinese visitors, one million Japanese, 700,000 South Koreans and 500,000 Thais by that time,” Binh said.

More than 4.6 million international guests have visited Vietnam to date, up 36.5% year-on-year. The VNAT had earlier expected to welcome around 4.5 to 4.6 million foreign visitors this year due to the downturn of the global travel industry, but the target has now been revised up to around five million.

Vietnam Travel News (Source: SGT)