WNAM Monitoring: After being severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic for two years, Vietnamese tourism has made a recovery, gained momentum and achieved results as expected.
Vietnam’s target of welcoming 12.5 million to 13 million international arrivals in 2023 has been achieved, said Pham Van Thuy, deputy head of Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT), said at a recent conference on State tourism management.
He said after being severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic for two years, Vietnamese tourism had made a recovery, gained momentum and achieved results as expected.
In the first 10 months of this year, the number of foreign arrivals to Vietnam surpassed the 8-million target. Vietnam then increased the international arrival target to 12.5-13 million, and had accomplished the goal, he said.
According to VNAT, the number of international arrivals to Vietnam in 2023 is estimated at 12.5 million. The country also welcomed 108 million domestic arrivals.
Total revenue from tourism is estimated to reach VND 672 trillion. The competitiveness of Vietnam’s tourism continues to be enhanced globally.
This year the VNAT was honored to receive the title “Asia’s Leading Tourism Management Agency” for the fourth time. Vietnam was honored by the World Travel Awards as the world’s leading heritage destination, while many destinations and tourism businesses received other prestigious award categories.
Thuy said Vietnam still needed solutions to remove bottlenecks and tackle shortcomings in State management and tourism business.
He cited foreigners working illegally as tour guides or Vietnamese businesses violating tourism business laws as examples of the dark side of Vietnamese tourism.
He said some tourist destinations remained unclean without ensuring security or safe conditions. Vietnam had not hosted any impressive large-scale national tourism promotion program that brings together localities and businesses.
The VNAT proposed strengthening management at tourist destinations, preserving and promoting natural and cultural values for sustainable tourism development. Tourism sites must ensure security and safety for tourists, pay special attention to environmental sanitation and food hygiene, while encouraging the participation of local people and businesses in building a cultural, civilized, friendly and hospitable tourism environment to make every citizen a tourism ambassador.
The authority also proposed promoting tourism linkage among localities in which the VNAT, as the national tourism agency, takes the orientation role and big tourism hubs such as Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, Quang Ninh, Ninh Binh, Thua Thien Hue and Khanh Hoa would act as leaders in creating regional tourism growth drivers and making “one tour, multiple destinations”.
