Vietnam eyes 6pct increase in foreign arrivals in 2011

Vietnam’s tourism industry has set a target of 5.3 million international visitors to the country this year and $5.64 billion in total revenues after a well-performing 2010.

It also expects to serve 30-31 million domestic travellers and earn 110 trillion dong, (US$5.64 billion) in revenues, which would account for 4.5 percent of the nation’s GDP.

As one of the steps to realise this target, Vietnam is set to join a series of tourism-related expos including, the FITUR expo in Spain in January, MITT trade show in Russia in March, an international tourism exhibition in HCM City in September and some other events.

Industry authorities are also preparing a proposal to attract more tourists from France, Thailand, China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Russia.

Besides, they will try their best to successfully coordinate the National Tourism Year 2011 hosted by Phu Yen Province and other coastal provinces in the central region.

The country received 5 million foreign visitors last year, up 19 percent compared to its 4.2-4.5 million target and an increase of 32.5 percent over 2009, Nguyen Van Tuan, director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said.

Domestic travellers topped 28 million and revenues reached 96 trillion dong, ($4.92 billion), up 20 percent from the industry’s target. – Tuoitre

Tags: Vietnam Tourism