Vietnam hiring military vessels or aircraft to save those in Libya

LookAtVietnam -
Vietnam is considering the possibility of hiring military vessels or aircrafts
to save Vietnamese workers who are stuck in Libya, said Minister of Labor, War
Invalids and Social Affair Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

On February 28, three working groups were sent to Egypt, Tunisia
and Turkey
to assist Vietnamese workers.

The same day, a Vietnam Airline flight carrying 8 tons of
food left from Vietnam to Cairo, Egypt.
The food will be transported to the border, where thousands of Vietnamese are
waiting for transit.

By the afternoon of February 28, around 1000 Vietnamese
workers arrived in Vietnam.
Over 4,600 were evacuated to other countries, including over 1000 at Benghazi
port, waiting for ships to go to Malta, Turkey and Greece, 300 others at the
Libya-Egypt border, around 700 on the move to the border of Tunisia and Algeria
and the remaining at the airport and seaports of Tripoli.

Many foreign employers have left Tripoli, leaving Vietnamese workers there.
Minister Ngan said that Vietnam
may hire military ships or helicopters to bring Vietnamese from Tripoli to Tunisia
and Egypt.

According to the Department for Management of Overseas
Vietnamese Labor, around 2000 Vietnamese are now in Benghazi
and some eastern cities of Libya.
They can buy food now after protesters formed the provisional government.

Earlier, Vietnam
set up a steering board chaired by Deputy PM Pham Gia Khiem and Minister of
Labor Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to help Vietnamese in the Middle East and North Africa.

The board sent five working groups to five countries near Libya – Tunisia,
Malta, Turkey, Egypt,
and Greece.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has
also called on the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to give
assistance to Vietnamese workers who are still stuck in Libya.

The Department for Management of Overseas Labor met with
representatives of the IOM in Hanoi last
weekend, to appeal to the organization to help Vietnamese workers who are still
in Libya
or stranded in neighboring countries after evacuation.

Such migrant workers have been notified of addresses and
telephone numbers of IOM offices for contact in case of need.

Five years ago, IOM was very willing to assist Vietnam in evacuating nearly 200 Vietnamese
workers from Lebanon when it
came under military attack from Israel.

The Department for Management of Overseas Labor expected
that the total number of Vietnamese workers to be evacuated from Libya by March
2 will amount to more than 7,400.

Over 10,000 Vietnamese were working in Libya when the
political crisis took place.

PV

Vietnam has jumped 7 places

HA NOI — Viet Nam has jumped seven places to 89th among133 countries on the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) for the year.

The report said Viet Nam’s rating reached 3.7 points. Out of the 27 nations in the Asia, Pacific region listed in the forum’s rankings, Viet Nam was 17th. Australia took the lead in the region.

In terms of legislative factors, Viet Nam was ranked at 92 among 133 countries and 20th among 27 Asia-Pacific economies. For the index of business environment and infrastructure, Viet Nam stood at 85 among 133 and 16 out of 27 regional nations. Concerning the third group on human resources, Viet Nam reached 76th of 133 and 17 among 27 Asia Pacific countries.

The country was found to have competitive travel and tourism prices, and climbed to 11th out of 133 listed countries for this category.

Regarding the index on human resources, the country ranked overall relatively low, but in the category for supply of a highly qualified workforce it stood at 40th.

Also, TTCI confirmed Viet Nam had high potential in terms of the number of world heritage sites.

Negative points for the country were found to be the stringent visa and immigration requirements, restriction for foreign ownership, poor environmental sustainability, restrictive regulations, as well as poor transportation and tourism infrastructure.

Many tourism firms and experts said Viet Nam’s travel and tourism sector should define itself more and implement solutions to increase the national tourism industry’s competitive ability.

The TTCI measures the different regulatory and business-related issues that have been identified as levers for improving travel and tourism competitiveness in countries around the world.

This year’s report, published under the theme "Managing in a Time of Turbulence", reflects the difficulties the industry currently faces and the issues to be overcome for strong growth in the future.

This is particularly captured by the topics covered in the analytical chapters, exploring issues such as the impact of oil prices on the tourism industry, the importance of price competitiveness for attracting tourists and the extent to which the index explains differences in travel intensity between countries. — VNS

Downturn puts air travelers on cloud nine - Washington Post- msnbc.com

An airfare war has broken out in recent weeks — a boon for anyone with money to travel.

Airlines have rushed out coast-to-coast travel deals for as little as $99 each way for the spring and summer as the economic downturn has taken hold. Continental Airlines and United Airlines, fighting it out on routes between Washington and Los Angeles, have priced round-trip tickets under $200. Airlines in recent weeks have cut ticket prices as much as 50 percent from a year ago, travel analysts say.

"If you are paying over $300 for an airline ticket right now, you are probably paying way too much," said Rick Seaney, chief executive of FareCompare.com. "We'll never see these prices again outside of a recession."

The fare war comes as American companies scale back business travel and skittish consumers put off vacation plans, putting new pressure on airlines that only a year ago were fighting high fuel costs.

In addition to lower fares for domestic flights, international travel has suddenly become cheaper, with many round-trip tickets to Europe priced at less than $500 for travel in April and May.

'Can I really afford this?'
Yet some travel analysts are skeptical that travelers will buy, even at those prices.

"I think people's interest in buying those fares are heading downward," said George Hobica, creator of AirfareWatchdog.com. "With 600,000 or 700,000 people losing their jobs every month, they are asking themselves, 'Can I really afford this?' "

Airlines began the year thinking the passenger market wouldn't be so bad. Many had spent 2008 cutting less profitable routes and scaling back the number of flights, giving them more room to boost prices on the seats that remained.

Operationally, flight cutbacks mean fewer planes stacking up at airports, alleviating congestion. The government has reported that airline on-time rates are at their best level in years, even at busy New York airports.

Though airlines have been aided by lower fuel prices and the recent strengthening of the U.S. dollar, the cratering economy has dashed hopes of fat profits. Globally, airlines are projected to lose $2.5 billion in 2009, according to the International Air Transport Association

Airlines began offering discounted fares in October after Wall Street banks began to buckle, grounding bankers and other financial executives who paid top dollar for transatlantic tickets. The steady stream of price cuts continued over the winter holidays. Now the discounting is spreading into the spring and summer — historically the strongest profit period for airlines as travelers take vacations.

"This is a major war," said Tom Parsons, chief executive of BestFares.com, a discount travel Web site. "We never expected airfares like this in June or July of last year. We would have expected air fares double this."

Southwest Airlines, which has a hub at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, has cut fares to $78 round trip (with $20 security fee) for nonstop travel from Baltimore to Albany and Buffalo, N.Y.; Providence, R.I.; Hartford, Conn.; Manchester, N.H.; Cleveland; Norfolk; and Raleigh, N

Looking to get away? Cheap airfares abound
March 8: If you think that jetting off to Europe during a recession is out of the question, think again. NBC’s George Lewis reports.
Nightly News


Fares to Europe have also fallen sharply. A year ago, a flight from Washington to Paris would have cost about $815 with taxes and fees, according to a price check by BestFares.com. Today, a round-trip ticket on United for travel in May costs about $570. Prices on flights to London are also falling. United and British Airways are promoting fares of $510 for travel in May.

Strengthening dollar
Hobica warns that summer nonstop international flights from Washington airports still remain pricey compared with other international gateways such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. But he said prices are generally $200 lower than a year ago.

Americans traveling abroad are getting a big lift from the rising buying power of the dollar. The dollar's value has grown 27 percent against the euro and 40 percent against the British pound from last summer.

For the best deals, analysts say travelers should first look for midweek flights. And even with the sales, they should be aware that the best deals probably won't be available for Memorial Day weekend or the Fourth of July. They are cautioning that travelers should pack light because most airlines charge baggage fees that they didn't have a year ago.

And travelers with job worries need not stay home. The airlines are trying to be helpful. JetBlue, whose passenger traffic fell 8.3 percent last month, is offering refunds for ticketholders who are terminated from full-time jobs. Sebastian White, a JetBlue spokesman, said the airline won't report how many people have asked for their money back. But he notes that the deal "came at just the right time" for many customers.