From Russia no love: ruble slump squeezes SE Asia tourism - All Vietnam

The ruble’s sharp decline is exacting a toll on Southeast Asian tourism as Russians think twice about doubling their budgets for their next beach holiday in Vietnam, Thailand or Cambodia.

A Thai street vendor waits for customers at Patong beach in Phuket
(Photo: reuters)

The rouble fell 43 percent last year against the dollar, hurt by plunging oil prices and Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s role in the Ukraine political crisis. A Russian tourist now needs to fork out as much as 140,000 rubles ($2,479) for a trip to Vietnam, including plane tickets and accommodation, up from 60,000 rubles last year, a state-run Vietnamese newspaper estimated. For those who do make it to Vietnam, they are buying instant noodles instead of eating out, local media reported.

Russians account for billions of dollars in tourism revenue in Southeast Asia and rank second after Chinese travelers in number. Food menus in Russian are ubiquitous in Phuket. Street vendors in Vietnamese beach towns have picked up Russian words. In 2013, when Russian tourist arrivals in Vietnam more than doubled, national carrier Vietnam Airlines launched direct flights linking Moscow with the former U.S. airbase in Cam Ranh near the popular coastal town of Nha Trang.

In January-to-March, some 95,800 Russians visited Vietnam, down 27 percent from a year earlier and the first quarterly fall since 2012. Cambodia’s Tourism Ministry counted nearly 18,300 Russian tourists in the first two months of 2015, down 51 percent. Thailand drew 1.6 million Russian tourists in 2014, down 8.6 percent. Arrivals slumped 46 percent in January this year. In the same month, Russian visitors to the Philippines dropped 12 percent.

“Russian tourists have been steadily declining in Thailand since last year particularly because of the depreciation of the rouble,” said Surapong Techaruvichit, president of the Thai Hotels Association. “Destinations that have traditionally been popular with Russians, including Phuket and Pattaya, have been hit hard.”

From Russia no love: ruble slump squeezes SE Asia tourism - All Vietnam

Sapa – focus of tourism sector in 2015

February 6, 2015

(VOV) -The Lao Cai provincial’s People Committee on February 6 announced a number of noteworthy tourism events in 2015.

This is a golden opportunity for domestic and foreign visitors and travel agencies to update information on ideal destinations in Lao Cai.



The reproduction of Lao Cai markets in Hanoi from February 6-15 is the first highlight of tourism events in 2015.



The following events include Upper Temple Festival, the spiritual tour along the Red River, Sapa Cultural Week, Bac Ha Horse Race, Vietnam Mountain Marathon 2015, and mountain bike tours 2015.

Particularly, the Sa Pa Culture-Tourism Week held in Sa Pa town, Sa Pa district is expected to lure a large number of tourists during holidays. During the week, new tourism products will be introduced such as specialised tours, night at Sa Pa love market, flower display along the roads, street festical and a photo exhibition.

Speaking at the press conference in Hanoi, Director of Lao Cai provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran Huu Son said that last year, the number of tourists travelling to the province increased thanks to the opening of Noi Bai-Lao Cai expressway.

He hopes that new tourism products including eco and village tours will help domestic and foreign tourists enjoy a very good time in a best destination in Vietnam.

Sapa – focus of tourism sector in 2015 — Talk Vietnam

Cambodia welcomes 2.2 million foreign arrivals in H1 — TalkVietnam

Cambodia welcomed 2.2 million foreign visitors in the first six months of 2014, up 5.2 percent over the same period last year, according to statistics from the Cambodian Tourism Ministry.

The Southeast Asian country is expect to receive 4.6 million foreign arrivals this year to enjoy a rise of 10 percent over 2013, Cambodian Minister of Tourism Thong Khon was quoted as saying.

By 2020, the figure is hoped to reach 8 million, helping Cambodia earn a revenue of about 5 billion USD from tourism, he added.



The statistics also showed that Vietnam, China and the Republic of Korea were the largest markets of Cambodian tourism sector.

In recent years, tourism has been one of the four major pillars of the Cambodian economy, contributing about 16 percent to the country’s GDP.

Last year, Cambodian tourism sector earned 2.5 billion USD from serving 4.2 foreign arrivals.-VNA













Cambodia welcomes 2.2 million foreign arrivals in H1 — TalkVietnam

Fears of Bangkok Shutdown.

New fears in Bangkok shutdown

The political standoff in Bangkok shows no sign of slackening off as security forces warn of new threats.

The Bangkok Post reports that the army has raised the alert over the possibility of more violence at anti-government protests after intelligence found weapons and explosives are being moved into Bangkok.

The warning has raised further concerns over the political conflict, which is turning increasingly violent.

The People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) was targeted on Friday and Sunday with two grenade attacks,

On Friday, one PDRC supporter was killed and 39 others wounded after a grenade was thrown into a throng of protesters while they marched as part of the protest group's "Bangkok shutdown".

The army has so far not backed a police call for an emergency government decree.

"The situation has not yet escalated to the point where we must get involved," Army Gen Prayuth said.

At least 20 Bangkok roads have been closed or partially closed by the demonstrations.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is monitoring the situation and says there is no threat to the safety of tourists.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014 

Thailand's tourism on High Alert

Thailand's tourism sector on high alert

Thailand's tourism industry is warily watching the ongoing street demonstrations in Bangkok and other parts of the kingdom, as the first signs emerge of a drop in forward bookings.

Forward bookings from Australia are among those below trend expectations, although Sugree Sithivanich, deputy governor for marketing communications of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said overall forward bookings were still positive, with an increase of 2.2% for December and 14.2% for next month.

Despite the escalating political tension, TAT is still confident that the country will achieve its 2013 projection of 26.1 million foreign tourist arrivals thanks to a continuing flow of visitors from Europe - particularly Russia - and the Americas.

So far, 34 governments have issued mid-level warnings to their people planning to travel to Thailand. New Zealand was the latest to announce such a warning.

Four people have died in Thailand's worst political turmoil since the 2010 rallies that ended in violence.

In its regular updates on the crisis, TAT said volatile situations remain in the areas surrounding Government House and the Parliament and the Metropolitan Police Bureau.

All 14 roads leading to the two locations were closed to traffic, and tourists should avoid these areas, TAT said.

Historical attractions, theme parks, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, local markets, temples and river tours were open and operating as per normal, the tourism authority added.

Suvarnabhumi Airport has advised air travellers of possible heavy road traffic and a lack of taxis resulting from the protests in Bangkok

Vietnam still doesn’t know how to spend money on tourism promotion — TalkVietnam

Vietnam still doesn’t know how to spend money on tourism promotion

Posted on APRIL 10, 2013 Written by VIETNAMNET LEAVE A COMMENT

VietNamNet Bridge – Surveys have found out that 70-80 percent of foreigners traveled to Vietnam after they heard about the trips to Vietnam from relatives or friends, not because they got the information about Vietnam when they attended tourism trade fairs or roadshows, or seeing ads on CNN or BBC.

A senior executive of Trong Diem Trade and Tourism Company, which were present at the last 10 trade fairs in Berlin (ITB) has attributed this to the unprofessional and unmethodical advertisement campaigns carried out by Vietnam.

The number of German tourists to Vietnam in the first three months of the year dropped dramatically by 51.7 percent in comparison with the same period of 2012, even though Germany has been one of the key markets, where Vietnam regularly runs tourism promotion campaigns. Especially, the Germany – Vietnam direct flights allow travelers to take trips in a convenient and time-saving way.

The above senior executive said the ITB’s organization board offered free admissionto local people on the two last days of the trade fair, which attracted a very high number of visitors.

While it was very crowded and noisy at the other stalls, the Vietnamese stall was so quiet because many directors of travel firms left for Vietnam on the last two days.

The director of a travel firm that left before the closing ceremony said that he came there just to meet foreign partners, and he did this on the first days of the trade fair already. He did not think he needed to stay there for some more days, because Vietnam did not organize any special events to attract individual tourists.

Another director complained about the irresponsible preparation of the Vietnamese agencies for the trade fair. ITB opened on March 5, but travel firms were gathered just some days in advance, which forced them to make preparations in a hurry. Especially, the stall’s layout of the Vietnamese stall shown to travel firms was quite different from the one used at the trade fair.

Where to spend money on?

Vietnam, a poor country, once accepted to pay $300,000 to advertise Vietnam’s tourism on CNN in 2007, and $400,000 to post ad pieces on BBC, CNN, and on 27 taxis in London in July 2009. However, no one can say for sure about the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

In 2012, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, once again, intended to spend big money to post ad pieces on 32 buses in Australia for one month. Travel firms then immediately criticized the plan, saying they could not understand what the ministry strived for when running the program.

A report by Nielsen, a market survey firm, showed that more and more tourists access Internet to seek tourism information. About 61 percent of tourists nowadays seek information about the destination points before or when they begin the trips, while 48 percent discuss about trips on online forums. The advertisement on TVand radio ranks nearly at the bottom of the list of the main channels tourists use to seek information.

Director of the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Agency–Victor Wee, has advised Vietnam not to scatter money everywhere, but focus on some key programs to attract tourists.

He himself admitted that he doesn’t like watching TV. Malaysia once relied too much on TV ads, while did not make appropriate attention to Internet, which turns out to be a very effective and cheap advertisement channel

VN touris endeavors to attrack 7.5 million in 2015

VN tourism endeavors to attract 7.5 million int’l visitors in 2015

Posted: 20 Feb 2013 10:04 PM PST

A number of targets were set in the 2013-2020 National Program on Tourism which was approved by the Prime Minister on Feb 19.
As per the program, Vietnam’s tourism sector plans will earn US$10-11 billion from 7-7.5 million international visitors and 36-37 million domestic tourists by 2015 and US$18-19 billion from 10-10.5 million foreign visitors and 47-48 million domestic tourists by 2020.
The PM instructed that the industry must improve the quality of tourism products and services and build strong trademarks for the tourism sector to become the spearhead sector in the future.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has developed a development strategy for tourism in Vietnam until 2020, with a vision for 2030 to develop both domestic and international tourism and fully tap the potential of human resources and the environment, and associate tourism with national defense and security.

Foreign tourists in VN

According to the strategy, over the next ten years, we will continue to train human resources to develop tourism into an economic spearhead, which will have a positive impact on other economic sectors
To fulfill the targets, the tourism sector has proposed six groups of measures. It is important to attract human resources for investment and tourism, develop unique, highly competitive products, and build solid trademarks. It is also necessary to promote tourism activities and develop the country’s key tourism zones.
The Government realizes that it is important to create new tourism products and emphasizes the need for cooperation among tourism companies. It is important to develop good trademarks for our natural and cultural heritage sites in order to promote tourist services in a professional manner
The Government is fully aware of the role of trademarks in competition and international integration. Vietnam has advantages in sea, cultural and eco-tourism and agreed to build strong trademarks at national, local and business levels. The program will also focus on promoting Vietnam’s image as a beautiful, friendly, safe and hospitable destinations
One of the main shortcomings of tourism companies in Vietnam is the lack of cooperation. Tourism companies have not worked together to promote tourist activities and create unique products. It is obvious that cooperation among companies should ensure healthy competition. The role of tourism associations is very important, and it needs stronger support from the State.

Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily | Hanoi to oppress street vendors who target foreign tourists

Hanoi to oppress street vendors who target foreign tourists 

Last Updated: Saturday, August 11, 2012 03:20:00

A street vendor making a sales pitch to foreign tourists in downtown Hanoi

Hanoi tourism authorities have ordered police and district authorities to punish street vendors who rip off foreign tourists.

The city Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also proposed harsher fines against  vendors for coercing tourists to buy their products or swindling foreigners out of their money.

“These vendors have cheated tourists right in downtown and have spoiled the reputation of Hanoi people and tourism in the eyes of international visitors,” said a statement from the department.

Since 2008, Hanoi has enforced a ban against street venders on 62 streets.

The ban had initially been implemented successfully before a subsequent relaxing of surveillance saw the re-emergence of the issue, VnExpress reported.

In a recent investigation, Tien Phong detected several groups of vendors targeting, cheating or ripping off foreign tourists.

"Due to language barrier and trust from tourists, some have cheated them out of big money,” the paper said.

On Ma Tay Street, two women often wait at the entrance of an ancient house that hosts Dao Xa musical performances.

They often coerce tourists to buy bracelets, hats, fans and handkerchiefs by placing them on tourists' bodies.

Some women with quang gánh (rattan basked shoulder poles) put them on the shoulders of tourists for them to take picture and then ask them to give them money even if they did not take any pictures. They are often found on Hang Be, Ma May and Hang Bac streets in the capital's old quarter.

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Others just coerce tourists to buy everything from fruits to maps and some have even snatched money right out of tourists' wallets while they pay.

Taylor, an English tourist, quickly crossed the street after seeing an approaching lighter vendor. He told Tien Phong that his friends had warned him against street vendors when going around in Hanoi to avoid being ripped off or pick-pocketed.

He wore his backpack in front, saying it could help him avoid robbers and pickpockets.

Not only foreign tourists, but many local people have also been victimized by these people.

A tourist from the south said he had bought corn at a price five-fold higher than normal after not heeding his friends' warning about buying things in the old quarte

Vietnamese travel firms scrambling for Chinese tourist

VietNamNet

Scrambling for Chinese travelers, Vietnamese travel firms killing themselves

VietNamNet Bridge – Every year, Quang Ninh province receives 90,000 Chinese travelers who go to Vietnam by land. However, Vietnamese travel firms do not earn much money from the Chinese market due to their uncooperative attitude.

50 billion dong in revenue lost in half a year

Since travel firms try to slash tour fees to scramble for Chinese travelers, the tour fees have decreased dramatically to the levels, which cannot bring profits to anyone.

No one could imagine that an international tour lasting four days and three nights at Ha Long Bay and nearby destination points designed for Chinese travelers only costs 250 yuan, or 815,000 dong. The modest sum of money is not even high enough for Vietnamese people to travel within their localities.

The low tour fee is the result of a long lasting cutthroat competition among Vietnamese travelers, which have been trying to attract Chinese clients from Chinese partners.

According to the Mong Cai Travel Firms’ Club, which represents 28 travel firms specializing in serving Chinese travelers, most travel firms charge the fees which are 50 percent lower than the floor fee.

As such, the club has estimated that in the first six months of the year, with 60,000 Chinese travelers arriving in Vietnam by land through the Mong Cai border gate, Vietnam has lost at least 50 billion dong in tour fees.

Meanwhile, domestic travel firms have said that Chinese partners have been trying to force the tour fees down, threatening to transfer clients to other firms if the Vietnamese partners do not accept the tour fees they set.

Especially, not only the members of the club compete with other travel firms, but the members of the club have also been competing with each other. Some member firms have broken their commitments about the floor tour fee when joining the club.

Admiring Ha Long bay and drinking… clean water

Nguyen Thi Minh Thu, Director of Mekong travel firm, related that one day, she heard the complaint from a Chinese traveler about the services at Ha Long Bay.

“The Ha Long Bay is wonderful. Why did you only give us clean water to drink?” the traveler asked.

The traveler, like many other Chinese travelers, could not imagine that Chinese travel firms have misappropriated the money paid by Chinese clients and only have paid Vietnamese travel firms the money enough to provide… clean water.

Travel firms all have affirmed that with the tour fee of 815,000 dong for the tour lasting four days and three nights, they would certainly incur heavy loss. Therefore, in order to ease loss, a lot of Vietnamese travel firms have to cut some services, or force domestic travel firms to reduce the service fee.

A lot of travelers on the same buses, or frugal meals are the images which can be seen regularly in Ha Long City.

“You should not be surprised if you are told that travelers have to stay at low quality hotels instead of star-hotels as promised,” Director of a travel firm said.

The director also said that Chinese partners have been trying every possible way earn more money from Chinese travelers in Vietnam.

“Some Chinese tour guides even sell souvenirs right on the buses. Some others force travelers to drop into souvenir shops run by Chinese people in Mong Cai City, where they have to buy products at the prices 10 times higher than the actual value,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese travelers were explained that the products were expensive because they are bought from Vietnamese duty free shops.

Source: Lao dong

Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily | Tourism industry doing Ha Long Bay no good

Tourism industry doing Ha Long Bay no good 

Last Updated: Thursday, July 26, 2012 02:10:00

 Vendors on boats wait for a chance to introduce their goods to visitors on tourism boats at Ha Long Bay. Conflicts between service providers in the bay are spoiling the charm of the World Heritage site.
Since Ha Long Bay was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, tourism services have failed to improve and have actually worsened, officials said at a conference Tuesday.
The conference, held at Ha Long Town in Quang Ninh Province, gathered local and foreign participants to discuss new ways to preserve and develop the site, a Tuoi Tre said. Many officials said hospitality practices on the bay needd to change. Nguyen Van Tuan, head of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said tourism activities in Ha Long are nothing better than what was offered 15 years ago, and there were no new products. “There’s still just the boring journey: welcome aboard, visit the bay, visit the caves, aboard again, and done.” It takes ten four-star hotels in the town to earn what one hotel in Hanoi, the Metropole, takes in, which is around VND680 billion (US$32.6 million) a year, Tuan said in news website Dan Tri report. “Tourism units have been ineffective,” Tuan said. Moon Koyoo Kim, a tourism expert from South Korea, said Ha Long tourism products have not managed to promote any of the local cultural traits. He said there are many spots around the town that can be connected to the bay and keep tourists in the area for several days, instead the usual day and a half. Katherine Muller Marin, chief representative of UNESCO in Vietnam, said her biggest concern was water pollution. She said visitors at present can only enjoy waters of the bay after sailing several kilometers offshore. Many tourists during their visit want to plunge into the water, but are discouraged by garbage and the dirty color, Marin said in the Dan Tri report.

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Tuan also blamed many tourism and residential property projects for destroying coral reefs and a mangrove forest that protected the bay. He said Ha Long has not become a reliable destination for visitors, as it was still marked by chaos at the wharves, fraudulent services and conflicts between service providers. Former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan said the best way to develop tourism in Ha Long was to focus on preservation. “Preservation must be the priority,” he said, adding that once this is done, the bay will draw more visitors and make money. “What visitors want is to feel the primitiveness, the ancientness. They are not looking for artificial interventions, especially clumsy ones,” Khoan said. “We should not try to restore, or build, or beautify anything in the bay. However good we are, we can never replace the beauty given by nature, we’d just ruin it.” He said several necessary interventions such as boats or stairs in caves need to be made in harmony with nature. “I’m very concerned when I hear about some proposals that want to build cable cars across islands or build hotels on several islands.” But representatives from several tourism companies at the conference wanted more "development" interventions. They wanted bids opened for tourism development projects in the bay.

Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily | Vietnamese tourism in China slows

Vietnamese tourism in China slows 

Last Updated: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 09:00:00

The number of Vietnamese visitors to China declined by 20-30 percent in the past two months, due to the current economic crisis and the recent tension in the East Sea, VnExpress reported Tuesday.

Tran Van Long, the director of Viet Media Travel, was quoted as saying that the number of customers booking tour packages to China with his company decreased some 30 percent in June and July.

In the past, Long said between 300-350 customers booked tours to China every month. But, recently, that number has dropped to around 100.

Though the autumn is considered the best time to go, he added, so far only three or four groups have booked trips to China.

Saigon Tourist has only booked about 650 tours to mainland China this summer--a year-on-year drop of nearly 30 percent, said the company's spokesperson Doan Thanh Tra.

The decline was most pronounced for those traveling on the state budget, she noted, adding that the number of tourists to Hong Kong and Macau increased during the same period.

Nguyen Thi Huyen, director of Vietran Tour, attributed the decline to the economic crisis where people had to tighten their spending, according to the VnExpress report.

Several tourists, however, attributed changes in their travel plans to the recent tension in the East Sea. 

Thu Huong, who lives in Hanoi's Dong Da District said her family just returned from a tour to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Initially, their party had included a number of relatives who later decided to travel to Singapore-Malaysia, instead, citing concerns about the political tension.

Vu The Binh, chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association, argued that the decline was “normal” given the current economic difficulties, high visa fees (US$60 per application) and complicated procedures.

The price of many Chinese tours were out of the reach for most normal Vietnamese people, he said.

“The East Sea tension between the two countries is also a factor, because tourism is very sensitive to political turmoil, but it was not the main reason for the recent decline,” he said.

But “if the East Sea remains tense, it will affect tourism more strongly and seriously,” Binh stressed.

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According to VnExpress, the number of Chinese tourists to Vietnam has also declined.
In fact, statistics put out by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism  showed that 79,000 Chinese tourists visited Vietnam in June--a 32 percent drop from the same period last year. That figure was 90,700 in July, a 13 percent drop in the number of Chinese tourists welcomed in 2011.
Luu Duc Ke, director of Hanoi Tourist,

Vietnam latest news | Thai Nguyen tourism area: well begun is half done

Thai Nguyen tourism area: well begun is half done 

Last Updated: Friday, July 13, 2012 07:25:00

 
Nui Coc, a reservoir built in 1973 in the northern province of Thai Nguyen, has 89 large and small islands, and a national tourism area is now under construction here

A half-built national tourism area around the Nui Coc Dam in the northern highlands province of Thai Nguyen is already an attraction.
Though the 19,000-hectare project is only scheduled for completion in 2020, the works that have been finished so far and the landscapes are worth a day trip from Hanoi.
The reservoir, built in 1973, has 89 large and small islands along its 17-kilometer length.
It takes an hour to go around the lake by boat, but those who love excitement can take high-speed boats.
Tourists can visit islands like Co (stork), De (goat), and Khi (monkey), named after animals inhabiting them.
On other islands, they can enjoy the quiet atmosphere of local villages, or pay a visit to the temple of Mau Thuong Ngan, one of Vietnam’s three goddesses.
The most famous island is Nui Cai (big mountain), where more than 1,000 products from more than 90 craft villages around the country are displayed at an old house. But to reach it one has to climb 108 steps, along which, on the hill, are hundreds of graves and large old trees that give the place an air of mystery.
Not far from the old house is another which is estimated to be 200 years old.
Also on this island is an outdoor museum displaying hundreds of terracotta copies of relics from cultures like the Sa Huynh, which is believed to have flourished between 1000BCE and 200CE in central and southern Vietnam, and the Oc Eo in the Mekong Delta in the first to sixth centuries.
Among them are statues of lions, tigers, and elephants and reliefs covered with human shapes.

HOW TO GET THERE?

By car/motorbikeFrom Hanoi: Go along the National Road 3 to reach Thai Nguyen Town some 80 kilometers away. Head to Dai Tu District. Pass the Tan Cuong tea hills which stretch for nearly 20 kilometers to reach Nui Coc.

Nui Cai offers a panoramic view of Thai Nguyen’s largest hydropower dam, which is 500 meters long.
One of the main attractions of the tourist area is a theme park that includes a water park covering some 3.4 hectares and a one-hectare forest with monkeys and deer and introduced species such as ostrich.
Huyen Thoai Cung (legendary palace), Ba Cay Thong (three pine trees), and The Gioi Co Tich (fairytale world) artificial caves have been completed for visitors to see as they pass through by boat, and have artworks on their walls.
At Huyen Thoai Cung, a legend about Nui Coc will be narrated with graphic and audio tools.
The legend has it that the lake was formed by the tears of a woman who was mourning the death of her lover. The man had died and turned into a mountain earlier, after her father separated them due to the differences in their family backgrounds.
Around 200 guest rooms are being built on hills while food and drinks, especially Thai Nguyen specialties like freshwater fish that weigh up to 10 kilograms, are sold. A hotel is also built inside three large statues near Ba Cay Thong Cave.

Big rise in Vietnamese tourists to Cambodia | Look At Vietnam

Big rise in Vietnamese tourists to Cambodia

June 28, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Cambodia saw a large increase in the number of Vietnamese tourists visiting the country in the first five months of this year, to about 305,000.

According to statistics released by Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism on June 25, almost 1.5 million overseas holiday-makers arrived in the country during this period, a year on year increase of 26.3 percent.
Of this number, 1.1 million tourists were from Asian Pacific nations.
Tourism is one of Cambodia ’s key economic sectors and makes a substantial contribution to the country’s GDP, which has helped to ensure a stable economic growth in the country over recent years.
Last year, almost 3 million overseas tourists travelled to Cambodia , including 600,000 from Vietnam.
The Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap province, the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh and the beaches in Kongpong Som province are now popular destinations in Cambodia, attracting large numbers of tourists.
VietNamNet/Vietnam Plus

Nha Trang’s makeover 

June 2, 2012

The resort city is more than just beach, trumpet three newly-opened tourism sites

Tourists relax in a mud bath at a resort on the outskirts of the central resort city of Nha Trang.
Nha Trang is one of the most famous resort towns in Vietnam, thanks to its long and beautiful beaches. But the dazzling beaches also meant tourism was virtually restricted to sun and surf. Hoping to change that perception, the central city has been busy adding new attractions.
Yangbay Waterfall
Yangbay, which means “God’s water” in the ethnic Raglai language, is situated in a 570-hectare valley some 45 kilometers from Nha Trang. It is surrounded by a pristine forest, and together with another waterfall nearby, Yangkang, has created many ponds, some more than 100 meters wide.
In 2008 a tourism area was set up here, and it now has several attractions that show a glimpse into the culture of the Raglai people, such as pig racing.
During New Year and other festivals each Raglai family chooses its best pig for a village race. The winner is killed and offered to the Gods and shared among the village, and the family owning the animal is awarded and wished good luck.
Also on show at Yangbay are performances on traditional musical instruments, including the lithopone, by ethnic artists.
Another must-see is a 30-meter-tall tree named Moc Thieng (sacred wood) at the entrance to the tourist area. It is actually three different trees growing close together and is so thick that it takes more than 20 people holding hands to encircle it completely. No one knows for sure how old it is, but locals say it has been there for a very long time.
The Raglai believe it is the abode of the God of Yangbay forest. Every day before entering and leaving the forest, they stop at the tree and pray for good health and career and happiness. Tourists can also take part in the traditional practice and pray for good luck.
Mud bath
Vietnam’s first mud bath opened at the Thap Ba hot spring on the outskirts of Nha Trang in 2000. Though many more mud baths have come up across the country since, Thap Ba remained the most famous, thanks to its quality and varied services.
However, its preeminence may now be threatened by the newly-opened resort in Vinh Ngoc Commune, also on the city’s outskirts.
Owned by architect Ngo Van Ich, the 5.6-hectare resort devotes more than half its area to a mineral mud bath, while the rest is still being built and expected to be finished in a few years.
The design is based on nature. It has an outdoor bathing area, another meant for families, massage pools, spas, and a place where tourists can try Vietnamese folk games.
We paid VND2 million (US$96) for a mud bath, which is the rate for a family of two to four. We were given a hut with wooden basins to pour mud and mineral hot water over ourselves. There were also soft drinks, fruits, ginger tea, snacks, and massage for the money.
The service is excellent with staff always available outside the hut, ready to meet any customer need.
The countryside
Memento – meaning “memory” in Italian – is a 1.5-hectare resort situated around 15 kilometers from Nha Trang.
Unlike other resorts, fancy and built along the beach, Memento, owned by Tran Dang Nhon, an English teacher, is set amid fields next to a village in Dien Hoa Commune.
It is, in fact, built on what used to be his family orchard.
It has 12 bungalows designed just like local houses. There is a swimming pool, lawns, vegetable and fruit gardens, and a fish pond.
The resort offers guests various activities like fishing, kite flying, and touring the village on horse- and cow-drawn carts.
A real treat is the opportunity to enjoy authentic foods together with local families. Guests are taught how to make simple Vietnamese dishes like banh xeo (fried pancakes made from rice flour and stuffed with fatty pork, shrimp, onions, and others), and goi cuon (a salad roll with pork, prawns, rice vermicelli, and herbs in rice paper).
People who used to live in the countryside will surely feel twinges of nostalgia at Memento. For others it will be an all new travel experience.

How much is enough for tourism promotion? | Look At Vietnam

How much is enough for tourism promotion?

June 2, 2012

LookAtVietnam – The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism VNAT has
spent a lot of money on tourism promotion campaigns. However, the costly
programs prove to be unprofessional and ineffective.

Fastening belt in economic downturn
VNAT has suggested a mechanism on budgeting tourism promotion campaigns, under
which one dollar earned from every traveler to Vietnam would be re-invested to
advertise and promote Vietnam’s tourism in Vietnam and in foreign countries.
With the mechanism, the more foreign tourists to Vietnam, the higher budget for
tourism promotion campaigns would be allocated. In 2011, for example, Vietnam
received 6 million travelers, which means that Vietnam should reserve 6 million
dollars (120 billion dong).
However, in reality, the budget for tourism promotion activities has been cut
year after year. Nguyen Manh Cuong, VNAT’s Deputy General Director, said
Thailand and Malaysia spend 80-100 million dollars a year to promote their
tourism. Meanwhile, Vietnam would have only 2 million dollars this year for the
activities.
In principle, the budget of 2 million dollars would be allocated to different
agencies. It is estimated that 70 percent of the sum would be put under the
management of VNAT, while 20 percent would go to the International Cooperation
Agency, and the remaining to some small projects. The dispersing of the
resources is believed to be not a good choice, because this would lead to the
overlapping and low efficiency.
The limited budget is really a big barrier that hinders the advertisement and
promotion activities. Though VNAT attends foreign trade fairs to promote
Vietnam’s tourism, it lacks money to organize supporting events, such as press
conferences, reception or visual promotion activities.
The representative of Sao Viet travel firm said that the lack of money makes the
Vietnamese booth at trade fairs dim and unattractive. Meanwhile, some big travel
firms and the national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines, which are believed
financially powerful, all have their own stalls and they refuse to display their
products and services at the national tourism booth.
Cut your coat according to your cloth
Pham Trung Luong, Deputy Head of the Tourism Research and Development Institute,
said it’s clear that the budget cuts would badly affect tourism promotion
activities. However, as the budget cut proves to be unavoidable for now, it
would be better to discuss about how to use the modest sum of money to promote
tourism.
Luong said that while Vietnam lacks money, it still wastes money on the things
which cannot bring effects. Travel firms have many times complained about the
unprofessional way of the watchdog agencies in organizing the outbound trips to
attend foreign trade fairs.
Vietnam once brought a lot of leaflets to a foreign trade fair to promote
tourism. However, the leaflets were then left at the Vietnamese embassies in the
countries.
There could be two reasons behind this. First, Vietnam brought to the trade fair
the products which were not interested by travelers. And second, Vietnam did not
choose the right way of doing marketing: while people try to search for tourism
information on Internet, Vietnam only bring printed leaflets and brochures.
“One should not blame everything on the lack of money,” Luong said.
He believes that Vietnam needs to learn thoroughly about a market before it
plans to penetrate the market. Opening representative offices in the foreign
markets proves to be the best way to learn about the new markets. Besides, the
offices can also act as the bridge that connects Vietnam’s tourism with local
travelers.
However, to date, Vietnam still has not offices in foreign countries, including
in Japan, which is considered the most potential market for Vietnam.
Tin Tuc

FDI projects foster development of electronics industry | Look At Vietnam

FDI projects foster development of electronics industry

May 26, 2012

Vietnam’s export turnover of electronics products is seen growing strongly in the coming time given an influx of new foreign-invested electronics projects being set up and operational ones scaling up production. The arrival of large-scale foreign-invested electronics projects promises strong development momentum for the local industry.
New projects on the way

Cell phones are produced at the factory of Samsung in Bac Ninh.

A source from the Haiphong Economic Zone Authority (HEZA) said a Japanese electronics manufacturer is working with HEZA on promoting a large-scale printer factory project in the city.
Though declining to reveal the name of the investor, the source informed the project worth over US$100 million is aimed at producing printers for export. The investor is finalizing necessary procedures and it is expected that HEZA will grant this investor an investment certificate in June or July.
Not only Haiphong, other localities also see many foreign electronics producers and cell phone makers coming to sound out opportunities or pouring additional capital into their operational projects, even in the current tough circumstances.
Most notably, Wintek Corporation, a Taiwanese producer of touch screens for Apple iPads and iPhones, has decided to revise up the investment capital in its Bac Giang-based factory from US$250 million to US$1.12 billion. The additional capital of US$870 million will be used to import more devices and production lines, as well as expand the workshop to boost production.
The factory of Wintek in Vietnam will supply touch panels, liquid crystal displays (LCD) and liquid crystal monitors (LCM). When stable production is achieved, the factory will export billions of dollars worth of products and generate jobs for over 10,000 workers.
Meanwhile, Nokia in late April officially launched its cell phone plant project in the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) in Bac Ninh Province. The project worth 200 million euros, or US$256 million, is expected to start operation in 2013, turning out 180,000 products per year and creating jobs for 10,000 people.
This decision was made a few months after Nokia shut up and scaled down several factories in Europe to cut costs. This marks a new step in Nokia’s strategy to turn Vietnam into a link in the global supply chain of the world’s leading cell phone maker.
A factory producing cell phones and electronics components invested by Japan’s Kyocera will get off the ground this June. The factory worth US$55 million in the first phase will be developed in Thang Long II Industrial Park in Hung Yen.
Although the first phase has yet to be kicked off, Kyocera has already planned to add US$195 million in the second phase to expand production of cell phones and others. The factory is expected to start service in August 2013.
Development momentum
In a short period of time, many electronics projects with hefty foreign direct investment (FDI) capital have come to Vietnam. This has raised expectations for the development of the local electronics industry and bigger contribution of export revenue since the investors of the aforesaid projects all aim at export and creating global supply chains.
Although the local economy is facing many troubles, Vietnam remains attractive to foreign investors thanks to the abundant manpower and the strategic position connecting China and Southwest Asia, said analysts. The fact that Nokia has decided to invest in Vietnam instead of the experienced Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia shows that Vietnam is still an appealing investment destination.
According to several electronics enterprises, the electronics component factories in China and other Asian countries currently tend to shift their production to Vietnam. This is proven by the presence of the production facilities of the world’s leading electronics groups in Vietnam, such as Samsung of South Korea, Intel of the U.S., Panasonic, Canon and Fujitsu of Japan, and Foxconn of Taiwan.
Analysts noted these projects have been making great contributions to the development of Vietnam’s electronics industry. The factories of the world’s top electronics producers in Vietnam will attract satellite investors, and certainly boost export.
Previously, the export of cell phones and electronics components usually fetched US$300-400 million per month. However, since July last year, the export turnover of this commodity group has always stayed at US$1.3 billion a month, said the General Department of Customs.
This achievement is mostly attributed to the Samsung factory in Bac Ninh. The factory last year exported over US$6 billion worth of products, and an average US$1 billion per month this year.
The South Korean electronics group is expanding its factory by pouring an additional US$830 million, taking the total investment capital in the factory to US$1.5 billion. This will definitely bring in higher export revenue in the coming time.
Meanwhile, the project of Intel, though just in its first-phase operation, has contributed a hefty 50% to the total export turnover of the HCMC-based Saigon Hi-Tech Park in 2011.
SGT

Service providers sting themselves by overcharging travelers | Look At Vietnam

Service providers sting themselves by overcharging travelers

May 10, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Hotel, restaurants, resorts, carriers all try to overcharge
travelers on holidays or in high tourism season, which has made domestic
travelers turn their backs to domestic tours.

Travel firms have complained that the input service fees have been increasing
dramatically, especially on rush days, thus making domestic tours less
attractive to Vietnamese people. Travelers now tend to choose outbound tours,
which have lower tour fees, instead domestic expensive and monotonous tours.
Boring tours
Nguyen Van My, Director of Lua Viet travel firm, complained that it’s now very
difficult to sell domestic tours because of the high fees.
The fees of the tours to the central region on the May holiday, for example,
jumped to 5-6 million dong per traveler, much higher than the tour fee to
Cambodia at 3.6-3.7 million dong. Especially, the tour fees to Hanoi sometimes
are even higher than that to Singapore.
Outbound tours also attract Vietnamese travelers with their diversified and
interesting schedules. Meanwhile, domestic tours have not been diversified, thus
making travelers bored.
In fact, travel firms realized the problem many years ago. However, they still
hesitate to re-design tours, because this would be very costly. Meanwhile, their
ideas could be easily “stolen” by others, which would lead to the loss.
Vietnamese travelers do not have the habit of booking tours many months or one
year in advance. They only call to book tours in sudden inspiration. This
results in the increases of the hotel room rates due to the overloading, forcing
travelers to return home or move to other hotels.
My has emphasized that in the big difficulties, travel firms need to become more
professional with long term development strategies, instead of “living from hand
to mouth.” It’s now the right time for travel firms to join forces to develop,
instead of spontaneously dumping the market to scramble for clients.
Regional countries are facing the same difficulties like Vietnam in the context
of the global economic crisis. However, they still can stand firmly thanks to
the professional development strategy and the state’s support. They have not
only slashed tour fees to stimulate the demand, but have also diversified
services to attract more travelers.
Local authorities turn deaf ear to overcharging evil
Tran Van Long, Director of Du Lich Viet, complained that domestic tours were
sold very well in previous years, but the sale has been going very slowly so far
this year.
Long has affirmed that this should not be blamed on the economic crisis, because
this is the problem being faced by all countries in the world.
He has pointed out that service providers are killing themselves by overcharging
travelers on peak days. They raise the hotel room rates, meal service and
transport service fees on long holidays, when the travel demand increases. As a
result, Vietnamese travelers have turned their backs to domestic tours.
Nguyen Thi Khanh, Deputy Chair of the HCM City Tourism Association, has affirmed
that local service providers still can overcharge travelers because the local
authorities turn a deaf ear on the problem.
“The fact that local authorities sell excursion tickets to travelers and
visitors to Ha Long Bay has badly affected the image of a destination which has
been recognized as one of the natural wonders,” Khanh said.
The HCM City Tourism Association plans to work out with local authorities to
call on local service providers to reduce the service fees, so as to help travel
firms slash tour fees. After Vietnam Airlines slashes the airfare by 40 percent,
other service providers also need to slash their service fees, so that the
domestic tour fees can be reduced.
Source: NLD

Ha Long Bay sightseeing 2012

A sightseeing tour to Ha Long Bay

May 3, 2012

LookAtVietnam – On the morning of May 1, tens of thousands of visitors boarded hundreds of ships to visit the Ha Long Bay, which has been recognized as a new natural wonder of the world.

The Bai Chay tourist wharf on the morning of May 1.
All tourist boats have changed their color from brown to white.

A young couple was waiting for their boat.

According to local agencies, up to 15,000 tourists traveled in Ha Long Bay on April 30.

The scorching sun did not prevent tourists from going to the bay.

The Trong Mai Isles – the symbol of Ha Long Bay.

Visitors took pictures.

After seeing the bay, boats took tourists to caves.


Sung Sot Cave.

VNE/DT

Tourism sector targets Japanese visitors

April 15, 2012

The country has targeted to welcome 1 million Japanese tourists by 2015 as Japan has always been among the top five markets for Viet Nam’s tourism sector for recent years.
Viet Nam ranked the third most attractive destination to Japanese tourirsts in the ASEAN region with nearly 482,000 Japanese coming to the country last year, up 8.9 per cent from the previous year, although it was devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in March last year.
The first two months of the year saw nearly 110,000 Japanese visiting Viet Nam, up 16.9 per cent year-on-year.
Viet Nam has significant advantages to attract Japanese tourists including stable political security, 15 days visa to be exempt from Japanese guests travelling to Viet Nam, near distance between Viet Nam and Japan (only 5 hour direct flight), many cultural similarities between two countries, good diplomatic relationship and various tourism resources of Viet Nam which meet the Japanese people’s tastes.
However, deputy director of the Viet Travel Channel Company Ho Kim Dung said that it was not easy to be access to Japanese tourist market as Japanese arrivals are high demanding while Viet Nam’s tourism service quality has remained restricted.
The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) also admitted that there remained difficulties to attract Japanese tourists including limited expense for promoting tourism, no tourism promotion office in Japan, lack of marketing strategies for this market and restricted tourism products quality.
Therefore, the goal of attracting 1 million Japanese tourists by 2015 is deemed as ambitious but given available air links, efforts of travel firms in both countries and the appeal of Viet Nam as a favourite destination of Japanese tourists, industry insiders expected that the target would be achievable.
Nguyen Minh Man, director of the Communications Division of Vietravel, which receives roughly 1,000-1,500 Japanese arrivals monthly on average, said that the target would be met if all domestic tourist companies considered the attraction of Japanese visitors a key task from now to 2015 and focused on it to create a comprehensive promotion campaign to attract the visitors.
VNAT has so far drawn up a scheme with various specific activities intended to attract more Japanese visitors, including the inauguration of a representative office in Japan late this year. When the office is in place, marketing and advertising projects on television and in newspapers and direct interactions with customers will be conducted in a more regular basis.
Besides creating website in Japanese language to promote Viet Nam tourism on the base of studying taste characteristics of Japanese market, VNAT will also establish the group of Viet Nam-Japan tourism development and step up training the Japanese tour guides as well as the human resources to improve customer service quality.
An expansion of direct flights between the two countries is also considered a measure to attract more Japanese tourists to Viet Nam.
VNS

City tourism Festival

City tourism festival to counter economic crisis

April 10, 2012

The 8th annual HCM City Tourism Day Festival to be held this month will seek to
promote the local travel industry amid a global economic slump.

The event, scheduled to be held at the 23/9 Park in
District 1, will be hosted by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and
the HCM City Tourism Association.
La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the department, told a
conference on Thursday that the main purpose of the festival was to stimulate
domestic tourism demand.
It sought to do that by acting as a bridge between travel
companies and customers, he added.
The highlight of this year’s event will be the Sac Mau Le
Hoi Viet Nam (Colours of Vietnamese Festivals) and a fete to honour city tourism
brands.
The festival will feature a tourism fair with more than 150
booths set up by 80 travel companies, while Vietnamese and international
cuisines will be showcased at 20 other booths.
A photo exhibition titled Anh Dep Le Hoi Viet Nam
(Beautiful Photos of Vietnamese Festivals), will highlight the various
landscapes around Viet Nam.
A performance of don ca tai tu (southern amateur music)
will be another major attraction.
People making tour bookings at the event stand to win
prizes and freebies.
Organisers hope to attract 300,000 visitors this year, up
from 200,000 last year.
Last year HCM City raked in revenues of VND56 trillion
(US$2.7 billion) from tourism, or 11 per cent of the country’s total.
It welcomed 3.5 milliion international visitors and 14
million domestic visitors.
The festival will be held from April 12 to 15.

VNS