vietnam tourisme 12jan02

vna

Southeast Asia

Vietnam lures Japanese and Chinese tourists

HANOI - Japanese and Chinese tourists will be the prime targets of promotion schemes run by Vietnam Airlines and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) this year.

Cooperation between VNAT and the airline, which started earlier last year, has proved successful despite the slump in the world tourism market brought on by the terrorists attacks in the United States. The two sectors recently met to discuss the progress of their cooperation program and to work out new plans for 2002.

According to VNAT, tour packages organized through the program are bringing increased profits for Vietnam Airlines as flight tickets account for 60-70 percent of package prices. This year, 11 advertising campaigns promoting Vietnam as the friendliest and safest Asia-Pacific tourist destination will be run by the two partners in Japan and China, with the first one due to take place in Osaka at the end of this month. In addition, pictures of Vietnam's most attractive tourist sites will appear in underground stations in Tokyo throughout this year. The two bodies will also hold regular tourism fairs in Japan and China to promote the country's culture, crafts, fashion and food.

Vietnam, recognized as the safest destination in the Asia-Pacific region, was among the countries least impacted by the terrorist attacks against the United States. In 2001, it received more than 2.3 million foreign visitors. Of those, the number of Japanese visitors to Vietnam increased to 175,000 from the previous year's 135,000. Nearly 80 percent of the Japanese visitors were tourists, with only 15 percent coming for business and 5 percent for other purposes. The number of visitors from China totalled over 600,000, a year-on-year increase of 20 percent. The increase was attributed to the opening of direct flights linking Hanoi with Beijing and Kunming.

More direct flights linking Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with Tokyo will be launched in the middle of the year, while a direct service between Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai will start operating in November.

For its part, Ho Chi Minh City's tourism industry has set its sights high with an ambitious target of 1.35 million foreign visitors and VND5,000 billion (US$334 million) in tourism sector turnover for 2002. According to Ho Chi Minh City's Tourism Department, the city received 1,226,400 foreign travelers last year, an increase of 11.5 percent over the previous year.

"Of course, the program doesn't mean we will neglect other popular markets such as France, Australia and North America," VNAT sources said. Last year, the number of visitors from France to Vietnam increased 16.8 percent, while those from Australia increased 28.4 percent compared with the previous year.

(Asia Times Online/Asia Pulse/VNA)