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Special hallmarks in Vietnamese tourism sector

VGP - The Vietnamese tourism sector witnessed a successful and impressive year in 2017 in which the number of international arrivals set an unprecedented record high, said General Director of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Van Tuan.

January 02, 2018 8:55 AM GMT+7

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Mr. Tuan was quoted as saying that 2017 was a successful year with numerous hallmarks. The Political Bureau issued Resolution 08-NQ/CP on developing tourism into a spearhead industry. The Government unveiled Resolution 103 on an action plan to transform the tourism sector into the country’s economic engine, following the Politburo’s decision to pursue the goal. 

The amended Tourism law was officially passed by the National Assembly on June 19, 2017 with a series of adjustments in favor of tourism development in the future.

In 2017, the tourism industry fulfilled the Government’s preset goal by receiving 13 million foreign guests, up 30% against 2016 and 74 million domestic guests. The sector earned VND 500 trillion in revenue (equivalent to US$ 23 billion) and contributed 7.5% of the national GDP.

A string of important tourism events took place in Viet Nam such as the APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting, the National Tourism Year 2017 - Lao Cai - Northwest .

Viet Nam was listed as one of the ten countries with the fastest tourism growth pace in the world and among the group of Top 6 in Asia. 

However, the General Director also pointed out some shortcoming as the domestic tourism sector was left behind by its regional peers namely Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and even Indonesia.   

The tourism industry was still limited and modestly competitive. It still coped with four challenges, including inflexible visa policies, non-professional promotion competence, weak service quality, and poor management of security and safety. 

In 2018, the non-smoke industry targets to receive about 15 million foreign visitors and serve 80 million domestic guests; earn VND 600 trillion; and contribute 8-8.2% of the national GDP./.

By Kim Anh