Vietnam showcases diversity via China campaign

By Satish G. | eTN Asia
The Vietnam Administration for Tourism (VNAT) has come up with two new tourism campaigns in Shanghai and Beijing to attract more Chinese traveling from major centres. With striking headline, "Vietnam is more than Ha Long," the campaign is propelling tourists to venture to vacation sites in central and southern Vietnam as well.

Vietnam attracted 142,664 Chinese tourists in the first quarater of 2006. The figure is down by 30 percent year-on-year.
 
Overall, in the first quarter of this year, the number of foreign arrivals into Vietnam increased 15 percent year on year to one million. The hotel occupancy rates in tourist sites reached 65 percent and even 90 percent in major cities such as Hanoi, the central city of Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.
 
VNAT deputy head Pham Tu ineffective travel campaigns were to blame for the fact that most Chinese only get as far as Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, leaving the rest of the country undiscovered.
 
Among other developments, according to the National Steering Committee for Tourism, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan has told the Foreign Ministry to set up a visa agency in Shanghai to ease the granting of entry visas to Vietnam. The deputy PM also asked the Vietnam Aviation Department to negotiate with Chinese partners to open more air routes from China to Hanoi and other tourism destinations throughout Vietnam.

April 27, 2006   Posted in: Vietnam