Vietnam to support community tourism

HANOI Vietnam will open more community-based tourism projects to help local residents improve their living standards and share benefits generated by the tourism boom.
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism director, Nguyen Van Tuan, told local media that Vietnam needed to encourage communities to embrace tourism and also ensure financial benefits trickled down to the local economy.
Local residents in major cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City already benefit from tourism as it spurs spending and supports restaurants and shops, but other towns need to look at ways to involve communities so they also benefit, he added.
Vietnam has 54 different ethnic groups that could develop community-based tourism. The challenge is to gain the support of communities to identify the right opportunities and to ensure they actually benefit from tourism earnings.
The country welcomed close to 5.5 million international tourists during the first nine months of this year, an increase of 9.9% compared to the same period last year.
In 2013, Vietnam welcomed over 35 million domestic and 7.57 million international tourists, up by 7.7% and 10.6% respectively year-on-year.

sourced:ttrweekly.com