Vietnam tackles decline

HANOI Vietnam will create stronger promotional programmes to reverse the recent decline in international visitors.
Vietnam Tourism Association vice chairman, Vu The Binh, told local media the priority was to stop the decline in foreign visits that was identified in travel data last year and continues to trouble the country over the first three months of 2015.
One of the measures will focus on easing visa procedures and adding more countries to the visa-free list.
International arrivals to Vietnam declined for the 10th consecutive month in March.
inside no 1“The association and Vietnam National Administration of Tourism are working on some specific promotional programmes for submission to the government for consideration,” he said.
“To implement the programmes, there should be a competent agency to work with ministries and departments over policies to support tour operators and evaluate results.”
Domestic tourism will be encouraged to help support the travel industry to compensate for the losses in international travel. Domestic tourism products will ultimately attract more international travellers if quality improves and supporting infrastructure is strong.
Discounted tours are viewed as a very short-term solution to prop up sales, but long-term improvement should be the goal based on building quality travel experiences, the vice chairman said.
According to VNAT, the country welcomed 2,007,884 international visitors during the first quarter of this year, down 13.7% year-on-year.

sourced:ttrweekly.com