Vietnam experts huddle over master plan

HANOI Vietnamese and foreign experts are talking their way through a master plan that will give clearer direction to Vietnam’s tourism sector.
EU-funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme expert, assistant professor, Dr Vu Tuan Canh, told local media that a master plan is crucial for tourism development, to ensure tourism can avoid environmental and social problems as well as inefficiency in competitiveness.
“Besides national and regional levels, it is necessary to make plans for localities to attract more tourists and to diversify tourism development in urban and rural areas.”
Meanwhile, Professor Dr Martin Fontanari argued that market orientation was the basis for designing tourism growth strategies. He asserted that it is not procedure, but approach that Vietnam should change to make a long-term, sustainable and feasible plan.
inside no 4“Vietnam should carefully analyse specific destinations, target customers, competitors, policies and direction on tourism so as to provide top quality products that meet the demand of different markets.”
He also focused on the planning of tourism on Son Tra peninsula in Danang, pointing out advantages and weaknesses of the locality and made proposals on building new tourism products towards socially and environmentally responsible tourism.
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism’s Institute for Tourism Development Research vice director, Pham Trung Luong, said the shortcomings of Vietnam’s tourism sector, included poor collaboration among ministries in planning.
He claimed that those who were in charge of plan appraisal were not experts, but often department managers and this led to inaccurate results.
Meanwhile in the real world of business economics, Vietnam tourism continues to suffer declining tourist arrivals for 12 months in a row, since May 2014 with not light at the end of the tunnel.

sourced:ttrweekly.com