Currently, Vietnam’s tourism industry is rushing to complete its works
set for the year and prepare development plans for the next year.
General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
(VNAT) Nguyen Van Tuan spoke with Vietnam Business Forum about existing
issues of this year and preparations for 2015.
*Thanh Hoa
province will host the National Tourism Year 2015 with the theme of
“Connecting world heritages.” Could you please tell us what needs to be
done to develop the tourism industry and connect world heritages?
Thanh
Hoa is endowed with rich resources for culture and marine tourism. The
Citadel of the Ho Dynasty was recognised as the World Cultural Heritage
Site. Lam Kinh relic was recognised as the specially national relic. Sam
Son is a well-known beach destination. Now, the province only needs to
build these places into truly attractive destinations that bring joy and
trust to tourists. Thanh Hoa also needs to cooperate with Ninh Binh and
other provinces taking part in the National Tourism Year 2015.
*Trang
An-Ninh Binh, a famous site near Thanh Hoa, was recognised by UNESCO as
the World Heritage Site. How important is the connection of heritages
inside and outside the region?
The recognition of Trang An –
Ninh Binh as a world natural heritage by UNESCO – the first mixed
heritage in Vietnam and Southeast Asia – affirms the extraordinary value
of this destination and proves the tireless efforts of Ninh Binh and
the enormous contributions of Xuan Truong Company in creating a new
image and a new destination. Now, Ninh Binh province must continue to
enhance the quality of tourism products and services and boost marketing
and promotion activities. It also needs to link with attractions in
other provinces in the region, especially with Ha Long (Quang Ninh
province), Cat Ba (Hai Phong city) and Hanoi to define a key destination
in the northern region. It also needs to train human resources and
invest in facilities to upgrade what Ninh Binh province has done in the
past time.
*Tourism agencies have experienced a tough time. Could
you talk about solutions that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and
Tourism has taken to support them to deal with short-term and long-term
difficulties?
Clearly, tensions on the East Sea caused
substantial impacts on the tourism industry. The Government and the
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism actively directed localities and
businesses to respond this hard time and focus for the phase from now
till 2015-2016.
Accordingly, the tourism sector will focus on
five issues: Maintaining tourism operations in a normal way, control
service quality, ensure security and safety for tourists to build up the
tourist confidence; expanding markets to offset the drop in Chinese
tourists and other nationalities; expanding tourism marketing and
promotion; proposing policies to support and facilitate tourists in
Vietnam. Particularly, the tourism sector also launched a tourism
stimulus programme to increase the domestic demand with the message
“Vietnamese people travel Vietnam, every trip enriches patriotism”.-VNA