Vietnam ’s tourism sector sees Russia as a potential market as an
increasing number of Russian tourists are choosing Vietnam as a
holiday destination.
According to the Vietnam National
Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the country welcomed over 100,000
arrivals from Russia in 2012. The number is expected to rise to
350,000 by 2015.
In June of this year alone, more than 17,000
Russian tourists arrived in Vietnam , raising the total number
visiting the country to almost 154,000 in the first six months of 2013, a
year-on-year increase of 60 percent.
Nguyen Manh Cuong,
Deputy Director of VNAT said the number of package tours bought by
Russians in recent years has increased sharply.
He said
Russian tourists tended to choose tours to resorts and beaches, where
they enjoy participating in water sports such as water-skiing, jet
skiing, sailing and scuba diving.
However, with the exception
of popular beaches such as Nha Trang and Da Nang in central
Vietnam and Phan Thiet and Phu Quoc in the south, he said that other
famous destinations such as Ha Long, Sa Pa , Ninh Binh and Hue
are failing to attract Russian tourists.
Experts said that it
is necessary to create a link between tourist sites across the country
in order to offer more choices to Russian holiday-makers.
They
added that the country’s travel agencies should develop new tours to
neighboring countries such Laos, Cambodia and Thailand to raise the
attractiveness of their tourism deals.-VNA