Activities & Policy

(Cinet)- April 17th, General Department of Tourism holds a regular press conference to inform tourism’s operation results in the Quarter I of 2008 and orientations in 2008

Attending the press conference has Chief of General Department of Tourism Nguyen Quoc Ky; Leaders from Offices, Departments, Units under the General Department of Tourism; and other representatives from press agencies.

In the first 3 months of 2008, a number of international tourists visiting Vietnam reached 1,285,954 people, increasing by 15.7 % compared with the same period last year. Of which, traveling by land went up nearly 65.8%; going by sea rose to 17.6% and traveling by air remained unchanged with 6.1%, compared to the same period last year. In terms of tourist market, foreign visitors from Asean countries grew stably; Chinese tourist market went up 60.2%, compared to the same period in 2007; and other markets are still developing. However, South Korean and Japanese markets, which are two leading ones of Vietnam, went down slowly.

With regard to investment attraction, in 2007, the total number of foreign-invested projects in the tourist field granted licenses was 47 with the registration capital of US$1,863 million. In the Quarter I/2008 alone, the total number of foreign-invested projects in the tourist field was 8 with the registration capital of US$1,621 million. It is a good signal to affirm that the investment trend in the tourist field is growing rapidly, namely at tourist centers along the coastal of the Central Regions. Tourist activities at all locals go on to be held in such a lively atmosphere. Many locals are also conducting the press conference to introduce their tourist events in 2008. One of the most striking tourist events in the Quarter I was the opening ceremony of the 2008 Can Tho Tourist Year with an interesting theme of “Hick of the Mekong River Delta”. Of which, a variety of events, festival activities, fairs and festivals were held and attached a great number of domestic and international visitors.

Tourism’s major works in 2008 includes:

· Completing the apparatus of functions, duties and staffs in the tourist industry from the Central to the Local;

· Mainly carrying out the 2008 Can Tho Tourist Year, and the Hue Festival; in coordination with all the locals holding tourist events there; Building a projection of the Central Highlands Tourist Year submitted to the Prime Minister of the Government for approval;

· Completing and promulgating a Circular guiding the Decree No. 92/NĐ-CP to comprehensively conduct Tourist Law and related professional works;

· Focusing on developing particular products associated with Vietnam trademark, namely being interested in visitors by land, sea, and air to possibly attract more visitors and reach the 2008 set targets;

· Implementing a projection “Three Nations – A Destination”, setting up a group of tourist work, holding survey trips and developing common tourist products;

· Holding meetings and seminars to develop many ways of tourist attraction by land, sea, air…;

· Under the guidance of Leader of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the whole tourist Industry makes great efforts to hold a tourist Forum of the ASEAN ATF 2009 successfully (lasting from 5^th to 12^th January 2009) in Hanoi.

Source: TCDL