Although conference-related tourism has started to take shape in Viet Nam, Pham Huu Minh, the director of Tourism Promotion Department, opined that the main money makers this year will again be health care and tourism travel.

What do you think about the promotion of Viet Nam tourism in 2006?

In 2006, tourism promotion met many favourable conditions. We successfully conducted the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) meeting and successfully negotiated to become an official member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

It was high time the country took advantage of international integration, including attracting more foreign investment, and improving the infrastructure and capacity of services.

In previous years, we did well to carry out tourism promotional efforts in overseas countries with successes in festivals like "Vietnamese days in Belgium", "Vietnamese days in Britain" and actives at large international fairs in the Philippines, Germany, France, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, China and Britain.

After APEC, many people expect that Meeting-Intensive Convention Events (MICE) would spearhead tourism over the next few years. What are your thoughts on this possible trend?

MICE tourism is a potential model; revenue returns are often five times higher than traditional models of tourism, according to estimate by international economists. And the country’s success in hosting the APEC meeting showed our capacity to hold such large events and introduced our peaceful environment to overseas friends. It will open more opportunities over the next few years.

But actually, MICE tourism in Viet Nam has only just begun. As a matter of fact, 29 per cent of all international MICE tourism relates to the medical profession, which doesn’t seems to be popular here.

Furthermore, this tourism model requires a highly professional industry with modern facilities, good service and proficient management, all of which are just taking root in the country.

I think Viet Nam should invest more into MICE tourism before we consider it a serious model to compete with regional centres like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore.

I suppose in the coming years we will concentrate mostly on developing health care and travel tourism, which attracts more than two million people a year, accounting for 58 per cent of the total market.

Could you mention some major overseas markets that will be developed this year?

In 2007, we will continue to exploit traditional markets including mainland China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asian countries, New Zealand, Australia, North America and Europe. China leads the list with over 516,000 tourists in 2006, followed by South Korea and the US.

Though last year, the number of Chinese tourists decreased by about 28 per cent over 2005, but revenues netted from these travellers seems to have increased. We plans to focus on high-end Chinese tourists who tend to travel by air and sea instead of by motor across border gates.

In 2006, the number of tourists from ASEAN countries accounted for 14 per cent of the total number of tourists.

I also think Russia and Eastern Europe are new potential markets for Viet Nam.

Could you give more details about the plan to popularise Viet Nam in 2007?

This year, the State will pour VND20 billion (US$1.25 million), down by $312,500 from 2006, to promote tourism. It is quite a reduction, therefore, we will carry out advertising campaigns first.

Drawing on successful experiences from 2006, we will maintain the slogan, "Viet Nam, the hidden charm", and launch a new motto, "Improve quality and efficiency" in 2007 in order to meet the new demands from Viet Nam becoming the 150th member of the WTO.

We expect to use more labour and renew tourism products. Maps and tour guides will be published in more languages including English, French, Chinese, German and Spanish. More posters will posted along main streets. We will also co-operate with the media and press circles nationwide to promote festivals in Thai Nguyen, Lao Cai, Phu Tho, Yen Bai; the ASEAN Cup 2009, and other fairs held in HCM City and Khanh Hoa Province.

We plan to advertise resorts in Da Lat City, Phu Quoc District in Kien Giang Province, Khanh Hoa Province and Da Nang City.

I think we should focus on exploiting travel by sea which is quite suitable for the country with our long beautiful coastline.

We also have eyes on improving promotional efforts at 13 big international fairs and organising two festivals, namely: "Vietnamese days in France" and "Vietnamese days in India", which will be hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The National Administration of Tourism will submit a proposal to the Prime Minister to adjust the overall development plan which highlights certain major tourism zones. We will spare no effort to attract around six million international tourists to net a total revenue of between $4-5 billion by 2010.

Source: Vietnam News