Where is Vietnam tourism located in ASEAN?

The Sun Wheel at the Asian Park, Da Nang

Happy and sad numbers

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (Asean), in 2016, Vietnam ranked fifth in terms of international arrivals with more than 10 million arrivals, equaling 31% of Thailand's 32.6 million, or 37% of Malaysia's. 26.8 million), 61% of Singapore (16.4 million), 83% of Indonesia (12 million).

On the "Competitiveness Index", the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said that according to the World Tourism Forum's Global Competitiveness Report (WEF) 2017, Vietnam ranked 67/136 economic growth, up 8 levels compared to 2015 and belong to the group of 10 economies with the highest improvement in rankings; Ranked # 5 and topping the rankings in ASEAN compared to the 2015 rating.

Vietnam's strongest point is cultural and business travel (rank 30), natural resources (rank 34), price competitiveness (rank 35), human resources and labor market (rank 37).But many of Vietnam's indicators are ranked low: environmental sustainability (rank 129), quality of tourism infrastructure (rank 113), priority for tourism (rank 101) and level international opening (rank 76).In particular, the biggest constraints for the Vietnamese tourism industry are: the quality of tourism infrastructure ranked 113, government spending on tourism ranked 114; The index requires entry visa rank 116, the lowest among ASEAN countries.

Also in comparision in the ASEAN region, in 2016 Vietnam spent only about 2.5 million USD to promote national tourism destinations while Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia spend about 100 million USD for this activity.

At present, Vietnam exempts entry visas for citizens of 22 countries but Indonesia exempts 169 countries and territories; Singapore is 158, the Philippines 157, Malaysia 155 and Thailand exempt citizens of 61 countries and territories.

Malaysia has 35 representative offices abroad, Thailand has 28 offices, 23 offices in Singapore and Vietnam has no representative office abroad.
 

However, the growth rate of tourism in Vietnam is the second highest in the region. In the period 2011-2016, Vietnam's tourism grew by 11%, only lower than Myanmar (37%) and Cambodia (12%).In 2016, Vietnam had the highest growth rate in the region (26%), while Indonesia was 16% (second highest), Philippines (11%), Thailand (9%), Singapore (8%). %), Cambodia and Malaysia (4%), other countries decreased.

From this fact, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism warned that Vietnam's tourism is still low compared to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The ability to catch up with these countries can only be set when Vietnam is really interested in the tourism industry.

For countries in the lower quintile, tourism in Vietnam is at a higher level of development, but if we do not care and have new impetus for development, tourism can gradually reach the level of development. travel of our country.

Works to do

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proposed the Government a number of solutions to bring Vietnam tourism into a key economic sector and achieve the target of 30% growth in 2017.

Specific solutions in the immediate future is to promote tourism promotion activities in the direction of continuing to take advantage of the APEC 2017 opportunity to promote promotion on the spot and abroad; Immediately deploy the package of about 30 billion VND for promotional activities after the tourism promotion fund is formed.

About immigration procedures: Extend the list of countries that have been piloted to apply for e-visas; Continuing visa exemption for citizens of the five countries of England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, a five-year exemption, a 30-day stay.

To concentrate on the management of destinations, assuring security, safety, environmental sanitation and food hygiene for tourists; Strictly implementing Directive No.18 / CT-TTg, Directive 14 / CT-TTg of the Prime Minister.

To step up the exploitation of the domestic tourist market.Continuing to boost domestic demand for tourists, especially summer holidays, National Day holidays and weekend days; To develop new products in key areas in combination with exploiting new destinations in association with sea tourism and natural tourism in combination with culture and history; Strengthening links to develop tourism with the cultural and artistic fields and other fields.

Maintain steady growth of the guest markets, focusing on large-scale markets such as China, Korea, Russia, the US and Western Europe. Allow pilot to issue temporary guide cards for rare language markets.