Tourism sector urged to improve competitiveness

Tu Hoang

An employee of Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon uses a smartphone to take pictures of foreigners on cyclos before their tour around HCMC. VCCI chairman Vu Tien Loc says Vietnam’s tourism sector needs to find effective measures to improve competitiveness - PHOTO: KIEU GIANG

Vu Tien Loc told a seminar on tourism development in Hanoi on Tuesday that the local tourism sector needs to have a clear roadmap for competitiveness enhancement in comparison with other countries in the ASEAN bloc.

Loc said last year the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) ranked Vietnam 16th among 184 with potential for long-term growth. This meant Vietnam’s tourism has huge potential and a competitive edge in the world.

However, why Vietnam has yet to become a destination for tourists is still a big question mark though there have been many policies to promote tourism growth as detailed in the Government’s Resolution 92/NQ-CP and the Prime Minister’s Directive 14, Loc said.

The number of international visitors to Vietnam is much lower than many other regional countries. International arrivals in Vietnam neared eight million last year while the number in Singapore was 15.1 million, Thailand 24.8 million and Malaysia 27.4 million.

Loc pointed out visa procedures are one of the many important factors for low international arrivals in a country. Vietnam offers visa exemptions for nationals of more than 20 countries while Singapore exempts citizens of 150 countries from entry visa, with unilateral visa exemptions for 82 of them. The respective figures are 155 and 85 for Malaysia and 61 and 49 for Thailand.

Therefore, visa is an important welcoming procedure for international visitors, Loc said and mentioned a story about a European family told by Kenneth Atkinson from the Tourism Working Group at the Vietnam Business Forum 2015 in Hanoi last month as a lesson for the local tourism sector.

At the forum, Atkinson said the European family of four planned to extend their Southeast Asia holiday to Vietnam but chose Thailand instead after discovering that the Vietnam visa fee would be equivalent to the cost of staying for two more nights in Thailand.

Loc said Atkinson commented that it was good if Vietnam could issue on-arrival visa for international visitors as Cambodia does. The neighboring country is said to organize tours better than Vietnam in terms of professionalism.

Loc said not only Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore but also Cambodia, Laos and even Myanmar have run more effective tourism promotional programs than those of Vietnam.

So Loc urged the local tourism sector to work out a specific roadmap to narrow its development gap with other ASEAN countries with a focus on improving the business environment and administrative procedures for the sector.

Loc cited projections of the World Tourism Organization and the WTTC as saying that international visitor arrivals in Vietnam could rise by 8-18% if the country eased visa requirements.

Loc proposed the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ask the Prime Minister to consider unilateral visa exemptions for more countries, especially important markets like Australia, New Zealand, former Soviet Union nations and the signatory nations of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements with Vietnam, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Vietnam-EU FTA.

These are major and potential source markets for the world tourism sector, Loc said.

From this month, Vietnam unilaterally offers visa exemptions for citizens of Italy, Germany, Spain, the UK and France if they stay no more than 15 days in Vietnam.

In addition to visa waivers for the 10 ASEAN countries, Vietnam unilaterally grants visa exemptions for passport holders of Japan, South Korea, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia and Belarus.

Foreign travelers are not required to apply for visa if they stay on Phu Quoc Island off mainland Kien Giang Province for a maximum of 30 days.

Loc said many ASEAN countries are upgrading standards for tourism products and services and jobs in the sector and working out programs for better regional linkages. Higher requirements are important for Vietnam to enhance the competitiveness of the local tourism sector.

Around 14,500 businesses (less than 3%) of the total number of enterprises in Vietnam are active in tourism. Loc said if favorable conditions are created for more companies to join tourism projects, they would help the tourism sector contribute more to the country’s economic growth and generate millions of new jobs for locals.

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