Tourism sector urged to step up restructuring

Tourism sector urged to step up restructuring

In Phu Quoc, Kien Giang (Source: VNA)

 

Hanoi (VNA) – The restructuring of the tourism sector should beconducted in a synchronous manner across all related sectors like transport,trade, services and customs, delegates said at a workshop in Hanoi on December22.

The workshop was held to collectrecommendations from experts and business managers to help the Ministry ofCulture, Sports and Tourism complete a plan on tourism restructuring.

Nguyen Quoc Ky, Vietravel Director, said the restructuring needs a clear roadmapwhich identifies priority tasks, adding that it is also necessary to pinpointthe competitive strength and advantages of localities in order to designtypical tourism products.

 

“It is a must to create new and specialproducts designed for different segments of customers, focusing on those fromhigh spending markets like Europe,” he said.

Ky pointed to the imbalance in the number of international tourists to Vietnam,with 55 percent coming from Northeast Asia and 16 percent from Southeast Asia,noting that Chinese holiday-makers account for one third of the total number offoreign vacationers to Vietnam.

Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, from the National Tourism Advisory Board, was of the viewthat the visa policy should be improved, including expanding the scope of tourismvisa exemption and online visa issue while streamlining visa procedures.

Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said restructuringthe tourism sector is one of the solutions to turn tourism into a spearheadeconomic sector as set forth in the Politburo’s Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW.

 

He stressed that tourism restructuringis necessary as tourism development has remained modest as compared withVietnam’s potential, resources and expectations, adding that Vietnam has laggedbehind many regional countries in this field.

 

According to Tuan, the country expects tomeet the target of welcoming 13 million visitors as assigned by the PrimeMinister this year.

In the year, the sector also served about 74 million domestic tourists andearned a total of 515 trillion VND (roughly 23 billion USD), contributing 6.96percent to the country’s GDP.-VNA 

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