Vietnam Tourism Industry Under Current Economics Downturn

Vietnam Tourism Industry Under Current Economics Downturn

Vietnam Tourism Industry under current economics downturn

The current economic downturn in global consumer spending and international stock markets losing value affected almost every country and many companies in the world – Vietnam and its tourism industry are not exceptional.

Vietnam tourism is facing new challenges by the impact of financial crisis. Number of international visitors has been reduced tremendously for the last quarter of 2008. According to the year-end statistics from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), only about 4.2 million international guests arrived in Vietnam in 2008 instead of 5 million as forecasted. The main reason is due to the general inflation in Vietnam as well as in other countries. Another reason (which has nothing to do with the economic downturn worldwide) is because of the too expensive hotel costs and the difficult situation when booking hotel rooms in Vietnam during the last one and a half years that made international tourists move to some neighboring countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and China.

During these economic crisis and recessions, Vietnam Tourism must have some basic measures in order to become a real destination attraction for international tourists. Firstly, Vietnam should have a strategic marketing focus to promote tourism in the region market such as East Asia, China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan (because visitors in Europe and the U.S. are now having a difficult time due to economic crisis). Secondly, let’s look at our neighboring countries - Thailand has spent an annual budget of 52 million U.S.dollars to promote tourism, Malaysia even with 98 million U.S.dollars. Our budget of 2 million U.S.dollars is certainly not good enough. Our tourism industry should receive good investment to build a brand. Furthermore, our government, especially the management of tourism, must cooperate with private companies operating in this field. Every one must work hand in hand together to...

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