Hosted by Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper and the Vietnam National Administrationof Tourism (VNAT), the conference was attended by experts and representativesof tourism businesses.
Tourism promotion activities play a crucial role in boosting the development ofthe industry, said Dinh Ngoc Duc, Director of the Tourism Market Departmentunder the VNAT.
In the first six months of the year, the number of international touristarrivals was on the rise, showing the success of promotion efforts.
“We promoted the right products, chose the right markets and had good workerson the job,” Duc said. “However, we admit that more can be done to boost theindustry and we are not yet in line with other countries in the region becauseof a lack of professionalism and budget."
Duc said he expected the conference, titled "Promoting Tourism:Breaking-through Needed", would come up with suggestions to more effectivepromote Vietnam as a tourist destination.
Nguyen Tien Dat, Vice Director of the TransViet Company, said the limitedbudget should be allocated appropriately.
“In the era of technology and social networks, we shouldn’t follow the oldways,” said Dat. “Instead of organising costly roadshows to promote tourism, weuse Facebook, Google and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), depending on differentmarkets.”
“The fact is that promoting tourism through the emotional and truthful storiesof KOLs and celebrities is very effective and attractive to the public.”
Duc agreed, saying: “we are not standing outside the trend of smart devices andtechnology”.
“Actually, VNAT has used Tik Tok, a media application for creating and sharingshort videos,” said Duc. “We have produced 15,000 clips focusing on Vietnamesetourism. In August, we will continue to produce video clips to introducedestinations in the northern province of Ninh Binh. Vietnamese gastronomy willbe a focus at the end of this year."
Duc also revealed the e-marketing strategy focused on building up the newwebsite www.vietnam.travel.com to provide more information for tourists.
Hoang Nhan Chinh, director of the Travel Advisory Board (TAB), delivered somesolutions including increasing the budget for promotion, improving the e-visapolicy and focusing on the quality of tourists, not only quantity.
“I mean we should have particular policies to attract specific groups oftourists," Chinh said. "We don’t just target attracting more and moretourists but also try to make them spend more to increase the income for thetourism industry.”
Chinh revealed that TAB has many sponsors including Vingroup, Sun Group,Saigontourist, Hanoitourist and Vietnam Airlines, who have promised to fundpromotion activities until 2021.
Vietnam continues to be an attractive destination for international touristswith the number of international visitors continuously reaching over 1 millionpeople per month since the beginning of 2019, according to the statistics fromthe Vietnam Administration of Tourism.
In the first six months of 2019, Vietnam welcomed nearly 10 millioninternational visitors, up 7.9 percent over the same period last year. Thelargest increase was in arrivals by road, up 24.9 percent, followed arrivals byair at 4.5 percent. It is estimated that this year Vietnam will receive 18million international tourists. - VNS/VNA