With more than 10 millions foreign visitors recorded in 2017, Vietnam ranks high in the most prominent tourism market. To achieve this outstanding result, tourism promotion activities play a vital part. However, much is needed to be done to improve the work.
Quang Ninh province which is rich in tourism development advantages, has focused on investing and building a brand for the local tourism. After various efforts, Quang Ninh Department of Tourism admits that with small-scale investment and limited promotion capabilities, it is tough to bring Vietnam tourism status to a new level.
“In the progress of promoting for local tourism, sometimes many localities don’t report back to the National Administration of Tourism and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It leads to the problem in which information is mismatche,” said Trinh Dang Thanh, Deputy Head of Quang Ninh Department of Tourism
The financial aspect is also mentioned; the annual budget used for promotional activities and tourism promotion in general is inadequate and often too small. Standing at 2 million USD, the number is relatively modest compared to Singapore, Thailand and other countries in the Southeast Asia which have spent over dozen, to hundred million USD on promotional activities.
Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism Ha Van Sieu said: “Overseas and international tourism promotion activities require enormous capital and it can only be achieved through mobilizing capital from all sources.” “We are suggesting setting up a tourism promotion fund to serve this purpose,” he added.
This responsibility rests upon the hand of Vietnam Administration of Tourism, in addition to radical changes in the promotional processes and methods. It is imperial to utilize digital marketing tools and reap other 4.0 Industry benefits to incorporate them into the Vietnam tourism.
Ha Long Bay, Ninh Binh province, Da Nang city, Hoi An Ancient Town and Phu Quoc island all have developed their own brand of tourism and position themselves in the international markets. However, the unsolved problem is to expand the scale of Vietnam tourism in an effective and sustainable manner. With abundant and untapped potential, Vietnam needs to tackle these problems to affirm and heighten the position of its tourism in the region and in the world./.
