Vietnam Tipped to Become Asia´s New Travel Heavyweight

Vietnam is being tipped as the next new tiger of tourism in Asia, according to Xu Jing, a representative of the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

Xu Jing told a Vietnam media that the nation is emerging as an attractive destination making great strides and progress in tourism promotion and development. “It has not only achieved impressive progress in its own right but it has also succeeded in making its impact in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

On the capital of the country, he said, “Hanoi is not only a typical capital city of Asian countries, but it is filled with tourism attractions, especially if you look at the city as a whole, you will find that the city is very well-kept, with the flavor and the beauty of heritage buildings. And this, if you could continue to keep as it is, could certainly serve as a good basis for further tourism development.”

The United Nations World Tourism Organization has developed a special program called “Sustainable Tourism through the Elimination of Poverty” (STEP) with the aim of helping developing countries reduce poverty through tourism activities. The UNWTO hopes to help in achieving the United Nations´ millennium development goals to halve the poverty rate in the world by 2015.

Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Personnel Department director Nguyen Van Luu reportedly said that his organization had signed tourism agreements with 26 countries.

The nation had also signed the ASEAN Tourism Development Agreement and joined international tourism organizations. Co-operation in the development of human resources was a priority and Vietnam´s tourism industry had received $40 million in Official Development Assistance for the training of personnel, he said.

Hanoi has devised a plan for sustainable tourism that would more than double turnover and increase visitor-numbers by 155 percent by 2010.

The city also plans to welcome 1.6 million international visitors and 5.7 million domestic visitors in 2010. Revenues from the tourism industry now represent 10.38 percent of its GDP.

The Vietnamese capital intends to promote tourism, develop tourist products, expand markets and invest in tourist infrastructure, including hotels, entertainment facilities and services.