Jul 28, 2010

Worrisome drop in tourism as millennium nears


The Hanoi hospitality industry has been grappling with an upsetting reduction in foreign arrivals in the first quarter of the year as it is counting down to the millennium celebrations.

Statistics released by Hanoi Statistics Department show that the number of international arrivals in the past three months has dropped by 7.2 percent year-on-year, standing at 5.3 percent, according to the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The figures seemed counter-intuitive, as the number of foreign arrivals in Vietnam as a whole skyrocketed by over 30 percent in the same period.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has therefore asked the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to step up preparations for a promotion campaign scheduled for August and September.

The VNAT pledged at a workshop on April 21 that it would technically help the capital city work out two new tours to explore the countryside and traditional crafts villages.

The national tourist authority also promised strong assistance for Hanoi in organising a mountain-climbing tour of Fansipan and an international tourism festival in Hanoi as well as promoting the city’s tourism at a plenary session of the joint committee of the East Asia and Pacific and South Asia./.

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