VNAT launches tourism stimulus programme
Vietnam National
Administration of Tourism (VNAT) announced a stimulus programme for
domestic tours in an effort to offset the falling number of
international arrivals in the last six months, the Saigon Times Daily
reported.
According to the tourism department, the campaign will
be launched by the end of this year and take place during 2015 to
attract both local and foreign tourists, enhancing domestic tourism
promotion.
Travel firms participating in this event pledge to
discount at least 10 percent of service charges and provide other
promotions such as free of charge for certain services and discount
vouchers for future use.
The stimulus campaign is expected to
help the tourism industry meet or exceed this year’s target of 35
million local tourists and 37.5 million visitors in 2015. VNAT expects
the growth of the domestic segment can make up for the low rate of
international arrivals in Jan-Nov.
Earlier, the Ministry of
Culture, Sports and Tourism proposed the Government halve both the value
added tax and corporate income tax for participating enterprises.
To
encourage international travel agencies to bring more guests to
Vietnam, the tourism ministry held a ceremony in Hanoi last week to
honour and thank 50 international travel agencies for their great
contribution to the country’s tourism industry.
The travel firms
were those from Japan, Russia and other major visitor-generating markets
of Vietnam. Russia-based Pegas Touristik was one of the companies
honoured as it has brought hundreds of thousands of visitors and made
Russia become one of Vietnam’s biggest tourism markets in a short
period.
This year, Pegas Touristik is expected to organise tours
for more than 180,000 foreign tourists to explore the country,
increasing by 18 percent over last year.
The tourism sector
presented a series of new products at the ceremony held in collaboration
with national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and several local travel
companies to woo more international travellers.
Representatives
of the 50 international travel agencies were taken to some attractions
in northern Vietnam, including Hoa Lu Ancient Capital and Trang An-Bai
Dinh tourist site in Ninh Binh province, and Thang Long Imperial Citadel
in Hanoi.
The number of international arrivals in Vietnam has
fallen for six consecutive months compared to last year. However, the
number of foreign visitors in Jan-Nov still reaches over 7.2 million,
increasing 5.4 percent year-on-year thanks to the strong growth in the
year’s beginning.
Vietnam’s tourism industry targets 8- 8.2 million international visitors this year.-VNA