Companies suggest opening more tourism representative offices abroad

At present, Vietnam has only three such offices in Japan, South Korea and the U.K.

Nguyen Cong Hoan, head of the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA)’s Communications Department and CEO of Flamingo Redtours, said Vietnam spends around $2 million on tourism promotion each year, or about 2.9% of Thailand’s, 2.5% of Singapore’s, and 1.9% of Malaysia’s.

Therefore, it is impossible to arrange large-scale stalls or design effective business-to-business and business-to-consumer meetings.

He suggested that funding for the offices should be drawn from diplomatic agencies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Tourism Development Assistance Fund, and the private sector.

Highlighting the need to open such offices abroad, CEO of AZA Travel Nguyen Tien Dat said although Vietnam is not a big market, many countries such as South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore have opened their tourism representative offices here which are operating effectively.

VITA Chairman Vu The Binh proposed that the State should well manage destinations and popularize Vietnam’s tourism trademark while businesses should develop tour products.

In the first half of this year, indexes regarding international and domestic tourist arrivals or total revenue met over 60% of the yearly plan, partly thanks to the impact of the Law on amendments and supplements to several articles of the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam.

Hoan expected that between now and the year’s end, Vietnam’s tourism industry will grow strongly and shape tourism products for foreign visitors in Vietnam in 2024, 2025 and subsequent years.

A report by Google Destination Insights ranked Vietnam at the seventh place among the most searched destinations from March-June, and the only country in Southeast Asia in the top 20.

The government also issued a new visa policy for international visitors arriving in the country, tripling visa waivers from 15 to 45 days for selected countries. The changes will come into force on August 15.