In the early years, facing a newly awakened potential, with the spirit of "learning while doing", Binh Thuan has gradually built and completed the master plan, detailed planning of regions and tourist areas in the area; gradually oriented the types of tourism products; issued policies and regulations, continuously reformed administrative procedures, promoted calling and encouraged all organizations and individuals, economic sectors at home and abroad to participate in investment and development, expanded links with neighboring regions and provinces, cared for training and developing human resources, strengthened environmental protection measures, etc. Accordingly, Binh Thuan's tourism potential has been gradually exploited better and better.
In 2003, on average, each Binh Thuan resident welcomed 0.73 tourists, now it is 1.6; with the length of stay of domestic tourists being 1.55 days/guest, foreign tourists being 3.2 days/guest, an increase of 1.12 days compared to before. The number of tourists increases on average each year by 30%; of which international tourists account for 10%; leading to an average increase in tourism revenue of 32% - 35%/year. Even in the first months of 2009, despite being affected by the global economic recession, the number of domestic and foreign tourists to Binh Thuan continued to increase by nearly 12%. Room occupancy rates regularly reach 55% - 58%; on holidays, New Year, summer vacations, etc., that rate often reaches over 90% * .
However, the potential and comparative advantages of Binh Thuan tourism have not been exploited. Binh Thuan tourism is still facing many challenges and pressures. Objectively, it is fierce competition from famous tourist centers in the country, the region and the world. Subjectively, tourism infrastructure has not been invested synchronously, is weak, and lacks comprehensiveness, and there are still many projects that have not had an impact. Land lease, compensation, land allocation, and construction procedures have not been thoroughly resolved, leading to a reluctance to invest. In addition, the work of protecting the ecological environment has not received due attention; tourism products are still monotonous, in which many products with cultural values typical of the province have not been exploited and promoted properly; the quality of human resources serving tourism is still low. Although there have been efforts in tourism promotion and advertising, they have not really attracted tourists. State management of tourism is still confused and lacks professionalism.
* Source: Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Binh Thuan province
1.3. Current status and development orientation of Vietnam tourism
1.3.1. Current status of Vietnam tourism in recent years
Located in the geographical position between the two cultural axes of East and West, North and South, it is the gateway to Indochina and mainland Southeast Asia, with many historical relics, famous landscapes and cities. Vietnam is an attractive region for international tourists.
Table 1.3: International visitors to Vietnam during the period
1990-2008
Chart: 1.2: International visitors to Vietnam in the period 1990-2008
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
-
Period 1990-2008
(1,000 visitors)
More than 20 years after the war, due to special conditions, the expansion of relations with foreign countries is limited, now foreign tourists are eager to come to a new, youthful and potential tourist area. Thousands of businessmen pursuing business opportunities, tens of thousands of American and other veterans returning to the old battlefields are the sources of visitors bringing significant economic benefits to the Vietnamese tourism industry. The growth rate of Vietnamese tourists is mainly due to many reasons such as: the growth of the world economy in general, people's income in particular and the tourism industry has many policies to encourage international and domestic tourism, ...
Table 1.4: Number of domestic tourists in the period 1990-2008
Graph: 1.3: Number of domestic tourists in the period 1990-2008
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
-
Period 1990-2008
(1,000 visitors)
Source : Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
Source : Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
The period 1990-2000 can be affirmed as a breakthrough period in the growth of tourist resources and income. According to the data of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, during this period, international visitors increased more than 9 times, from 220 thousand (in 1990) to 2.14 million (in 2000); domestic visitors increased 11 times, from 1 million to 11.2 million; tourism income increased nearly 13 times from 1,350 billion VND to 17,400 billion VND. In the last 5 years (2001-2005), although facing many difficulties such as war, terrorism, SARS and bird flu, but thanks to the application of bold and timely measures, the number of visitors and tourism income continued to grow by double digits every year. International visitors in 2001 reached 2.33 million, in 2005 reached nearly 3.47 million; domestic visitors in 2001 reached 11.7 million; in 2005 reached 16.1 million; Vietnamese people traveled abroad in 2005 about 900 thousand. Tourism development has contributed to increasing the GDP proportion of the service sector (tourism GDP alone currently accounts for about 4% of the country's GDP, according to UN-WTO calculations, this figure is about 10%). Tourism is one of the few economic sectors in our country that brings in revenue of over 2 billion USD/year. More than 10 years ago, Vietnam's tourism was among the lowest in the region, but now this gap has been shortened, catching up and surpassing the Philippines, only behind Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. According to UN-WTO, Vietnam is currently one of the countries with the highest tourism growth rate in the region and the world. In 2004, Vietnam tourism was ranked 7th in the world in terms of visitor growth out of 174 countries by the World Travel and Tourism Council and was ranked among the top 10 destinations in the world.
As one of the important comprehensive economic sectors, with profound cultural content, interdisciplinary, inter-regional and highly socialized, Vietnam's tourism industry has had a fairly high growth rate in recent times, even in difficult conditions such as: economic crisis in Asia, natural disasters, epidemics, local conflicts and terrorism in many places around the world in recent years. Since implementing an open economy, with friendly policies and multilateral cooperation, Vietnam has been a country that strongly attracts foreign tourists to visit, seek investment opportunities, research, seminars, conferences... The figures on the number of international and domestic tourists increasing over the years have proven the above argument.
In recent years, Vietnam tourism has grown relatively steadily at a high rate.
On average, at a relatively high level (about 20%) [Appendix 6] , Vietnam's tourism market share
Table 1.5: Revenue from Vietnam tourism
period 1990-2007
Graph: 1.4: Revenue from Vietnam tourism in the period 1990-2007
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
Period 1990-2007
The share of tourism in the region has increased from 5% in 1995 to over 8% in 2005, and tourism revenue has increased many times. This is a great success that has helped tourism become one of the industries with a large contribution to GDP.
Billion VND
Source : Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
The multi-faceted effectiveness of tourism is increasingly evident. Wherever tourism develops, the appearance of urban and rural areas is improved, cleaner and more beautiful, and people's lives are significantly improved. Tourism activities have promoted the development of other industries, creating the ability to consume goods and services on the spot; Every year, dozens of traditional festivals are restored, gradually organized in a healthy and orderly manner, promoting good customs and traditions. Many traditional craft villages have been restored and developed, creating more tourist attractions, producing souvenirs and handicrafts to sell to visitors, giving people more jobs and income, contributing to promoting economic restructuring, increasing income, eliminating hunger and reducing poverty, and many households in many localities have become rich thanks to tourism. Tourism development has created additional revenue to restore and renovate relics and raise awareness and responsibility of state agencies, local authorities and communities in preserving and developing cultural heritage. Tourism promotion and advertising abroad and domestically has conveyed national cultural values to international friends, tourists and domestic people.
More importantly, tourism has contributed to the development of the human factor in the renovation process. Tourism activities have created over 800,000 direct and indirect jobs for all classes of people, contributing to improving the people's knowledge, material and spiritual life; expanding exchanges between regions in the country and with foreign countries; Tourism has performed well the role of people's diplomacy with the function of "messenger" of peace,
contributing to the formation and consolidation of the environment for an open economy, promoting socio-economic development and gaining international consensus and support for the cause of national construction and defense.
1.3.2. Orientation of Vietnam tourism development
Resolution 45/CP of the Government affirmed that "Tourism is an important economic sector in the country's socio-economic development strategy". To make tourism a spearhead sector in the development strategy, the Resolution sets out the following basic contents:
1.3.2.1. Identify tourism markets and discover new tourism markets
Our tourism market has more than 2 million overseas Vietnamese living in countries around the world, mostly in the US, France and Australia. Most overseas Vietnamese return to visit relatives, provide financial support to relatives, some seek business opportunities, 90% of overseas Vietnamese return to live with families with high consumption needs.
About half a million veterans from the two wars against France and the US, who are suffering from "Post-War Depression Syndrome" (PTSD), want to return to Vietnam to visit the old battlefields.
The young generation, including students, form a new market. They look for places where their travel fits their budget. Places that they consider to be new lands with many things to explore, they are also willing to ignore poor and backward tourism conditions.
The elderly who are trending towards leisure travel are an attractive market for tourism in the years 2005-2010, it is expected that by 2010 there will be nearly 60 million elderly people in Europe travelling.
1.3.2.2. Tourism products
Vietnam tourism must create a number of unique Vietnamese products that are highly competitive and attractive to tourists, increase spending levels, and increase the length of stay of visitors on the basis of upgrading and investing in building new tourist areas and exploiting the great potential of Vietnam tourism.
To attract tourists to Vietnam, Vietnam tourism must have products that are integrated with the region, and must also have its own unique products. Vietnam's nature still retains its original, natural features with many famous landmarks: Ha Long, Yen Tu, Cuc Phuong, Phong Nha, Nha Trang, Da Lat, Vung Tau, ... along with rivers and canals.
Southern fruits. Besides, Vietnam also has many diverse types of tourism: sea tourism, mountain climbing, cave tourism, fishing, swimming, ... with the tradition of hospitality, friendliness, the natural beauty of Vietnamese people will create attraction for tourists.
Along with creating tourism products, the Vietnamese tourism industry must also find ways to prevent unfavorable trends and unavoidable consequences of industrialization and urbanization that threaten to disrupt the ecological balance, destroy many ancient architectures as well as the thousand-year-old spiritual and cultural values of our ancestors. Those intangible resources must be embellished, cultivated and preserved as a creation of the historical process.
1.3.2.3. Integration into world tourism activities
In recent years, Vietnam tourism has grown, gradually actively participating in international tourism integration; establishing and expanding multi-faceted tourism cooperation relations with neighboring countries, countries in the region and the world; signing 29 bilateral tourism cooperation agreements with countries that are key tourism markets and international exchange hubs and multilateral tourism cooperation with countries in the region; having partner relationships with over 1,000 companies, including many large companies, from more than 60 countries and territories. Our country's tourism is a member of the World Tourism Organization, the Asia-Pacific Tourism Association, the Southeast Asian Tourism Association and has promoted its role and exploited its membership rights well. Participating more proactively in sub-regional, regional, inter-regional and world tourism cooperation. Thanks to that, capital, experience, technology, and customer sources have been mobilized for development, proactively connecting with regional and world tourism. The proactive integration is also clearly demonstrated in the implementation of the policy of relying on comparative advantages (culture, cuisine, raw materials, cheap labor, etc.) to invest abroad, mainly in the food and beverage business in neighboring countries: Japan, Germany and the United States.
Faced with the challenges of the regional and world markets, Vietnamese tourism cannot but integrate into world tourism activities but must seize this golden opportunity, prepare facilities, management skills, perfect the legal system, improve the tourism environment and related fields.
1.3.2.4. Developing the domestic economy with foreign currency earned
Tourism is an economically efficient industry, with a return on investment of 2 to 4 times higher than other industries, and a quick payback period. Tourism contributes to creating jobs for a social workforce, improving and modernizing the infrastructure of the economy.
Tourism contributes to protecting and developing the natural environment, maintaining ecological balance.
Ecology, anti-pollution and environmental destruction.
Tourism contributes to preserving and maintaining a number of traditional occupations through export.
on-site export of ethnic products and is a form of promoting ethnic culture.
1.4. Forecast of Vietnam tourism industry
The World Tourism Organization predicts a world tourism boom in the 21st century with
These trends are developing for many reasons:
- Population structure changes , birth rate decreases, child-rearing costs decrease, and tourism consumption increases.
- Personal and family income tends to increase, women's income increases as much as men's. The income spent on tourism in family income increases steadily.
- Travel costs are gradually decreasing due to significant improvements in international travel methods.
transportation, tourism services
- Changing lifestyle: in modern life, the concept of family and society has changed fundamentally. People may not get married, or buy a convenience that is deemed unnecessary by taking a useful and interesting trip after a stressful working period.
- Development of business production: business tourism is always an important part contributing to the development of the tourism industry. Seminars, conferences, and business negotiations are the objects of service of the tourism industry. Once catching up with those requirements, many countries have established a complete system to serve business tourists.
From the above development trend, UN-WTO forecasts tourism growth in regions, especially Eastern Europe at 106%; South Asia - China at 141% and Asia Pacific at 145%.
With its strengths in tourism, in the trend of international tourists flocking to Asia Pacific, Vietnam is an ideal destination for tourists.
Table 1.2: Forecast of tourism development indicators in Vietnam until 2020
Period
Tourists | Tourism income (billion USD) | Total tourism GDP (Billion USD) | Hotel rooms (thousands) room) | Labor (thousand people) | ||
International (million visitors) | Inland (million views) guest) | |||||
2005 | 3.2 | 16.0 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 108.4 | 220/720 |
2010 | 6.0 | 25.0 | 4.6 | 3.0 | 212.0 | 350/1,150 |
2020 | 10.5 | 35.0 | 9.9 | 5.5 | 350.0 | 600/1,900 |
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Source: Institute of Tourism Development Research (ITDR)