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Number of Domestic Tourists in Vietnam from 2000 - 2007

not being able to satisfy their needs at the highest level, and having to consume the type of tourism that is not their favorite. With the tourism market being opened more widely, competition between suppliers will increase, and one result is that a good environment encourages suppliers to introduce new types of services, better serving the needs of the people. From there, the number of domestic tourists in Vietnam increases.

Table 5: Number of domestic tourists in Vietnam from 2000 - 2007

Unit: million views


Target

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Domestic guests

11.2

11.7

13.0

13.5

14.5

16

17.5

19.2

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Number of Domestic Tourists in Vietnam from 2000 - 2007

Source: General Statistics Office During the period from 2000 to 2007, the number of domestic tourists increased steadily.

years. If in 2000, Vietnamese tourists only reached 11.2 million, by 2007, that number was 19.2 million, completing the targets set for each year (see table 5).

The number of domestic tourists has increased rapidly over the years, reflecting the improvement in people's lives. Higher living standards allow people to spend more on tourism. Not only the number but also the income from domestic tourists has increased. Previously, Vietnamese people often traveled short distances, for a short time, even traveling during the day, and they often prepared necessary items such as food, drinks, etc., so the consumption of tourism services was very low. But now that habit has changed, Vietnamese people tend to travel for long periods and spend on high-end tourism services. According to a survey by the General Statistics Office, the average spending for a trip of domestic tourists is about 2 million VND and the average trip duration is 4-5 days, much higher than before, this is a good sign for the domestic tourism business.

To develop steadily, Vietnam tourism industry must develop international and domestic tourism at the same time. Domestic tourists are increasing in number every year and expanding to the world due to economic development, political stability and improved education level.

The process of international economic integration of Vietnam's tourism industry is becoming increasingly clear. Domestic tourism services are becoming more and more popular, quality and guaranteed to bring Vietnamese tourists comfort and convenience.

1.4.2. Create more jobs, contributing to improving people's lives

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; 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 sympathy and support for the cause of national construction and defense.

Tourism creates a series of new occupations that change the relationship between family members in ethnic minorities. In the nuclear family, the husband is responsible for plowing the fields, so the husband is highly regarded. But now, women participate in tourism services quite a lot. Their income is quite high. Women who participate in guiding tourists have an income of 600,000 VND to

800,000 VND/month; women participating in brocade production and street vendors also earn from 400,000 to 600,000 VND/month. A woman participating in tourism services has an income equal to or greater than that of a family engaged in agricultural production. Therefore, the role of women in the family is enhanced.

The process of international economic integration in the tourism sector is not only in big cities and modern urban areas, but it also penetrates to remote villages and ethnic minority areas. Integration in tourism promotes tourism in areas with weak economies; people's material life is still lacking and difficult; customs and practices are still backward and superstitious. Tourism brings our people food, clothing, economic stability and even major changes in social institutions, concepts of women and heads of families. Tourism has contributed to limiting gender inequality.

2. Negative effects

2.1. At national level

2.1.1. Passive and overloaded tourism development can lead to imbalance in the international balance of payments.

Tourists bring foreign currency into the destination country, increasing the foreign currency of that country; conversely, foreign currency expenditure will increase in countries with many citizens traveling abroad. In the first case, the balance of payments will be in favor of the country receiving tourists, in the second case, the State must export a large amount of foreign currency to send tourists.

In addition, the number of Vietnamese tourists traveling abroad is increasing day by day. In 2000, the number of Vietnamese citizens traveling abroad was 230,000, 10 times higher than in 1994. Since 2003, the number of Vietnamese traveling abroad has continued to increase at a fairly high rate, increasing by over 20% annually. In 2007, nearly 1,500,000 Vietnamese people traveled abroad. The average increase in the number of Vietnamese tourists traveling abroad in the period 2000-2007 reached 19.4%. The main reason for the increase in this year is that the currencies of neighboring countries have "devalued" compared to our currency. Furthermore, reforms in exit procedures and solving the problem of Vietnamese people who have left the country but do not return home on time, allow Vietnamese citizens to go abroad through international border gates without an exit visa.

Nowadays, traveling between countries is becoming more convenient, there are more and more low-cost airlines, travel agencies in Southeast Asian countries are competing to reduce tour prices ... these will be factors contributing to promoting many Vietnamese people to travel abroad in the near future. However, this is a passive form of international tourism, not bringing foreign currency revenue to the country, so it has not been paid attention to or encouraged in the past. Moreover, if the number of Vietnamese tourists going abroad is too large, it will lead to a passive situation, negatively affecting the international balance of payments. For the above reasons, some countries in the world have used preventive measures such as limiting people's trips abroad (for example, Malaysia stipulates that each citizen is only allowed to travel abroad once a year, and each time they go abroad, they are only allowed to bring a certain amount of domestic currency).

2.1.2. Increase in some social evils

Tourism can also cause some social evils and profound harm to the spiritual life of each nation.

At some tourist destinations, the police have discovered social evils such as: drugs, theft, uncivilized acts such as building temples, fake caves for illegal profit, phenomena of forcing customers, forcing prices at temples, acts of violating national relics; women and children participating in amateur guides creating an uncomfortable feeling for tourists. In addition, there are acts that are difficult to control such as: organizing traditional festivals arbitrarily, using folk performances as an economic tool without taking into account the tradition and sacred spiritual values ​​of the nation, especially at places with high tourist density, phenomena such as begging, soliciting customers, prostitution brokerage at hotels; selling poor quality services or at too high prices have gradually lost the beautiful image of the destination and left bad consequences in society that are difficult to overcome in a short time.

Some social groups, especially the young generation, always follow the Western lifestyle, the typical village organization of the countryside is gradually broken. Therefore, the traditional character of the local culture is gradually degenerated and loses its own identity. In some traditional craft villages, instead of welcoming guests with the true hospitality of the Vietnamese people, the goal is to earn as much money as possible from tourists. The sympathy of tourists for the destination has decreased significantly, leading to a rapid decline in the number of returning visitors.

2.1.3. The emergence of peaceful evolution issues through tourism

Nowadays, when tourism develops, opening the door to welcome international visitors with a friendly and hospitable spirit is inevitable. Administrative reforms in immigration procedures and extension of stay for tourists make it easier for tourists to visit and explore new lands, but at the same time, they also create loopholes for reactionary elements to enter our country. Counter-revolutionary elements and terrorists infiltrate our country through tourism, impersonating respectable visitors to commit wrongdoings, causing social disturbances, and affecting the country's development.

to public order, national security and the socialist regime we are working so hard to build.

Reactionary documents that incite the people and sabotage the revolution will negatively and quickly affect a number of people who have not studied Marxism-Leninism systematically, do not grasp the scientific and revolutionary nature of this theory, or are not steadfast in their ideology, show confusion, waver, and lose faith in Marxism-Leninism, in the ideals of socialism and communism. This segment of the people will attract others to join in opposing the government, distributing leaflets, organizing meetings to sabotage the State; affecting the political situation, production, and life.

2.2. For Vietnam tourism industry

2.2.1. Disadvantages due to market fluctuations

Joining the international economy is an inevitable trend. However, the impacts of the world economy also quickly affect the Vietnamese economy in general and the Vietnamese tourism industry in particular. The fluctuations in the USD and EUR exchange rate or the fluctuations in oil prices are having a negative impact on Vietnamese tourism.

Tourists are hesitant to choose a tour because domestic tours have increased in price, and European tours are too expensive because the EUR has climbed to a record high of 25,000 VND/EUR. Only tours to the US are cheaper because the USD is losing value compared to the VND. Travel companies are having headaches because of the price increase, especially the erratic exchange rate. Tour companies for foreign tourists are also "crying" because they cannot convince their partners to pay the increased price. Not only with tours to Europe, tours to Asia are also hesitant about the price because the currencies of these countries have also increased sharply compared to the USD, affecting the tour price. Many domestic businesses are facing difficulties because they are entering the tourist season from April to July every year. Customers are usually businesses in export processing zones, industrial parks ... However, due to the more difficult business situation than before, many summer travel plans have been temporarily postponed. Exchange rate fluctuations affect tourist demand. This is a negative impact of integration that Vietnamese tourism must accept.

Furthermore, the tourism industry has never faced as many difficulties as it does now, because room, transportation, and service prices have increased rapidly, while tour prices can hardly increase according to the market. After the Ministry of Finance allowed an increase in airfares from 1.5 million VND to 1.7 million VND for domestic flights from January 24, the domestic tourism industry has had to face price increases. Before this difficulty could be overcome, another difficulty has appeared, travel companies have had to face the problem of rising fuel and hotel room prices. Since the beginning of 2008, the prices of luxury hotel rooms have skyrocketed, in some places by 50-70%. The average room price at Sofitel Plaza Hanoi increased from 90 USD to 160 USD, Bao Son from 70 USD to 100 USD, Nikko Hanoi from 130 USD to 170 USD, Sofitel Da Lat from 120 USD to 210 USD. The reason for the sharp price increase is due to the sudden increase in the number of tourists coming to Vietnam, causing a gap between supply and demand. In addition, costs such as gasoline, electricity, water, and labor also increased, causing room prices to increase accordingly. The increase in room prices, transportation fees, and other services forced travel companies to increase tour prices by up to 30%. This greatly affected the price competitiveness of Vietnam tourism.

Travel companies said they had difficulty convincing businesses to buy tours for their employees to go on vacation because businesses are struggling with rising production costs and lower export profits. According to the Domestic Tourism Department of Saigontourist, many tours had been fully planned with partners since February 2008, but some businesses have announced cancellations. Transportation costs, affected by rising gasoline prices, have increased by 20% compared to the same period last year.

2.2.2. Tourism human resources cannot keep up with integration

Faced with the requirements of integration, the tourism industry's human resources are both lacking in quantity and weak in professional qualifications, which has greatly affected the competitiveness of the entire industry. The issue of human resources for the tourism industry has just been discussed with the participation of many related ministries, sectors and companies.

In recent years, the number of university graduates each year has been increasing. The same goes for the human resources working in the tourism sector. The workforce is trained in tourism, university level in enterprises.

The industry is also diverse, but accounts for a low proportion. The problem of human resource shortage, especially quality human resources, is a challenge for the tourism industry in the face of current labor market requirements. Currently, the whole country has 1,035,000 people working in the tourism industry, only about 20% of whom have been trained from elementary level or higher, of which only 3.11% have a university degree in the right profession.

Currently, most high-end hotels such as Dewoo, Melia, Fortuna ... are facing difficulties in finding well-trained staff who are good at foreign languages, especially English. Currently, most university graduates majoring in tourism when being hired to work at hotels still have to go through a short-term training course of the hotel. According to statistics, only considering foreign language proficiency, especially French, Japanese, German ... the number of fluent tour guides only accounts for about 5-12% of the total of over 5,000 licensed tour guides.

A large number of market staff work dependent on the information and experience of a few people in the enterprise who have access to the market but lack dynamism in market exploitation. Many executives lack updated information on local tourism services, lack information on routes and have few close connections with these service establishments, so work efficiency is limited.

In fact, the habit of cooperation and teamwork in Vietnamese tourism companies is still weak. The connection between individuals and departments in the business is not always smooth. There are many reasons such as unclear division of work, the need for self-expression of some individuals in the group and economic reasons that have reduced the connection between individuals or between departments in the business.

Tourism business managers are always worried about the possibility of brain drain. Therefore, many managers rarely create conditions or invest equally for all employees to develop their abilities. Most tourism businesses only exploit the contributions of individual workers, not paying attention to their training. The phenomenon of brain drain has occurred before, but now, it is happening again.

It is becoming more and more popular when foreign tourism businesses with strong financial potential and good employee treatment policies are attracting skilled Vietnamese human resources.

The ability to meet the human resources for international tourism activities also contributes to increasing or decreasing the quality of human resources, leading to a decrease in the competitiveness of this human resource. In recent years, some inbound markets of Vietnam such as Korean, Japanese and Thai tourists have shown signs of "hot" development, but we have not prepared enough human resources to do the market and services such as tour guides in those languages.

The pressure of competition for human resources increased after Vietnam joined the WTO, creating conditions for foreign tourism corporations to establish companies in Vietnam. Newly established companies seek to attract experienced human resources from other companies, causing significant disruption to the stability of human resources in enterprises. From the above reality, we can draw some basic characteristics of Vietnam's tourism human resources: unprofessionalism due to low rate of formal training, lack of updating market information, so work efficiency is limited, the working methods of the majority of workers are still passive, lack of strong motivation to work, dynamism and creativity, lack of cooperation and teamwork habits; the working environment of staff is not favorable; human resources are always at risk of disruption. From these characteristics, it can be seen that the basic limitations of human resources are not effective, leading to a decrease in competitiveness at home and abroad.

2.3. For Vietnamese tourism service providers

2.3.1. Competitive pressure is increasingly fierce

According to domestic travel businesses, Vietnam’s accession to the WTO is a natural and effective form of promotion, helping foreign tourists proactively seek out destinations and not have to struggle to find markets as before. However, they will have to accept life-and-death competition with international giants.

According to Mr. Peter A. Semone, former Vice President of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, Vietnam ranked 87th in the tourism competitiveness index out of 124 countries.

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