State Policy Has Not Yet Made a Breakthrough in Tourism Development

However, specialized legal documents are still slow, making it difficult for tourism service providers to develop.

When there are policies, they are slow to be implemented, such as procedures to convert guest houses and motels into tourism businesses, regulations on the management of karaoke, dance clubs, massage parlors, saunas, social evils such as begging, theft, street vending in tourist areas, and many phenomena that are not in line with the requirements of tourism civilization still exist. This is the result of the lack of synchronization in the coordination of actions between tourism and the internal affairs, cultural and information sectors and authorities at all levels. The chaotic situation in tourism management, travel business, and hotels has not yet ended. Environmental protection for the long-term development of "green" and "clean" tourism in our country still has many urgent issues that need to be resolved to meet the requirements of tourism activities.

In general, the legal environment for tourism business activities has improved in recent times but is still not open and favorable for businesses.

3.1.2. State policies have not been groundbreaking in tourism development.

Administrative procedures are still complicated with many types of fees and charges, especially additional expenses at administrative stores, causing foreign investors to still need Vietnamese partners to operate smoothly. In addition, official and reliable information about the tourism market in Vietnam, land prices, necessary investment licensing procedures, etc. is still lacking. Investment management, business and exploitation in tourist areas are still overlapping. Construction investment management must be implemented according to the provisions of the law on construction investment, expansion management according to the law on environmental protection, business management, exploitation for tourism activities according to Decree 39 and some other legal documents. In planning work, factors on the tourist market, products, tourism resources, social situation, etc. have not been thoroughly analyzed and evaluated, causing many planning and investment projects to be prolonged, causing great damage to investors and localities with investment projects. The inspection and supervision by state agencies of projects and works developing tourist areas are not effective.

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Incentives for international tourism are not clear, even most legal documents have the most difficult regulations, for example: for international tourism, the VAT rate is 10%, which is not competitive with tourism in some countries in the region. Thailand is considered a shopping paradise due to its diverse and cheap goods and services, the VAT rate is 7%. The VAT issue for international visitors bringing goods purchased during tours out of Vietnam has not been applied. Special consumption tax and import tax are too high. Electricity and water prices applied to tourism are always at the highest level, many times higher than living and production costs. Regulations on vehicle speed limits are unreasonable, causing longer travel times and frustration for drivers and passengers.

Furthermore, the management of immigration procedures for international tourists and their goods entering and leaving Vietnam is still slow, causing many difficulties for tourists. Visa processing is also time-consuming and expensive. In France, getting a visa to Vietnam takes 3-4 hours of queuing at the Embassy, waiting up to 10 days to get it, and the visa fee is still high at about 100 euros.

3.1.3. Infrastructure does not meet integration requirements

- Means of transport

There is currently a lack of international airports, many flights have to go through transit airports, and service quality is not guaranteed (about 700 flights are delayed or postponed each year). In Phu Quoc, the island is expected to be built into a national standard tourist area, but this plan has not yet been implemented because an international airport has not been built here.

The means of transport are mainly rented from foreign countries, the means of road and water are mostly restored, so accidents often occur on the road. The number of wharves large enough to receive international tourists is not much, international passenger ships mainly dock in Ho Chi Minh City. Many roads have not been upgraded, causing difficulties in traveling, traffic jams often occur.

- Hotel:

The country currently has 18 5-star hotels and 4 4-star hotels, but they are mainly concentrated in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh and Khanh Hoa. Although the

5-star hotels and resorts are springing up continuously in major cities and tourist areas such as Nha Trang and Da Nang, but the occupancy rate is still lower than that of similar hotels in Bali (Indonesia) and Phuket (Thailand). Currently, in hot tourist areas such as Ha Long Bay, Hoi An, Hue, Phan Thiet, there is not a single 5-star hotel or resort. Thus, a tourism market for wealthy, high-spending tourists has not yet formed in Vietnam and poor infrastructure will be an obstacle to attracting this class.

The number of 4-5 star hotels accounts for less than 3% of the total number of ranked hotels. The tourism industry is promoting the construction of a series of high-end hotels. However, the speed of high-end hotel construction is currently very slow, although investors are ready, because there is no clean land for investors to implement the project. Many projects have chosen locations, but negotiating compensation for clearance and relocation is very difficult.

In recent years, our country has been considered a potential destination for MICE tourism. Foreign visitors to Vietnam not only come through tourism but also through trade promotion programs and exhibitions. This demand is currently very large. However, to develop this type of tourism, there are still many difficulties: Vietnam still lacks hotels, conference centers, seminars, especially large-scale exhibition centers, meeting international standards, equipped with modern equipment systems.

- Communication: Telecommunication prices are very high, moreover, the communication network is not available and covers evenly, usually only concentrated in big cities, and in tourist areas, only big hotels have communication networks but the rates are very expensive.

- Entertainment areas: Infrastructure and entertainment facilities at tourist destinations are still limited, even in key coastal tourist areas such as Nha Trang, Da Nang and Phan Thiet. Shopping, sports and entertainment are important factors to satisfy tourists' needs. If we want tourists to stay longer and use more tourism services as well as accompanying services, we must find ways to satisfy their needs. Entertainment areas, museums and eco-tourism areas are still few and of a

Copied from abroad so only suitable for Vietnamese people, not attractive to international guests.

The country has 1,864 ATMs installed, which is too few compared to the number of cards issued and the current demand. Card-issuing banks have not yet linked together into a system, causing many obstacles to payment. Poor infrastructure is a major reason why the number of international tourists as well as investment projects for tourism in Vietnam is currently low.

3.2. On the tourism industry side

3.2.1. Tourism promotion and propaganda activities are still weak.

The public is all too familiar with the refrain “we have great potential, we have the opportunity to rise up”. But unfortunately, everything so far seems to be in the form of potential development while tourism in surrounding countries is developing rapidly. One of the reasons for the development is considered by many to be the lack of professionalism in tourism promotion.

We need to take the uniqueness of Vietnamese culture as the highlight in promotional activities. The General Department of Tourism in conjunction with localities organizes many cultural and tourism festivals throughout the country. Next, we must improve the effectiveness of propaganda work. In 2006, Vietnam participated in 15 international tourism fairs but it did not seem to bring about very positive results. The reason for this is that the promotion was spread out, monotonous, even careless, lacking creativity, the exhibition booths were not very special and unique, so they did not attract the attention of people from other countries. Moreover, the promotion was general and did not provide specific information about each tourist destination, introduce each type of tourism, and travel companies.

One of the important channels in the promotion work in the present era is the Internet. However, the search results of the phrase "Vietnam Tourism" from websites originating from Vietnam on the most effective search engine google.com are quite modest at 26,000 results while the phrase Singapore Tourism gives 383,000 results, moreover, the information update is also very slow. Except for the official pages of the General Department of Tourism, websites participating in promoting Vietnam tourism often focus too much on business or only mention tourism.

The tour is just information but has not really focused on polishing the content, introducing and promoting the unique characteristics of Vietnam tourism as well as the specific characteristics of each tourist destination so that international visitors who want to travel to Vietnam can choose or design their own tours that suit their personal interests.

3.2.2. Not paying attention to the issue of training human resources for the whole industry

For a long time, training human resources for tourism business activities has been both urgent and fundamental in order to have resources that always have enough knowledge and capacity to meet the requirements of tourism development and innovation over time, both nationally and internationally.

Currently, the country has about 30 vocational and intermediate tourism training facilities and 38 university and college facilities. The network of training facilities has not been distributed properly, creating areas such as the Northwest, Central Highlands, and Mekong Delta with a large number of tourists but lacking local training schools. All training facilities are currently in a common situation: facilities and equipment to support teaching are still lacking; the training program is heavily theoretical, not creating many opportunities for students to practice, the training content has not been updated with domestic and international tourism business practices, has not had access to international training programs and teaching methods, foreign language training has not been highly appreciated, the tourism training faculty has not met both the quantity and quality requirements. In addition, tourism students also have difficulty finding reference books and guides because teachers do not have the funds to publish books, the textbooks have general content, and are mainly for internal circulation.

Human resources in tourism are being and need to be trained both basically and formally according to subjects, according to legal time in the classroom, according to the curriculum and lectures of lecturers. But on the other hand, because this human resource is being prepared, it is also necessary to have practical knowledge through the business activities of each enterprise. Currently, due to many reasons, there are enterprises that always refuse to accept students for internships even though it does not hinder the exploitation of tourism resources or tourism service business activities. Moreover, in many tourist destinations, the management boards and leaders of tourism service establishments are not enthusiastic.

welcome and allow students to practice, research, and supplement necessary practical knowledge.

3.3. On the side of tourism service providers

3.3.1. Tourism services have not yet made a breakthrough

Currently, the return rate of tourists is 30%, much lower than the figure of more than 50% of countries in the same region. These are signs showing the low competitiveness of Vietnam tourism. Tourism products are not rich and unique, prices are not commensurate with the quality and competitiveness is weak. In reality, tourist areas only revolve around a few services, many places still have the same services year after year, creating boredom for tourists. Most tourist areas and tourist attractions are exploited in their natural form, without investment in restoration. Tourism programs are still poor and overlapping. Tourist areas and entertainment facilities are still few. Souvenirs are not rich and do not meet the tastes. The opening of new types of tourism, although being noticed, still has many limitations and difficulties. Prices of tourism programs are still high compared to the quality of services and compared to some countries in the region.

The phenomenon of “cheating” customers is still quite common in travel companies. These companies often cut or change schedules, means of transport and service regimes contrary to the signed contracts, for example, according to the contract, they stay at a 3-star hotel but in reality they only stay at a 1 or 2-star hotel. The ones who suffer are still the tourists because no authorities have yet solved this problem.

Vietnam has not yet created internationally branded tourist areas so that when mentioning Vietnamese tourism, people immediately think of tourist areas. We have many beautiful natural landscapes and internationally ranked beaches, but nationwide, there is no large and famous tourist area like Pataya, Phuket (Thailand), Sentosa (Singapore), Bali (Indonesia) or Genting, Langkawi (Malaysia). This feature has affected the attraction of tourists, not extending the time of tourists' rest in Vietnam, not creating opportunities to increase the spending of international visitors in Vietnam.

3.3.2. Lack of connectivity in tourism service network

Travel service providers often compete for customers, competing unfairly. The only competitive tool is to reduce tour prices, but the price reduction is very arbitrary, the price reduction also leads to a decrease in service quality. Taking advantage of the scarcity of rooms, many hotels have forced down prices, forcing many travel agencies to cancel tours or change the schedule of customers. Buying tickets is still difficult, especially plane tickets: a group of more than 30 international guests, even if they have registered a month in advance, still have difficulty buying tickets, and if they do, they are divided into many flights with different departure times, ruining the tour plan. The dishes tend to be mixed; the Vietnamese food street in Hanoi mainly sells Chinese dishes; in many luxury restaurants, European and Asian dishes are more numerous than Vietnamese dishes. Insurance for international tourists is not given due attention, businesses do not buy insurance for fear of increasing tour prices, losing competitiveness. The connection between tourism businesses and domestic goods suppliers is still limited, so many times when tourists want to spend money, they do not know where to shop. Right in Ho Chi Minh City, the job of providing all goods for ships when they dock is undertaken by a Singaporean company, while this company buys goods right in Vietnam.

3.3.3. The level of information technology application is still limited.

Except for large enterprises and state-owned enterprises, the remaining small-scale enterprises mainly use computers as internal management tools and have not seriously considered investing comprehensively in computerization. According to a survey conducted in early 2006 by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Vietnam Competitiveness Enhancement Project on 225 units representing more than 1,500 hotels, restaurants, and travel companies, more than 90% of the surveyed units use hardware such as computers, printers, and fax machines, while less than 25% use management software products, and only 20-30% commit to investing in software. The application of management software is mainly at a rudimentary level. According to a 2005 survey by the Information Industry Center of the General Department of Tourism, out of 1,511 hotels, only 495 hotels have e-mail addresses and websites that support online ordering and payment, which is almost negligible. In addition, the number of tourism management software in the country is still

Few, high price, poor quality. Foreign software is more diverse, better quality but the price is also much higher.

The road to tourism integration in the WTO is still very long and difficult, but it is a good opportunity for both the short and long term. The whole industry needs to prepare well in all aspects to promptly act when the opportunity comes as quickly as it does now, not to miss the opportunity and overcome new challenges to develop. Only proactively approach the potential world tourism market, both inside and outside the WTO, when the whole industry is fully aware and truly involved. With the effort to promote the combined strength of the whole industry for international cooperation, in which priority is given to tourism integration in the WTO, Vietnam tourism will certainly promote proactive integration into regional and world tourism, taking advantage of more and more experience, technology, capital and tourist sources, contributing to promoting the full role of a key economic sector and affirming its position in the international arena.

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