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Russians increasingly visiting Vietnam, says tourism agency

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said over 25,000 Russian tourists have visited the country this year, 65 percent higher than last year’s same period.
It said Russia had become one of the 15 major tourism markets for Vietnam.

Several major tourism companies, like Saigontourist and Ben Thanh Tourist, said though arrivals from Russia did not match some other countries like China, the US, Japan, or South Korea, the number was rising steadily.

According to a recent survey by the General Department of Statistics, a Russian tourist in Vietnam spends US$1,458 on average, including $610 on recreation and shopping, which is 40 percent higher compared to a typical international tourist.

The survey also found that Russian tourists prefer beaches and modern convalescence resorts along the central coast.

Russian tourist agencies said many people traveled to Vietnam thanks to the historic relationship between the two countries, Vietnam’s security situation, beautiful landscapes, and hospitality.

To attract more Russian visitors, VNAT and some travel firms are attending more tourism festivals in Moscow and working on the nation’s tourism image and developing more interesting tours.

Vietnamese, Chinese provinces to open new sea tourism route

The central province of Thua Thien-Hue will join hands with China's Guangxi Province to open a sea tourism route linking Guangxi’s Beihai city and Vietnam’s former imperial capital city of Hue.
The opening of the route comes under a memorandum of understanding signed by the two provincial authorities.

Vo Phi Hung, director of the province's Department of Tourism, said Tuesday tourism officials and businesses in Beihei had surveyed the route.

"We re­ceived good feedback from our partners. They have made a verbal commitment to taking tourists to the province next month," he said.

The new sea travel route will depend on the expansion of the existing route between Beihai and Halong Bay in Vietnam's northern province of Quang Ninh.

When the new route opens, cruise liners will sail to Hue after stopping over in Halong Bay.

Two cruise ships from Guangxi's Beihai take turns traveling to Halong Bay each day. Another route from China's Hainan Island to Halong Bay was inaugurated last December.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and tour operators will survey dozens of new sea tourism routes linking Vietnam with neighboring countries and territories, including Singapore, Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Cam­bodia

One more cheap flight from HCMC to central Vietnam’s largest city

Vietnam’s no-frills carrier Pacific Airlines will add a round-trip flight to its daily HCMC-Danang service beginning Friday, bringing the total to three round-trips per day.

The carrier is also planning to open a new route from the central city of Hue – Vietnam’s former imperial capital – to the beach resort hot spot of Nha Trang on the south central coast.

The carrier offers flights to and from Hanoi, Danang and Bangkok via HCMC.

No-frills airline offers HCMC-Sydney for $138

Qantas Airways’ budget carrier Jetstar has announced a promotion fare of US$138 for a one-way ticket between Ho Chi Minh City and Sydney from July 24 to December 12.
The fare does not include airport taxes and other fees, and the ticket has to be booked by June 8.

The promotion will not apply between September 14 and October 10.

Jetstar began to fly to Vietnam last November.

It now flies almost daily between HCMC and Singapore and has thrice-weekly flights from HCMC to Sydney.

Central bank sets prudent terms on foreign banks, ventures

Vietnam’s central bank has issued a circular guiding the establishment of wholly-foreign owned banks and joint venture banks following the country’s WTO commitment to open up banking sector to all players.
Under its commitment to the WTO, Vietnam began permitting wholly foreign-owned banks on a par with domestic banks in April.

The circular issued Wednesday by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has placed a particular focus on financial safety standards, setting cautious terms to ensure good management.

Accordingly foreign banks must have the capital adequacy ratio of at least 8 percent, bad debt ratio of below 3 percent and other norms in line with international banking standards in order to operate in Vietnam.

The applying bank must have established profits for three consecutive years in their country of residence, and must have not violated any laws in their country over the three years.

The circular also states that the bank’s financial capacity must be also proven.

To set up a wholly-foreign owned bank or joint venture, the applying bank must have total assets of at least US$10 billion as of the end of the fiscal year prior

to the year the application is submitted.

The applicant must obtain approval from the competent administrating agency in their country, allowing the bank to form a wholly-owned arm or joint venture in Vietnam.

The circular specifies that the administrating agency must have signed an agreement to cooperate with SBV’s supervision.

To be licensed to operate in Vietnam, foreign banks must also commit to offering financial and technological support to their subsidiaries in Vietnam.

Once established the bank must have a feasible business plan for at least three years.

Apart from conditions applicable to foreign banks, SBV also imposes strict standards on local institutions planning to form joint venture banks with foreign partners.

SBV states that local banks engaging in a foreign venture must have been in operation for at least three years, making profits in three consecutive years preceding submitting applications, and have total assets of at least VND10 trillion ($625 million).

Banking market beginning to boil

The central bank has so far received ten applications at least for the establishment of foreign-owned banks from foreign financial institutions.

Of those, Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), the world's third-biggest bank by market value, is the first to formally announce a plan.

The UK-based Standard Chartered Bank, which now has a branch in Vietnam, has recently unveiled their scheme to set up a wholly-owned bank soon.

With an influx of foreign banks to open wholly-owned establishments, domestic banks are branching out as a move to compete with international rivals.

SBV is developing some state-owned commercial banks into economic groups which provide banking services, insurance, investment, securities brokerage and asset management.

The country is home to some 43 domestic banks, plus 31 branches of foreign banks and five foreign joint venture banks.

UK firm to build resort for central Vietnam’s burgeoning tourism

UK-based Qudos Technology has obtained the license to build an US$18 million five-star ecological resort in Hoi An Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the central province of Quang Nam.
As planned, Qudos Hoi An Company Ltd – the British-owned subsidiary – will develop the 8.5ha Qudos Hoi An Resort in the town’s Cam An Ward.

Construction is expected to begin soon so the resort can open by 2010.

Qudos is a leading research and development company for micro & nano technology.

Within the first two months of this year, Hoi An welcomed over 90,000 tourists, a whopping 40 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

The local tourism department said that the demand for four and five-star resorts and hotels has been on the rise and that more than 80 percent of the tourists were foreigners who enjoyed long-term stays.

The local government has licensed 179 tourism projects worth a total of VND13 billion.

Hoi An authorities expect to receive 3.8 million tourists annually by 2015 with nearly half of the figure being foreigners.

National airlines, travel watchdog team tie up to boost tourism

Vietnam Airlines – the national flag carrier – has entered into a cooperation deal with the Vietnam Tourism Administration (VNAT) to boost tourism, targeting 4 million foreign tourists this year.
Under the agreement signed Monday, the two parties will work together to draw a detailed promotional campaign for tourism to elevate tourism from last year’s total of 3.6 million visitors.

Vietnam Airlines pledged to take the initiative in tourism promotion activities by the industry and as well support cargo goods and tourist delegations organized by VNAT.

The handshake deal also targets to market Vietnam tourism in and out of the country via market research, public media-based advertisement, participation in international tourism affairs and organization of Vietnamese events abroad with the particular focus on potential markets.

In the shorter-run, the unlisted carrier will provide free-of-charge transport service of publications related to the country’s tourism to Vietnamese embassies in Russia, France, Germany, Japan and China.

VNAT said the industry would push up further tourism promotion activities this year with a particular focus on China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, France, England and the US.

Priority will also be given to hiring foreign experts to conduct major marketing and advertising campaigns.

Tourism agencies are set to organize familiarization trips for foreign travel agencies, reporters and investors to acquaint them and their respective countries with Vietnamese tourism.

This year, the sector will implement the "Three Nations, One Destination" program to promote trans-national tours through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and establish representative offices in Russia and France.

Tourism sector representatives will also ask the government to waive visas for foreign visitors who travel to Vietnam by sea.

Including domestic tourists, tourism authorities aim to generate total tourism revenues of US$2.5 billion this year.

The country’s tourism plan also includes receiving 5.5-6.0 million international arrivals by 2010, to create $4-4.5 billion in revenue.

Over the first four months of this year, the country has received more than 1.4 million turns of international tourists, a 12.5 percent increase compared to the same time last year.

Vietnam in for hot spell, warns weather bureau

Most parts of Vietnam are set for a hot spell with temperatures reaching a sizzling 40 degrees Celsius this week, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasts said Monday.
Caused by the formation of a westerly low pressure, the weather would remain dry and hot from early morning until late night.

The worst-hit would be the central region, with Nghe An province’s Vinh town recording temperatures of over 40 degrees Tuesday.

On Monday Hanoi sweltered in 35-degree heat, while central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Thua-Thien Hue saw the mercury shoot up to 38 degrees. It reached 37 degrees in the south-central region.

Vietnam to promote tourism via CNN

Vietnam plans to air tourism spots on CNN television in the 3rd quarter of this year if the government approves the project, a tourism official said Sunday.
Head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT)’s Tourism Promotion Department, Pham Huu Minh said under the project, Vietnam would pay US$400,000 for three consecutive months of 30-second peak hour airings daily.

Minh said CNN had agreed to sponsor costs to create the video clip, worth $40,000-50,000.

Over the first four months of this year, the country has received more than 1.4 million turns of international tourists, a 12.5 percent increase compared to the same time last year.

Starwood to build two hotels in World Heritage Halong Bay

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. announced Friday it had reached an agreement with Royal International Corp. to develop two hotels in the World Heritage Site of Halong Bay in northern Vietnam.
The Four Points by Sheraton Halong Bay and Sheraton Halong Bay Resort are scheduled to come online in 2008 and 2010 respectively, said Starwood, one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world.

The Four Points by Sheraton Halong Bay will include 160 rooms, 4 restaurants and lounge, 2 meeting rooms, a gym, spa and indoor swimming pool.

Sheraton Halong Bay will feature 300 rooms, with 4 restaurants and lounge, a gym, outdoor pool and spa, as well as over 1,500 square meters of meeting space.

The Four Points will be the first of its kind for Sheraton in Vietnam, while the Halong Bay resort is the third for the hotel brand in Vietnam, along with the Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers in Ho Chi Minh City and Sheraton West Lake Hanoi in Vietnam’s capital city.

"Starwood is excited to bring two of its renowned brands to the fast-growing Indochina region,” Miguel Ko, President of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Asia Pacific commented.

“The growth demand [in Vietnam] presents us with tremendous opportunities as the first international upscale hotel group to debut in Halong Bay, a popular tourist destination,” Ko added.

Some 170km east of Hanoi, Halong Bay consists of a cluster of 1969 limestone monolithic islands which rise from the ocean along a 12- kilometer coastline, forming a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars.

In 1994, UNESCO recognized it as a World Heritage site for its unique geographical and geomorphologic characteristics.

Starwood entered Vietnam in 2003, and its five-star Sheraton Saigon Hotel and Towers in HCMC earlier this year made the 2007 Gold List for the world’s best hotels by the US prestigious magazine Condé Nast Traveler.

The hotel was chosen in the New York City-based magazine’s 13th annual roll call of the best 700 hotels, resorts and cruise lines in more than 70 countries.

The 23-story facility in HCMC’s District 1 has received many other awards since opening in May 2003, including the ‘Best Business Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City 2006’ award by Business Traveler Magazine Asia Pacific, and ‘Best Business Hotel in Vietnam 2004 and 2005’ by Business Asia Magazine in conjunction with CNBC Asia Pacific

Airlines in Vietnam want to blow lid off fare cap

Vietnam’s two airlines, national carrier Vietnam Airlines and low-cost Pacific Airlines are petitioning authorities to increase their fare rates on domestic routes, citing losses.

Accordingly, the two wanted the Ho Chi Minh City-Hanoi fare be raised from a maximum-permitted VND1.5 million to VND2 million (US$125).

They said in the long term, such ceiling prices should be scrapped altogether, to be determined by market forces.

Vietnam Airlines said that due to the ceiling restraints, it lost VND300 billion ($18.75 million) each year in domestic flights while seat occupancy rate is over 70 percent, which is high, equal to that at other big airlines in the region.

Vietnam Airlines’ vice director Pham Ngoc Minh said it has been years since the ceiling price was last raised. Since then, costs to rent planes and fuel prices have skyrocketed.

Experts suspicious

Some economic experts said the unified proposal to lift the cap sounds like the two airlines are colluding to manipulate the market.

But the two carriers maintain that raising ceiling prices only benefits passengers, offering them different kinds of tickets with a wide range of prices. While VIPs can buy high-end services, others can enjoy low fares, they added.

However, some experts said such arguments are false, pointing out that last March, Vietnam Airlines launched many categories of tickets, some of them very cheap, but with a host of terms and conditions attached.

“The cake is the same but Vietnam Airlines’ marketing department only divided it in many different ways to deceive passengers into thinking fares have been cut”, one said.

Last week, Pacific Airlines announced that its 30,000 tickets worth US$1 each for flights between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City – a distance of nearly 718 miles as the crow flies – sold out within two hours of going on sale

HCM City plans Tet party for Viet kieu

The southern metropolis is planning a series of activities to welcome overseas Vietnamese, or Viet kieu, returning home for the traditional Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays.

The chairman of the HCM City Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, Nguyen Chon Trung, said his committee would organise 10 major programmes starting with a welcome at Tan Son Nhat Airport next Tuesday.

Then, there would be a gala dinner on New Year’s Eve, a tennis tournament, and a seminar on promoting trade and investment.

The city expects to welcome more than 100,000 Vietnamese expats coming home for Tet, which falls on February 17.

Vietnam among safest and most friendly destinations: official

A top Vietnamese official said Vietnam is among the safest and most friendly destinations worldwide, needing only to improve the environment and advertising to awaken huge potential.
Hoang Anh Tuan, director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism told Thanh Nien: “boasting 3,260 km of coastline and 125 beautiful beaches, Vietnam is like no other country”.

Developing marine tourism is among the major policies of the government which is hosting programs to promote the country’s tourism.

In addition to advertising, Vietnam also needs to pay more attention to the environment. He pointed to Thailand’s Phuket Island where the beaches are clean and wastewater is controlled.

But he said locals at Phu Quoc Island, a popular resort off southern Vietnam, often dump waste into the sea.

He suggested the government assess the environmental impact of projects prior to green lighting them.

“It’s better to lose several billion dong than cost the next generation hundreds of billions of dong,” he said.

Vietnam not only has huge marine tourism potential, especially along the central coast, which though poor, is on par with any nation in the region, it also has mountains, rivers, plains, highlands, and midlands with four distinct seasons, not to mention 7 UNESCO-listed world cultural heritages, he added.

Its culture is unique and diverse with 54 ethic groups living in harmony.

But only 3.6 million international tourists visited Vietnam last year, while the figure for Malaysia is 17.5 million, Thailand 13.5 million and Singapore 4.5 million.

Those countries surpass Vietnam primarily because they have better promotional campaigns, he said.

Anh said his agency will hammer out a concrete action plan to boost tourism in the country.

Hotel rates rise on brisk tourist business

HA NOI — A surge in the number of foreign tourists to Viet Nam is overloading hotels and pushing up room prices, according to Pham Tu, vice chairman of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism. This could have serious consequences for the country’s tourist industry.

In the first four months of 2007, 1.5 million foreign tourists came to Viet Nam, an annual increase of 12.5 per cent. And in April alone, the country clocked in 350,000: 96.8 per cent over the previous month, according to the tourism.

On first glance, this is good news. In the Melia Hotel in Ha Noi, during the high season (from October to February) average occupancy rate is about 95 per cent but even in the low season months like in May or June, it’s more than 70 per cent.

But the increase in visitors has led some hoteliers to raise room prices. Many hotels in HCM City have raised their room price by about 30 per cent but are still overbooking. This has caused many difficulties for tourist agents who face the risk of losing customers.

Le Hoang Yen, director of Centre of Incentive Tour and Events of Ben Thanh Tourist (CITE), said that her company has recently lost a group of 300 foreign visitors on a visit to HCM City in July because of the high hotel price.

Yen explained that the five-star hotel that CITE booked for the group raised the price of each room by US$100. After several negotiations, the hotel only agreed to a 10 per cent discount.

"When we sent the new range of prices to our partner, they refused it because it was not attractive enough for their customers," Yen said.

Asian Trails Company confronted a similar situation when the hotel they had contracted to host their customers in Ha Noi demanded twice the price promised. "The contract was signed with a set price for the whole year which we quoted to our partner. Now the price has been raised, we don’t know what to do," complained Bui Viet Thuy Tien, the company’s director.

A recent survey by Visa International Asia Pacific and Pacific Asia Tourism Association showed low product and service costs to be one of the main reasons foreign tourists choose Viet Nam.

However, now the price for a room in HCM City is $65 –100 while one in Thailand or India is about $70 – 100, according to Patrick Gaveau, Business and Marketing manager of Focus Asia Group Ltd. So Viet Nam loses its competitive edge.

"If the hotel price keeps rising, it is possible that foreign tourists will no longer choose Viet Nam for their holiday destination," Gaveau warned.

But there is hope. Analysts have said that overbooking and price hikes could be eased as construction of several top end buildings begins in Ha Noi and HCM City.

Tourism officials say nation needs more upmaket hotels

HCM CITY — The country’s tourism growth has been spectacular in the last five years, but more upscale hotels and international promotions will be needed to maintain the pace in coming years, tourism officials say.

More than 200 officials from tourism management agencies and travel agencies nationwide gathered in the city this week to propose ways to attract more foreign visitors to Viet Nam.

Speaking at the one-day symposium, Vu The Binh, director of the travel department of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said the domestic tourism industry had become one of the country’s important economic sectors, with high growth from international visitors in particular.

"Traditional markets such as Canada, Germany, China, France and Australia have reached stable growth rates of between 10 and 15 per cent each year," Binh said.

"The number of people from new markets including South Korea, the US and Japan has increased sharply with average growth rates of between 13 and 29 per cent," he added.

But Binh said tourism growth in Viet Nam had slowed in 2006.

In 2005, the industry received about 3.47 million foreign tourists, registering a year-on-year increase of 20.1 per cent. But in 2006, the growth rate in the number of foreign visitors stood at only 3 per cent over the 2005 figure, he said.

Growth slowed for a variety of reasons, including terrorism, natural calamities, epidemics, petrol price hikes, fluctuating exchange rates and unstable political situations around the world, he said.

But the chief reasons behind the slower growth, he said, were insufficient infrastructure, poor promotional efforts, and lack of quality hotel rooms, restaurants and entertainment.

"ASEAN-member countries account for only 14 per cent of the total. But in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, that rate is 60-80 per cent," he said.

"We have not yet paid attention to market research and our overseas tourism promotion activities are still weak, especially in major markets," Binh said.

Other limitations include poor roads and transport vehicles, particularly in provinces; inexperienced tour guides, and complicated administrative procedures.

Binh said the Government should intensify investments to upgrade and modernise international border gates and trade centres along borders in an effort to attract more tourists traveling by car.

The VNAT has proposed to the Government to allow tourists from ASEAN countries and those who have travelled from other countries via ASEAN countries to use cars with right-hand drive in Viet Nam.

"The tourism industry’s growth dropped mainly due to the decrease in the number of foreign tourists arriving by land," he said. "There are more visitors wishing to make trips to Viet Nam by road, particularly those from regional countries."

To attract more tourists by air and waterways, Binh said the VNAT and localities as well as tourism companies should join forces to promote more tourism from the US, Japan, South Korea, France, Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

Other steps that could be taken include the simplification of exit and entry procedures, organisation of more seminars on waterway trips, better relations with international tourism companies, and construction of more international-standard hotels and restaurants.

Improving the professional skills of tourist guides and diversifying tourist products and destinations were also important, he said. — VNS

MICE Club to promote destination Vietnam

- The Vietnam MICE Club is expected to conduct a showcase in Hong Kong in June to introduce the Vietnam destination during a tradeshow there, said Ms Phuong Nguyen, MICE Manager from the Vietnam Airlines.

Members of the Vietnam Meeting and Incentive Club (VMIC) led by Vietnam Airlines with other members from 20 world class hotels and accredited DMCs in Vietnam will conduct a showcase in Hong Kong during the ITE MICE trade show (14-16/06/2007 at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre - HKEEC), said Ms Phuong.

Together with Singapore and Australia, VMIC consider Hong Kong the prime source for incentives and business meeting. VMIC’s first showcase on the destination Vietnam is going to make a detailed presentation covering every single aspect that makes Vietnam one of the fastest growing destination for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions.

VMIC’s delegation of 14 members (Vietnam Airlines, Exotissimo, Saigontourist, Caravelle Hotel, Celadon Hue, Rex Hotel, Sofitel Metropole Hanoi, Sofitel Plaza Hanoi, Furama Danang, Sheraton Hanoi, Sheraton Saigon, Hanoi Daewoo Hotel, Melia Hanoi and Saigon Phuquoc Resort) will provide fresh information on the myth and charm of Vietnam and its people.

VMIC is expected to receive 60 international buyers, guests and business partners to attend the presentation in Hong Kong and believe that there is a great interest in Hong Kong to find out more about what Vietnam has to offer.

Recently, Vietnam dominated the spotlight on the international stage when it successfully hosted the 14th APEC summit, marking Vietnam’s official entry as the 150th member of the World Trade Organisation. It’s also when the country was paid visits by globally recognised people such as Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, and Angelina Jolie to who were making their 2nd trip to Vietnam in a very short period of time.

All the above mentioned events aim to say that the Vietnamese people are enjoying their country’s stable politics, strong economic growth and that Vietnam is well recognised as one of the safest destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.

And all these events also highlight the fact that tourism is thriving in this beautiful country because of its unique culture, diverse lifestyle and its charming people.