Vietnam's Tourism Sector Faces More Difficulties

July 1, 2009 - PRLog -- While many other industries are showing signals of recovery, the bad luck sector seems to accompany the tourism sector as the A/H1N1 epidemic is still spreading. The number of international arrivals to Vietnam continues to fall sharply. In May and June of 2009, the number of tourists from Vietnam’s major markets was reduced by 70 percent.

Falling number of international arrivals
Over the past years, the number of international visitors from Asian nations accounted for an important market share of the country’s tourism. South Korea, Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are among Vietnam's top ten markets for tourists.    

However, only within two months, the A/H1N1 pandemic has seriously affected the tourism sector. Many key Asian markets have also experienced sharp fall. Particularly, the number of Japanese visitors to Vietnam through tourism companies has decreased by 70 per cent compared to the same period last year. The tourism companies which focus on Japanese visitors are nervous because they must cancel tours registered two or three months ago.    

Currently, tourism companies cannot estimate how many visitors they will welcome in July. This is not something good because Japanese are often in the habit of booking tours that last from two to three months or at least one month.

Ms My, a guide for Japanese tourists of a tourism company said she set up timetables to lead inbound tours to Ho Chi Minh City and neighbouring localities every day. However, during these days, she received only one Japanese delegation every two weeks. My now is forced to guide outbound tours from Vietnam to Japan.          

Being less difficult than the Japanese market, the number of visitors from other markets also reduced around 20 per cent-30 per cent on average.

Big and luxury hotels in Ho Chi Minh City are also facing a difficult time as hotel room occupancy currently accounts for 56 per cent on average. Particularly, four to five-star hotels are running at a 40 per cent-50 per cent occupancy rate, falling 40 per cent compared to the same period of last year. The occupancy percentage may continue to fall further because of low tourism season. The price of luxury rooms at certain four to five-star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City has reduced by 40 per cent-50 per cent against that of last year. In front of the current difficulties, the country’s tourism sector will have a hard time reaching the goal of 4.5 million international arrivals this year. It is forecast to welcome only around 3.2 million foreign visitors, down 20 per cent against the figure of 2008.  

Prepared for recovery
According to the latest survey results on Vietnam’s hotel business in 2008 conducted by the Grant Thornton Vietnam, the occupancy rates of luxury rooms was lowest during the four past years.

Although Vietnam’s tourism sector has gained significant achievements in growing and luring international tourists and being listed among Asian-Pacific nations having a high growth, it has been attached with weaknesses Facilities and luxury rooms have not yet met the increasing demand, resulting in the increase in room prices. The price hike has caused a break between travel firms and hotels for many years. Sometimes, the price of luxury rooms is 30 per cent-40 per cent higher than other regional nations.

Recently, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has predicted that the non-smoking industry, which contributes nearly 10 percent in GDP of the global economy, will overcome the negative impacts from the global economic downturn in 2010.

It also forecasts that the number of tourists in the whole world will increase from 900 million to over 1 billion people in 2010 and may reach approx 1.6 billion in 2020. The recovery will be most obvious in the Asia-Pacific region, where the tourism sector represents a most rapid growth in the world thanks to the appearance of a new middle class.

It is hoped that along with more investment poured into luxury hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, tourism businesses will have to adopt a sustainable strategy in order to prepare for the sector’s foreseen recovery in the next one or two years.
B.T

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