One-third of Foreign Visitors Return to Vietnam
More than 34% of Vietnam's foreign tourists have visited the country two or more times, said a recent survey on tourism expenditures in 2005 conducted by the General Statistics Office.
Compared to the first survey's results released in 2003, the rate of foreign visitors coming to Vietnam for a second visit increased by 6.4% and those coming for the third visit increased 0.3%.
The survey also showed that 74% of the 8,500 queried foreign tourists said Vietnam has beautiful scenery and a clean environment. Nearly 66% of them complimented the country's accommodations and over 50% gave positive marks for transport.
About 65% of tourists found an appetite for Vietnamese foods and 42% were satisfied with cultural, sports and entertainment services.
According to the survey, besides a strong flow of Asian tourists into Vietnam, representing 41% of the total, the number of tourists from European and American countries has been increasing and they make up 32% and 14% of the total, respectively.
The increase in the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam traveling in arranged tours bolstered the Vietnamese travel agencies' efforts to improve their service quality to meet traveler requirements. The duration of foreign visitors' stay also markedly lengthened, reaching 13.8 days/person on average, and each visitor's average daily spending rose by 2.4% from 2003.
Pham Tu, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), described the increasing number of returns by foreign visitors as a positive sign for the young tourism sector of Vietnam, which is geographically distant from European countries and lacks convenient air travel.
According to Hai Yen, an expert from the VNAT, the increase of returns by foreign visitors proves that the tourism sector is pursuing a sustainable trend. Ms. Yen, however, warned that sustainability could easily be hampered due to unplanned and temporary tourism development in localities.
The General Statistic Office reported that in the first five months of this year, Vietnam welcomed 1.58 million foreign visitors, up 12% from the same period last year.
Source: VNA
