Vietnam's tourism sector has many weak points, causing it to lag behind many regional competitors, said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.
Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam
“Thailand and Malaysia attract up to 27-30m foreign visitors a year, and Singapore draws 16m," Dam said. "Thailand earns average annual revenue of USD50-60m from its tourism sector. Vietnam earns USD10m from some 8 million visitors."
Dam said Vietnam needs to improve its tourism infrastructure, such as airports, ports, roads, hotels and cultural facilities.
Promotion needs more attention, he said. Vietnam spends USD3m a year, compared with spending by Thailand and Malaysia of hundreds of millions of dollars year.
Dam said a major concern of tourists was food and environmental safety, such as hygiene and open dumping of garbage around major tourist resorts.
The Vietnam Tourism Association (VTA) said tourist arrivals were on a downward trend. In the first five months of 2015, arrivals were down 12.7 percent year-on-year at 3.3m.
VTA deputy head Vu The Binh said that, over the past four years, the growth rate of foreign tourists to Vietnam has fallen from 35 percent for the same period in 2010 to four percent in 2014.
