VNAT to survey tourism services for 2011 promotion

The Market Department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) will start a trip on Thursday to central coastal provinces to survey the infrastructure, products, and services for promoting the national tourism year 2011.

According to the department, the eight-day trip will start in the coastal city of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province and end in Danang City. Based on results of the trip, VNAT will collect ideas for tourism cooperation, build a tourism image for the region, and start promotion activities.

During the trip, the tourism sector this Saturday will organize a press conference to officially promote the tourism year.

Main events of the tourism year 2011 are to be hosted in Phu Yen Province as well as other localities in the central coastal region including Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, and Danang. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has just announced an official logo and the slogan Exotic Beaches & Islands for the year.

The national tourism year has been made an annual event and is alternatively organized in each potential province or city each year. The ministry has asked the central Government to allow certain provincial governments to organize the annual national tourism promotion program from 2012 to 2017.

The national tourism year 2012 will take place in Thua Thien-Hue Province, followed by Hai Phong City in 2013, Lam Dong Province in 2014, Thanh Hoa Province in 2015, Kien Giang Province in 2016, and Lao Cai Province in 2017.

Since the event was first organized in the northern province of Quang Ninh in 2003, the year-long annual program has been organized in Dien Bien, Nghe An, Quang Nam, Thai Nguyen, Can Tho, and Hanoi this year. The program was not organized in 2009.

* The HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has announced that the national tourism agency has one more time extended the deadline for tour guides to change their paper cards to electronic plastic cards to the end of this November.

VNAT has two times extended the deadline.

According to the Travel Division under the department, nearly 930 out of nearly 1,700 tour guides in HCMC serving international tourists and nearly 470 tour guides for domestic travelers have changed their cards to date.