~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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[Year 1999]
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Tourists barely dipping toes into Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY - With its long coastline, stunning mountains, fascinating history and charming colonial-era cities, Vietnam should be overrun with tourists.
But travellers have yet to flock in, leaving some foreign investors high and dry with empty hotels or licences for tourist developments unlikely to see the light of day.

That does not mean foreign tourists dislike the Vietnam experience, but many find the country expensive despite the widespread poverty, the infrastructure lacking and the touts too persistent.
Highlighting the problem, the April edition of the official Vietnam Economic Times monthly said return foreign tourists amounted to only one percent of total arrivals, although Vietnam's tourist department insists the figure is more than 10 percent.

``People don't return to Vietnam because the destination is not relaxing enough. That's why people go back to Thailand,'' said Eric Merlin, executive director of Exotissimo Travel Vietnam Co Ltd.
``Here travel can be quite tough,'' he told Reuters.

ARMY OF TOUTS

Walk across the main boulevard in front of the venerable Continental Hotel, setting for part of Graham Greene's novel ``The Quiet American'' and a favourite watering hole of journalists during the Vietnam War, and you will see why.
An army of touts, postcard sellers and beggars accost the unsuspecting tourist and sometimes make off with wallets.

While such problems confront tourists all over the world, Vietnam offers few sites where travellers can really relax.
A quiet stroll around picturesque Hoan Kiem lake in Hanoi? A peaceful sampan trip up the Perfume River from Hue? Catch a few rays on the beach at Nha Trang? Forget it.
Even out among the striking limestone rock formations of northern Halong Bay, made famous by the French film ``Indochine'' starring Catherine Deneuve, touts pull alongside the various pleasure craft and try to make a sale.

Do Van Hoang, general director of the country's largest tour operator, Saigon Tourist, told Reuters the authorities were well aware of the hassles confronting travellers and said efforts were being made to make Vietnam more relaxing.
Official figures obtained by Reuters show less than 600,000 foreign tourists visited last year from 690,000 the previous year, a drop the government blamed on Asia's economic crisis.
Hanoi lumps tourist figures with total arrivals, including business and official visitors, ending up with a figure of 1.5 million last year from 1.7 million in 1997.
It is seeking two million total visitors this year, compared with nearby Thailand which aims to attract a whopping 8.2 million tourists during the same period.
Numerous other obstacles hinder an influx of tourists, say operators, but they add that Vietnam has made reasonable strides since it opened the door to foreign travellers following the adoption of economic reforms in the late 1980s.
Regional competitors Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia have all had a big headstart, they add.

LITTLE OVERSEAS PROMOTION

Nevertheless, tourist visas -- $50 each at the Vietnamese embassy in Paris for example -- little overseas promotion about the country, a lack of resorts for the mass tourist market and the absence of private sector initiative shackle the industry, operators say.
In addition, foreign airlines only fly into southern Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, and Hanoi, although regular international flights are soon expected into Danang in central Vietnam.

Sapa, a hill-station perched high in northern mountains near the Chinese border, could probably develop into one of Vietnam's favourite attractions.
Home to various ethnic minorities and stunning treks, the town should be a must-see for any visitor. But the 10-hour trip by car over bumpy
roads puts many off. ``Vietnam is interesting and carries a sense of adventure, but it sure is taxing,'' said one American tourist.

Merlin, who has been bringing French tourists to Vietnam since the early 1990s, said Hanoi realised the country was not competitive enough and needed to spend more on promotion.
The emphasis should also be on mass market attractions, such as seaside resorts, with only a little bit of culture thrown in, he added.

Hoang from state-run Saigon Tourist had other ideas.
He said Vietnam was trying to differentiate itself from the beaches of Bali and Phuket by developing tourism mainly around cultural and historical sites.
``Our focus is to say to tourists we have something different,'' he said.
Hoang said the government had planned a foray into the mass tourist market with seaside resorts but this was shelved when the Asian economic crisis hit two years ago.
He said of several recommendations made by Saigon Tourist to the government, one was to relax the visa rules. ``It would not be difficult for Vietnam to scrap visa requirements but other countries would have to reciprocate,'' he added.

Reuters - May 20, 1999.