Vietnam february international visitor arrivals down 6.2% on year
HANOI - International visitors to Vietnam fell 6.2% on year to 231,943 in February due to the impact of the bird flu outbreak on tourism, the National Administration of Tourism, or NAT, said Tuesday.
But the number of international arrivals was up 5.5% on year for the January- February period as the Lunar New Year holidays in January attracted a large number of visitors. A NAT official said although the outbreak has caused damage to the economy, there's been no international visitors that have contracted the flu in Vietnam.
"We have applied all necessary measures to protect visitors, such as canceling all tours to the areas or nearby areas which are affected by the bird flu, or removing chicken from all the food menus," the official told Dow Jones Newswires.
Of the total number of visitors coming to the country in the first two months of the year, 289,979 were tourists - a 12.1% increase from a year ago. Other arrivals included 76,067 business visitors - up 4.7% on year - and another 100,554, who came to visit family members in Vietnam, up 2.9% from a year ago.
Most of the visitors in the first two months were from China, with 149,582 arrivals. There were 57,004 visitors from the U.S., 48,022 from Japan, 41,114 from Taiwan, 36,488 from South Korea, 24,208 from Australia, 15,616 from France, 12,463 from Canada, 11,883 from the U.K. and 10,386 from Germany.
The local government is targeting international visitor arrivals of 2.8 million for 2004, up from 2.4 million last year.
By Simon Harvey - Dow Jones - March 01, 2004
Foreign tourists to Viet Nam increase 13.6 percent
HANOI - Viet Nam welcomed almost 540,000 foreign arrivals, mainly from China and Japan, in the first two months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 13.6 percent.
There has not been a great upheaval during this time of the bird flu because the World Health Organisation has not issued travel warnings to affected countries and governments have not advised their citizens to restrict travel to Viet Nam. Moreover, there has been no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus and no foreign tourists have contracted the disease in Viet Nam.
The Viet Nam Administration of Tourism said: "Viet Nam remains a safe and friendly tourist destination." It noted there are no tours to poultry farms or hospitals in Viet Nam. Also, poultry meat is off the menu at hotels, restaurants and tourist sites. On their part, tourism businesses are updating information on the epidemic and observe strict preventative measures, especially at dining places and affected areas.
It forecast that the tourism industry will continue to maintain its strong growth this month, especially has Viet Nam has contained the bird flu epidemic
Vietnam News Agency - March 01, 2004
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