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

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Tourists flock back to Vietnam

HANOI - Tourists, scared off by past crises of SARS and bird flu, are flocking back to Vietnam this year, with a 16 percent increase for the first four months, according to a report released this week by the government's General Statistics Office. Between January and April of this year, Vietnam received 1,28 million visitors, up 15,9 percent over 2005 figures for the same period, the report said. The majority of travelers were from China, South Korea and Japan. While most came as tourists, a growing number of arrivals were overseas Vietnamese returning to visit family.

"Vietnam's tourism picture is looking upbeat this year," said Vu The Binh, head of the travel department of Vietnam's National Administration of Tourism. "The country is on track to reach its target of receiving between 3,6 and 3,8 million foreign visitors this year, which is up 15 percent." Vietnam's tourism industry was hard hit by the SARS virus in 2003. When the avian flu struck in 2004 it was practically a death sentence. In an effort to contain the bird flu and reassure visitors, Vietnam vaccinated millions of fowl and culled huge flocks of sick birds.

'Looking upbeat'

The efforts have won the country praise from international health organisations and helped revive its tourism industry. Since December there have been no known new outbreaks. Vietnam now plans to start selling itself abroad. Tourism officials have announced that they will open two offices outside the country and buy television advertising spots on CNN to promote the country as a holiday destination. Though it is not clear whether Vietnam's infrastructure will be able to handle more visitors without significant investment, the government wants to attract six million foreign tourists annually to Vietnam by 2010.

Deutsche Presse Agentur - April 29, 2006.