Viet Nam lures more British tourists

Viet Nam received 144,800 British tourists in the first eight months of this year, a 17.2 per cent year-on-year increase.
VN! "hoto #hai $a
$% N&' (VN!) Viet Nam has *ecome an interesting and attractive tourist destination for visitors from +urope, especia,,y the -nited .ingdom (-.).
/igures from the 0enera, !tatistics &ffice sho1ed that the num*er of tourists from the -. from 2007 to 2012 has increased. 3ast year, Viet Nam
received 184,440 British tourists. 'n the first eight months of this year, it received 144,800 British tourists, representing a 17.2 per cent year-on-year
increase.
Because of this, Viet Nam no1 vie1s the -. as one of its 5ey sources of tourists from +urope.
Visitors from the -. came to Viet Nam for severa, reasons, inc,uding conferences, *usiness and 1or5. But most of them 1ere on ho,iday and 1anted
to e6perience the natura, *eauty of Viet Nam.
7epresentatives of internationa, trave, companies to,d on,ine ne1spaper Vietnamp,us that 48 per cent of tourists from the -. chose Viet Nam *ecause
of its cu,tura, and natura, environment. !ome 1ere a,so attracted to the country9s afforda*,e tours and services, they added.
%ccording to Vietnam %ir,ines, a*out 4: per cent of -. visitors came to Viet Nam to discover the *eauty of the country9s natura, ,andscape, sea and
is,ands and ,earn more a*out its cu,ture.
Viet Nam offers favoura*,e conditions to tourists and has *een the emerging destination of choice, 1ith diversified tourist products suita*,e to most
mar5et segments in the -..
'n addition, it is easy to connect to other tourist sites in the region through Viet Nam, and the geographica, distance *et1een the t1o countries is
*ridged *y a mere 12-hour direct f,ight.
$o1ever, Viet Nam sti,, faces a num*er of difficu,ties in attracting tourists. 't has ;ust *egun comprehensive mar5et research and has yet to come up
1ith regu,ar tourist mar5eting p,ans.
#rave, to Vietnam < Vietnamese trave, companies a,so ,ac5ed the financing and infrastructure needed for effective tourist promotion campaigns and
have to cope 1ith fierce competition from other countries in the region.
Viet Nam9s tourism industry is attempting to attract more tourists from the -. *y *ui,ding suita*,e tourist products, strengthening promotion
programmes and deve,oping strong ,in5s to aviation and tourism companies.
't has a,so simp,ified immigration procedures and is enhancing internationa, co-operation a,ongside mar5et research.
Viet Nam is offering a visa e6emption ,asting 20 days for tourists from %!+%N countries e6cept Brunei, and 18 days for tourists from =apan and !outh
.orea, as 1e,, as >enmar5 and other +uropean countries ,i5e Nor1ay, /in,and, !1eden and 7ussia.
'f approved, the proposa, of the ?inistry of @u,ture, !port and #ourism to grant visa e6emptions to visitors from nine countries, inc,uding the -., 1i,,
further promote the deve,opment of the country9s tourism industry.
#he Viet Nam Nationa, %dministration of #ourism said trave, *usinesses shou,d offer pac5ages 1ith severa, destinations to first-time tourists in the
country. VN!