VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) announced a stimulus program for domestic tours in an effort to offset the falling number of international arrivals in the last six months.

Foreign tourists are seen at the HCMC Post Office in District 1

According to the tourism department, the campaign will be launched by the end of this year and take place during 2015 to attract both local and foreign tourists, enhancing domestic tourism promotion.

Travel firms participating in this event pledge to discount at least 10% of service charges and provide other promotions such as free charge for certain services and discount vouchers for future use.

The stimulus campaign is expected to help the tourism industry meet or exceed this year’s target of 35 million local tourists and 37.5 million visitors in 2015. VNAT expects the growth of the domestic segment can make up for the low rate of international arrivals in Jan-Nov.

Earlier, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism proposed the Government halve both the value added tax and corporate income tax for participating enterprises.

To encourage international travel agencies to bring more guests to Vietnam, the tourism ministry held a ceremony in Hanoi last week to honor and thank 50 international travel agencies for their great contribution to the country’s tourism industry.

The travel firms were those from Japan, Russia and other major visitor-generating markets of Vietnam. Russia-based Pegas Touristik was one of the companies honored as it has brought hundreds of thousands of visitors and made Russia become one of Vietnam’s biggest tourism markets in a short period.

This year, Pegas Touristik is expected to organize tours for more than 180,000 foreign tourists to explore the country, increasing by 18% over last year.

The tourism sector presented a series of new products at the ceremony held in collaboration with national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and several local travel companies to woo more international travelers.

Representatives of the 50 international travel agencies were taken to some attractions in northern Vietnam, including Hoa Lu Ancient Capital and Trang An-Bai Dinh tourist site in Ninh Binh Province, and Thang Long Imperial Citadel in Hanoi.

The number of international arrivals in Vietnam has fallen for six consecutive months compared to last year. However, the number of foreign visitors in Jan-Nov still reaches over 7.2 million, increasing 5.4% year-on-year thanks to the strong growth in the year’s beginning.

Vietnam’s tourism industry targets 8- 8.2 million international visitors this year.

SGT