HCMC strives to attract medical tourists

HO CHI MINH CITY, 26 June 2017: Ho Chi Minh City health and tourism agencies believe medical tourism could be the next trend to improve the southern Vietnamese city’s foreign exchange earnings.

Vietnam Net Bridge quoted the city’s Department of Health deputy director, Tang Chi Thuong, saying there had been a global boom in medical tourism and Asian destinations had benefited.

“With highly skilled and experienced physicians, state-of-the-art facilities and advanced medical technologies as well as reasonably-priced services, public and private hospitals have reported a consistent increase in the number of foreign patients.” Read more

TCT bullish on Thai tourism

BANGKOK, 26 June 2017: Tourism Council of Thailand estimates international tourist arrivals to Thailand could reach 8.75 million during the third quarter, July to September, generating THB452,469 million in revenue.

Released last Thursday, the latest Thailand Tourism Confidence Index indicates a level of 102 in Q3 compared to the confidence benchmark of 100. The index is based on data from 600 tour agencies.

TCT president, Ittirit Kinglek, said the country’a tourism  in Q3 should be positive reaching 8.75 million international travellers, an increase of 6.38% over the same quarter last year. Read more

Too much tourism hurts

BARCELONA, 26 June 2017: Tourism has become the main issue of concern for Barcelona’s residents ahead of unemployment, according to a survey published Friday by the city hall of the popular seaside resort.

Rising rental prices, noise and crowds jostling for space in the streets, the disappearance of traditional, every-day stores have all become irritants for those who still live in the central districts of the Mediterranean city, which gets millions of visitors every year.

According to the survey, tourism in this 1.6-million-strong city was considered a problem by 19% of the 800 people polled, overtaking unemployment and working conditions which came in at 12.4% and had since 2009 always been the top concern. Read more

WTTC takes a swipe at Cuba ban

LONDON, 23 June 2017: The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) expressed disappointment at President Trump’s plan to reverse key elements of the trading relationship between the US and Cuba, which was originally outlined by President Obama in 2014 and by his visit last year.

“The Cuban people are directly benefiting from increased business and leisure travel to Havana. Travel brings income to the people who work in our industry. President Trump’s statements indicate that the Cuban people, rather than the government will be hit by this policy change,” said WTTC president & CEO, David Scowsill.

“Airlines, cruise lines and hotel groups have all made significant investments and plans to create jobs and to grow the industry in Cuba, based on clear direction from the previous administration. Our sector needs consistency from governments and stability of policy. This is a clear and unwelcome reversal.” Read more

Tourism top of the Thai pile

LONDON, 23 June 2017: Thailand’s tourism sector is one of the strongest performers out of nine of the country’s industry sectors covered in a new study released by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

The WTTC Benchmarking Report 2017 compares Travel & Tourism to eight other sectors, which are considered to have similar breadth and global presence, across 27 countries and six regions.

The section on Thailand showed that business and leisure travel directly contributed THB1.3 trillion (USD37 billion) to Thailand’s GDP in 2016, which is higher than all other eight sectors researched in the study. Read more

Thailand back on global retail index

BANGKOK, 22 June 2017: Thailand figures once more in the Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), released by management consulting firm AT Kearney earlier this month.

The GRDI, now in its 16th edition, ranks the top 30 developing countries for retail investment worldwide.

Thailand joined the ranking at 30th compared with third placed Malaysia and Vietnam ranked sixth. Read more

Where foodie tourists go

NEW YORK, 20 June 2017: Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and Tokyo are the top cities for food fans worldwide, according to the latest Booking.com report.

With three quarters (75%) of global travellers saying that they would likely travel somewhere renowned for its great food and drink when choosing their next travel destination[i], culinary travel is a trend on the rise.

The joy of tasting new dishes while travelling is tagged as growing trend by Booking.com, global travel booking website. Read more

HCMC identifies tourism as key driver

HO CHI MINH CITY, 19 June 2017: Ho Chi Minh City tourism sector is projecting VND170 trillion (USD7.5 billion) in annual revenue by 2020.

Saigon Times media reported that annual tourism revenue should account for over 11% of the city’s total gross domestic product.

The city is planning to develop tourism into a major economic driver exceeding other industries over the next five years. This year, the sector should achieve revenue of VND120 trillion (USD5.3 billion), a 16.5% rise over the previous year and well above the earlier-set goal of VND116 trillion (USD5.1 billion). Read more

HCMC focuses on waterway tourism

HO CHI MINH CITY, 16 June 2017: Ho Chi Minh City’s authorities will strengthen the city’s waterway tourism through a business plan, 2017 to 2020,  in an effort to offer more travel options for visitors.

Local media reported that at least seven new waterway tourism programmes would be implemented on the Sai Gon, Dong Nai, Nha Be, Soai Rap and Long Tau rivers and inner canals.

Waterway tourism in the city is expected to attract 450,000 tourists by 2018 increasing 15% annually over the next three years, it said. Read more

Americans flock to Cuba

HAVANA, CUBA, 16 June 2017: Some 300,000 Americans flocked to Cuba in the first five months of 2017, nearly the same number as for all of last year, officials in Havana said on Wednesday.

Just two days before US President Donald Trump was due to announce a new policy rolling back a rapprochement initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama, the official Cubadebate website published figures showing a continuing boom in tourism from the United States.

Havana’s national statistics bureau said that by the end of May, some 284,565 Americans had travelled to Cuba this year. Read more

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