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Vietnam raises tourism game plan

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HANOI, 11 April 2019:  Improving its standing in a global travel and tourism index is a top priority for Vietnam according to Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien.

Vietnam News Agency reported the minister has identified that the goal is to move up 15 to 20 places on the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index.  Compiled biennially, the next index will be published later this year.

The minister acknowledged reforms were needed to make it easier to attract investment in tourism and to improve online services and connecting them through a national one-stop portal.

But moving up the WEF index is now a long-term priority for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to measure the country’s progress.

He told the Vietnam News Agency that the ministry is now responsible for monitoring the WEF’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index and that includes devising a strategy to improve the country’s ranking.

The index covered 136 nations in the 2017 study and Vietnam was ranked 68th which was an improvement of eight places on the 2015 study.

Moving up 20 places is a formidable challenge and might not be within reach until the 2021 study gets underway.

India in the 2017 index gained 12 places to reach 40th, while Thailand (34) had improved just one spot since 2015.

Compared with its Southeast Asian neighbours, Singapore has the best ranking (13) followed by Indonesia (24) and Malaysia (26).

Vietnam performed better than the Philippines (79) Lao PDR (94) and Cambodia (101).

The index adopts a competitive methodology that calculates the score for each country on the basis of 90 indicators within 14 pillars, including business environment; safety and security; health and hygiene; human resources and labour market; ICT readiness; prioritisation of travel and tourism; international openness; price competitiveness; environmental sustainability; air transport infrastructure; ground and port infrastructure; tourist service infrastructure; natural resources; cultural resources and business travel.

Tourist arrivals for the first quarter of 2019 reached 4.5 million, up 7% year-on-year. In 2018, the country welcomed 15.5 million visitors and expects to close 2019 with 18 million.

(Source: VNA with additional reporting)

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