Foreigners visit the Dai Noi Palace. (Source: VNA)
The management board of the EU-funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme announced on November 7 that its statistics on the number of tourists who return to Vietnam had been taken out of context.
A number of media sourced cited results from the EU programme’s survey on 600 English-speaking international and domestic tourists at five tourist attractions – Sa Pa in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh, the central cities of Hue and Da Nang, and Hoi An ancient town in the central province of Quang Ngai.
Conducted in March-April and July-August this year, the survey shows that approximately 90 percent of international respondents are first-time visitors.
Kai Partale, an expert working for the EU programme, argued that the quoted 6 percent figure failed to factor in non-English speaking tourists, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian and French nationals. Furthermore, the figure does not consider the status of tourists who did not visit the aforementioned destinations.
According to the survey, third-time and fourth-time visitors represent 2 percent and 3.2 percent of tourists, respectively. Based on projections for the entire year, 11.2 percent of visitors chose to return to Vietnam , experts added.
According to the General Department of Statistics, returning international holidaymakers accounted for approximately 34 percent of visitors last year. Up to 66.1 percent of international tourists visited Vietnam for the first time, while 20.1 percent and 13.8 percent came for the second and third time.
Implemented from 2011-2015, the EU project worth 11 million EUR is the largest technical assistance programme supporting the Vietnamese tourism sector, aiming to introduce a number of regulations on responsible tourism.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism are in charge of the project.-VNA
Đăng ký: VietNam News