The performance was mainly due to a sharp decrease in the number of Chinese tourists, according to the General Statistics Office. Only 516,000 visited Vietnam, 28 per cent lower than last year's figure.

While the overall the number of tourists showed little movement, increasing 1.5 per cent, the number of business travellers jumped 16 per cent to about 575,000. Visitors from Thailand represented the biggest increase from any one country. Budget airlines helped ferry 123,000 tourists from Thailand, a 42-per-cent jump over 2005.

After China, the largest number of foreign visitors to Vietnam came from South Korea with 421,000, following by the United States with 385,000 and Japan with 383,000.

The office said the number of international visitors to Vietnam was still below the government's expectations despite the efforts of domestic travel agencies to improve and diversify tourism services.

Tourism in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) continued to struggle because of battered infrastructure, lack of investment and haphazard coordination, the nation's tourism authority said recently.

The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said little progress had been made in breathing new life into the sector since officials from 18 central provinces and cities met in April 2004. The news means it is unlikely the provinces would hit tourism targets for 2006.

Tourism managers in Da Nang, Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue met several times to discuss the creation of a regional body, but those plans were still on the drawing board, VNAT reported. Instead, local officials have opted to pursue their own strategies.

In late March 2005, the three provinces launched festivals at the same time without any cross-advertising. As a result, travellers were not aware of the events taking place nearby, the tourism authority said.

One of the most important targets for 2006 - labelled the National Year of Tourism - was making the central provinces a holiday destination, Ho Thi Thanh Lam, vice chairwomen of the Quang Nam People's Committee, said last year.

A series of tourism and cultural events took place last year, but officials have not seen radical changes. Local experts said the VNAT's target of attracting 2.5 million foreigners and 10 million domestic visitors by 2010 seemed to be out of reach.

Tran Minh Ca, vice chairman of the Quang Nam People's Committee, said the provinces could generate more revenue through cooperation.

Dinh Hai, director of the Quang Nam Department of Tourism, said that would lower the cost of organising festivals and give visitors a panoramic view of the area. The national tourism body could act as the coordinator between the provinces and help attract investors, Hai added.

Vu The Binh, an official with the national tourism agency, suggested the central provinces should speed up immigration at Da Nang and Phu Bai airports along with processing at road and sea borders. They should also diversify tourism services and focus on advertising, he said.

Viet Nam News

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