The association’s General Secretary Nguyen Xuan Thang said on Nov. 27, 2008 the annual awards were launched in response to Vietnam’s Heritage Law and UNESCO’s Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage.

They aim to encourage people to discover and vote for Vietnam’s tangible and non-tangible cultural heritages, and recognize the work of organizations and individuals who have contributed to the preservation and development of them.

They also offer a chance for localities and ministries to highlight and promote Vietnam’s unique culture, tourism and heritage.

HCMC will lead the tourism promotion mission to Australia with a Vietnam roadshow in Melbourne on February 16, a day ahead of the opening of the 17th Asia Pacific Incentive & Meeting Expo, known as AIME 2009.

The programme, scheduled to last until September this year, will have travel companies working with airlines and hotels to offer discounts of 30 to 50% for package tours in Vietnam.

Nineteen hotels and 14 travel agencies in HCMC have joined the programme launched early this year by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

The “Vietnam Road Show 2008”, sponsored by the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO), includes a tourism information fair, meetings between Vietnamese and RoK tourism businesses and a RoK art performance programme.

KTO’s President Oh Jee-Chul told the press that Vietnam, along with Thailand and Malaysia, is a strategically important market for the RoK tourism sector. The Southeast Asian country is also one of the most popular destinations for RoK tourists, he added.

The number of RoK visitors to Vietnam was reported at 470,000 in 2007, up 38% from 2006. The figure is estimated at 500,000 this year.

The number of Vietnamese visiting the RoK is also growing, reaching 60,000 in 2007 and representing a 21% increase over the average number of five years ago.

On this occasion, KTO signed memoranda of understanding on tourism cooperation with eight Vietnamese travel agencies, including Viettravel, Fiditourist, Vacation Tourist, Viking Tourist, Vietlife, Perfect Tour Travel, Transviet and Viettours.

Under the MoUs, Vietnamese travel agencies will offer local visitors RoK tours with special promotions, including free entrance fees to famous tourist sites and discounts for art performance programmes.

The RoK Consulate General in HCMC committed to further simplifying visa procedures for Vietnamese visitors.

In April, the RoK extended entry visas for the directors and tour guides of Vietnamese travel agencies

According to the tourism sector, the number of foreign visitors dropped alarmingly in June and this downtrend has continued since then.

By the end of October, the tourism sector had catered for a total of 3.6 million visitors during 2008, an increase of 3.5 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, it had recorded a growth rate of more than 15 percent during the first half of the year.

A sharp drop in the number of visitors from high-income countries, such as China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the US and Canada, has caused great concern within the tourist industry.

As visitors from those markets account for 40 percent of the total number of foreign arrivals, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT)’s Travel Department has referred to the current situation as “quite serious”.

The concomitant fall in hotel room occupancy is also worrisome. Many luxury hotels reported room occupancy rates of only 55 percent in the past ten months, 10-15 percent lower than the rate recorded during the same period last year.

“If this situation continues, it will be impossible for Vietnam to welcome 5 million foreign visitors, the target it has set for this year,” said VNAT deputy director Nguyen Manh Cuong.

Although the global financial crisis and economic recession are regarded the main culprits for the decline, there were additional factors behind drop in overseas visitors, including natural disasters, floods, weak infrastructure, and the low quality of guides and services provided by the hospitality sector, Cuong said.

Struggling in the current climate, both state-owned and private travel companies, including Hanoitourist, Saigontourist, Vietmark and Lotussia Travel, are striving to offer new products while also adopting new marketing strategies to attract new tourists. They have also been advised to explore new markets.

To help give impetus to the industry, the Government has agreed to provide VND 30 billion for a range of promotional activities.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has approved a plan to advertise images of Vietnam on the BBC and is planning to build on this approach by promoting the country’s natural beauty via other worldwide television channels.

The UN World Tourism Organization predicted that the global tourism industry would remain static during 2009 before rebounding in 2020 with 1.6 billion tourist arrivals.