Vietnam’s tourism promotion program to be extended

Vietnam’s tourism promotion program to be extended

QĐND – Friday, January 01, 2010, 9:4 (GMT+7)

The country’s largest-ever tourism promotion program Impressive Vietnam will continue into the new year, instead of being wrapped up on December 31 as earlier scheduled, said a senior tourism official.

Vu The Binh, head of the travel department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said that VNAT would have a meeting next month to review the program and discuss the extention.

“In the meeting, the administration will collect ideas from experts and entrepreneurs about new methods to carry out the program in the new situation,” Binh told the Daily, explaining that the extension of the grand sale program was aimed to create a sharper edge for Vietnam’s hospitality industry.

“We aim to improve the competitiveness of the country’s tourism sector (in 2010) rather than merely a supporting measure for local players in the challenging year (of 2009) only,” he said.

“We will extend the program but support for travel firms and the ways to deploy it should be changed,” he said.

Under the large-scale promotion program announced by VNAT early this year, big discounts of between 30% and 50% are being offered for visitors buying packaged tours with travel agencies who registered to join the program.

More than 85 travel agencies together with hotels, shopping venues, restaurants, and transportation companies have put their names down to join the program.

Along with promotions for foreign visitors, local tourists are receiving discounts of airlines and other services.

Binh said that the country’s tourism authority had launched the program to cope with the decline in international arrivals prompted by the global recession. However, as the sector is recovering, the VNAT needs to change the way to deploy it.

“This year we need the program to woo tourists to overcome the downturn. But now, we need a better program to raise the competitiveness of the country’s tourism,” Binh said.

He said the program had become a strong point for promoting the country’s tourism to international tourists. As for the domestic travel sector, the Impressive Vietnam has contributed greatly to the strong growth of local travelers this year.

“We can see the good impact on the domestic travel sector right now, which has grown by 19% this year,” Binh said.

However, the official said, the extended program will not offer travel firms big discounts in air tickets. Under the current program, Vietnam Airlines has given different promotions, the biggest discount being as high as 60%, to travel firms to make package tours more affordable to tourists.

“Business is recovering so partners especially Vietnam Airlines can’t run big promotions like those undertaken this year,” Binh said.

In early November, on behalf of the group of local travel firms participating in the Impressive Vietnam program, deputy head Tran The Dung requested the Travel Department to extend the program to June 2010.

According to VNAT, the country this year welcomes 3.8 million foreign visitors, down nearly 11% year-on-year, and 25 million domestic travelers, up 19% compared to last year. The tourism revenue is expected to grow between 6.5% and 9% to VND68-70 trillion.

Source: VNN

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NA member urges Koreans to stop bear bile tourism

A Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) member recently urged South Korea’s Ministry of Environment to prevent its citizens from getting involved in illegal bear bile sales in Vietnam.

Bear raised in cages at a farm in Quang Ninh Province (Photo: Tuoi tre)

South Korea’s JoongAng Daily published Nguyen Dinh Xuan’s letter, an NA member of the Science, Technology and Environment Committee, saying that Korean businesspeople and tourists violate the law when they are involved in illegal bear bile sales in Vietnam.

He sent the letter to the ministry on August, 2009, urging the ministry to instruct the Korean public not to get involved in such illegal trade when they travel to Vietnam.

Koreans are advised not to purchase bear bile, which is thought by some to boost health or sexual prowess.

Mr. Xuan said he has not received any official feedback from the South Korean government, though he noted that both countries observe the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).

However, Korean environmental police have questioned some Koreans for involvement in international rings that sell bear bile.

Kim Won-tae, a senior deputy director of the ministry, said Mr. Xuan said many bear farms in Vietnam are allegedly run by Koreans.
 
Around ten bear farms in Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province – a famous tourist destination, are keeping hundreds of bears in cages, where bile is harvested and sold. 

Through a survey conducted by the environmental group Education for Nature-Vietnam, more than 100 tourist buses transported around 1,500 Korean tourists to bear farms in the span of just ten days in April and August this year.

The newspaper quoted Mr. Xuan’s letter that he hopes the Korean Embassy, environment agencies and media will help solve the problem.

Source: SGGP Bookmark & Share

“Back to the Origins” tourism programme attracts over 1.3 million tourists

“Back to the Origins” tourism programme attracts over 1.3 million tourists

QĐND – Thursday, October 29, 2009, 20:4 (GMT+7)

The northern province of Phu Tho, on October 28^th, held a ceremony to review the “Back to the Origins” tourism programme which started in the provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Phu Tho on January 31^st.

According to the National Administration of Tourism, over the past 5 years, the programme has helped further promote tourism in these provinces. In 2009 alone, the programme attracted over 1.3 million of tourists, an increase of 6% over the previous year.

In 2010, with various important events held in Vietnam such as a Great Festival to celebrate 1,000 years of Thang Long-Hanoi, and the National Tourism Year 2010, the programme’s organising panel will have to figure out new tourism products and services in order to ensure future further success.

Source: HNM

Translated by Vu Hung

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50 tourism information booths to be erected in HCMC

50 tourism information booths to be erected in HCMC

QĐND – Thursday, October 29, 2009, 20:4 (GMT+7)

Vina Media Joint Stock Company is to erect some 100 tourist information booths, using touch screen consoles, in Ho Chi Minh City in the next two weeks.

According to Le Hoang Yen, Vina Media General Director, the booths, to be installed, at a cost of US$5,000 each, at Tan Son Nhat Airport, office buildings and trade centres in HCMC, will help tourists to easily get access to essential information about tourism locations and routes, restaurants, entertainment centres and tourism services available at 24 cities and provinces nationwide.

Source: thesaigontimes

Translated by Vu Hung

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Promoting cultural assets to encourage Mekong tourism

The up-coming Mekong-Japan Tourism and Cultural Festival is aimed at highlighting the unique aspects of local culture to promote Mekong Delta tourism, affirmed Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran Chien Thang at a press briefing in Hanoi on Oct. 26.

Foreign visitors tour Cai Rang Floating Market in Can Tho City, the host of the Mekong-Japan Tourism and Cultural Festival (Photo: H.Y.)

The festival is scheduled to be held in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on December 2-5, as part of the Mekong-Japan Exchange Year with the participation of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan.

The official further said that the program is expected to create a new vitality for the Mekong Delta region, which is the country’s rice basket, but still has an underdeveloped economy, making tourism a top priority in the region’s plan for the future.

He reaffirmed that the festival would provide a prime opportunity to promote tourism in the Mekong region and in Vietnam in general.

During the festival, a workshop underscoring the sustainable development of tourism in the Mekong Delta will be held to showcase its potential in terms of cultural and natural resources, the current state of infrastructure, human resources, and tourism products, as well as cooperation and development relating to Mekong-Japan tourism.

Culture ministers from participating countries will attend a discussion under the theme of “ Mekong – a river connecting cultures” to link the region’s cultural assets with attracting Japanese tourism to promote sustainable development and prosperity.

Performance troupes from the six participating countries will perform at the festival’s opening ceremony. Numerous activities highlighting the unique traditional art and culture of Mekong sub-regional countries and Japan will take place during the four days of festivities.

Can Tho will also offer traditional boat racing, singing and gastronomy as well as local tours for visitors.

By the end of November, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will hold an international press conference in Hanoi to introduce the festival to foreign guests.

Source: SGGP Bookmark & Share

Region targets tourism synergy

HCM CITY — The packaging and marketing of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia as a single tourism destination was a major topic of discussion at the International Tourism Investment Conference held in HCM City yesterday.

Leading tourism experts and government officials of the three countries argued that despite boasting different tourism potentials and strength, marketing and investment synergies could be achieved by combining them into one destination called 3CODe.

The two-day conference covered tourism master plans and key tourism investment opportunities in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia.

Case studies were also presented of niche destination marketing in the three countries highlighting adventure, ecotourism, heritage, vacation ownership, luxury travel, spa and cruise.

Nguyen Van Tuan, director of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism, said that with its favourable geographical position and special historical and cultural characteristics, Viet Nam had many advantages to develop tourism.

He said tourism strategies deployed by the country had paid off with the domestic tourism industry achieving average annual growth rate of 10 per cent.

Tuan, however, stressed the need to set up a close co-operation between Viet Nam’s tourism industry and those of regional countries, particularly Laos and Cambodia, which, he said, shared many similarities.

“The Vietnamese tourism industry would develop more strongly if there are more and more regional and international enterprises investing in tourism projects, not only in Viet Nam but also in Laos and Cambodia,” he said.

He hoped the conference would help international enterprises to find several investment opportunities in the tourism sectors in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia.

Obstacles

Experts, however, also pointed out several difficulties that the three countries would face in materialising the 3CODe concept.

Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia did not have specific co-operation plans to realise this goal, they noted. Meanwhile, the transport infrastructure to tourism destinations in all these countries was still very poor.

So Mara, Secretary of State of the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism said, the three countries had different potentials that would be better used if they were developed together.

“However, the three countries have not yet had common co-operative programmes on developing tourism. Administrative procedures are also a big hindrance that prevents tourists from visiting within the three countries,” So Mara said.

He suggested a single visa for the three countries and a common marketing programme that will include brochures, magazines and DVDs of the three countries’ tourism.

Soukaseum Bodhisane, vice chairman of the Lao National Tourism Administration, said,”The three countries have different tourism development capacities; however these differences do not create competition but can supplement each other.”

The biggest problems facing the three countries’ tourism sectors were infrastructure and human resources, Soukaseum said.

“Laos plans to strengthen trade and investment activities with Viet Nam and launch several tourism promotion programmes in the country to attract more Vietnamese tourists as well as investors to Laos,”he said.

Pham Trung Luong, deputy director of the Viet Nam Institute for Tourism Development Research, also stressed the need to make a common co-operative plan to realise the 3CODe goal.

Luong also said that each country needed to seek ways to fully utilise their own tourism strengths as well.

“Viet Nam, for instance, must focus on exploiting sea tourism while Laos should promote its forests. Cambodia, for its part, should highlight its colourful and diversified cultural traditions,” he said.

Luong revealed that later this month, the Vietnamese tourism sector would submit to the Government for approval a border tourism development plan comprising Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia.

The conference was jointly organised by the Vietnamese ministries of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Planning and Investment, the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism, the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, the HCMC Tourism Department, and IIR Exhibitions Pte Ltd.

It attracted the participation of more than 100 experts from tourism and relevant sectors of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia and some other countries. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Boosting tourism plays key role in plans to eradicate poverty

Foreign tourists at an ethnic Dao village in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai’s Ta Phin Commune. Development of local tourism sectors is seen as a way to help poor people escape poverty. — VNA/VNS Photo Trong Duc

HA NOI — Development of tourism has been part of the stimulus plan initiated by the Government which intended to reduce the negative impact of the economic downturn on the nation’s development, generating jobs for many poor people.

At a two-day conference entitled Human Resources Development in Tourism and Poverty Alleviation: Uncharted Territory, Tran Chien Thang, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism said during 2000-08, income from tourism increased at a much higher rate than the average growth in the numbers of Vietnamese and foreign tourists.

Dr Trinh Xuan Dung of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said that in 2005, foreign currency earnings from tourism reached more than US$2.3 billion and in 2008, it was $4 billion with an average annual growth rate of 15.6 per cent.

Compared to GDP, total revenue from tourism in the 2000-08 period accounted for 4.15 per cent per year.

He added that tourism also generated many jobs to society, especially for poor people.

According to the latest statistics of VNAT, by 2008, the tourism industry employed, either directly and indirectly, more than 1 million people, accounting for 10 per cent of the labour force in the service sector and 4 per cent of working people nationwide.

Sung Thi Hoa, a Mong ethnic minority woman, works as a waitress at a restaurant in the mountainous district of Sa Pa, northern Lao Cai Province and earns a monthly salary of VND1 million (US$55).

Hoa said that many young people from her village worked as tourist guides, bakers or service staff in hotels and restaurants in the district. Their lives had changed for the better with their improved incomes. Their families were no longer afraid of hunger.

Douglas Hainsworth, senior consultant of the Human Resources Development in Tourism Project, said that in rural areas with limited options for non-agricultural earning opportunities, tourism could provide sources for off-farm income earnings. In urban areas, the tourism sector could also provide opportunities for the poor. Engaging in informal sector activities such as selling products as food or souvenirs to tourists, or gaining entry level positions working in tourism enterprises as cleaners and food services were examples.

According to many experts, people working in the tourism sector have slightly higher incomes and the services generally offer higher returns than other economic sectors.

The General Statistics Office revealed that hotels and restaurants alone ranked 6th out of the 18 national economic sectors in Viet Nam in terms of their efficiency.

A person working in hotels or restaurants earns VND78 million ($4,300) per year while an agricultural labourer earns VND32 million ($1,700) per year or a construction worker VND40 million ($2,200) per year.

Dung said this was the way tourism helped the country’s poverty alleviation aims.

Thang said that tourism was considered as a high potential service sector, high in added value and strongly competitive, but in order to reach international standards, it required high quality human resources.

Tourism training

Hainsworth suggested that it was necessary to improve access to tourism training opportunities for the poor. To more fully engage the poor in tourism training programmes, they needed to be affordable, fit local employment conditions, and be based near to where the poor lived. Vocational skills should be based on both the current abilities of training participants and the jobs they would likely engage in.

He added that entry level positions could provide the vital step to get out of poverty, and the full potential of people from disadvantaged backgrounds should be further supported by opportunities to train for higher level positions in the industry.

Pham Thi Vy, headmaster of Hoa Sua Economic Tourism School, one of the most well-known vocational training schools to offer free training courses in tourism for nearly 4,000 poor people aged between 18 and 25, said that only about 50 per cent of employees in tourism had taken training programmes.

Vy said that the school’s students were mainly from the poor districts of Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Lao Cai, Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam and Khanh Hoa, provinces with high tourism potential, but where tourism enterprises found it difficult to find good quality employees. The school picked up the young people in these localities to train them in hospitality skills such as restaurant service, reception and cooking.

She added that the students returned to their hometowns and applied what they had learned from the school and developed their life skills and their local cultural identities.

Hoa, an ex-Hoa Sua student said she had to do the training course at the school before finding work in a restaurant in Sa Pa District. She was going to take part in pastry-making course at school. She hoped to combine her new skills with her village’s traditional cakes in order to improve their attractiveness to customers.

Hoa hoped more young people in rural Viet Nam could have the chance to improve their vocational skills so that they could secure permanent jobs, while satisfying tourists.

Participants at the meeting were informed of the Viet Nam Tourism Occupation Skill Standard System (VTOS) – a system attempting to guarantee international standards in the Vietnamese tourism industry.

The project on human resources development funded by the European Union aimed to improve the quality and standard of human resources working in the tourism sector from 2004-10.

VNAT’s Dung said that through improved human capabilities and skills in tourism, it was expected that the average growth rate of foreign currency earnings from tourism in 2011-20 would be more than 16 per cent per year, with revenue from tourism increasing at more than 18 per cent per year on average. The average growth in the number of international tourists and domestic tourists would be 9-9.5 per cent and 10-13 per cent per year,` respectively. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Quang Nam boosts tourism, culture

Quang Nam boosts tourism, culture

Quang Nam Province will introduce its special culture and tourism potential at the Tourism Culture Week – the biggest event of its kind to date – slated to be held late November in Ha Noi.

The province’s two world cultural heritage sites, the My Son Cham Tower Complex and Hoi An ancient city, and the lifestyles of mountainous ethnic people will be presented at the event.

The province will also showcase its Thanh Ha porcelain, Ma Chau silk, Ban Thach mats, Kim Bong carpentry and Phuoc Kieu bronze casting products.

Vespa tour for MICE guests

Saigontourist Travel Service Co arranged a special tour on old-fashioned Vespa scooters for 25 foreign visitors from the Tetra Pak Co on Wednesday. The guests, who came on a MICE (meeting, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) tour, visited major tourist attractions in the city such as the City Opera House, Post Office, Ben Thanh Market and Huyen Si Church.

The company has reported a year-on-year increase of 16 per cent in MICE guests over the past two months, bringing the total number of tourists received in the first eight months to over 54,000.

Da Lat fest to mark capital birthday

The Festival Da Lat 2010, mainly a wine and flowers event, has been listed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as one of major national festivals to be held next year to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi.

The festival, which will take place in “The City of Flowers” from January 1 to 4, 2010, includes an international exhibition of flowers, a musical gala, a mountain climbing competition and fireworks.

In addition, visitors can join a Wine Festival and taste famous brands from Australia, Chile, France, Spain, Viet Nam, the US and other nations. They can also enjoy performances by bartenders and listen to presentations on the history of wine and the art of wine tasting by leading specialists. The wine fest by the Xuan Huong Lake is being organised by Tam Nhin Moi (New Vision) media company in coordination with the Lam Dong Department of Trade and Industry.

Ancient well, new caves discovered

A local resident on Cham Island in Hoi An city has found an ancient well which was built by the Cham people some 500 years ago. Authorities of Quang Nam Province have proposed restoring the well, which is located in a national relic on the island, as a tourist attraction.

During an excavation this month, authorities in Quang Binh Province’s Minh Hoa District have announced the discovery of more new grottoes in a limestone mountainous forest in the To Mo and Tu Lan valleys in Tan Hoa Commune. Archeologists have so far discovered seven grottoes of different sizes.

Book to recount Caravelle history

Like people, hotels have stories, and the Caravelle Hotel in HCM City has narrated its in Caravelle – Saigon: A History, a book that traces its 50-year history.

The book, to be released this month, took a team of writers and researchers and international journalists who lived and worked at the hotel a year to write.

It will unfold as a straight narrative comprising stories from individuals, detailing among other things the tumult of the 1960s and early 1970s.

“The Caravelle’s history makes it part of the fabric of HCM City and Viet Nam in a way that very few hotels, anywhere can be,” said John Gardner, its general manager.

The book will cost VND750,000 in hard cover and VND550,000 in paperback. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Overland tourism has huge potential

Viet Nam is in a perfect position to capitalise on visitors driving across its long borders.

A Malaysian car group crawls through Hai Van Pass in central Viet Nam. Upgrading infrastructure and improving service quality are considered the best ways to attract overland tourists. — VNA/VNS Photo Vu Cong Dien

HCM CITY — The huge international overland tourism potential in the country can be tapped only if the infrastructure is upgraded and service quality improved considerably, experts say.

Vu The Binh, director of the Travel Department under the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said that Viet Nam has a lot of advantages to develop international overland tourism, given its long borders with neighbouring nations.

He said the country has a 4,550-kilometer-long border with nearly 100 overland border gates, many of them in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) and central regions.

The Tay Nguyen and central regions are also sites of stunning natural beauty including mountains, forests and beaches. The most picturesque beaches in the region include My Khe in Da Nang, Lang Co in Thua Thien-Hue and Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa.

The regions are also home to two-eighth of the world’s biosphere reserves, 11 national parks, and 25 out of the country’s 58 natural reserves.

Provinces in the Tay Nguyen and central regions also have many special historical and cultural relics, and constitute a haven for cultural diversity as they are home to several ethnic minorities like the Van Kieu, Ta Oi, Gia Lai and Ba Na.

The regions also host five world cultural heritage sites and arts: the Hue Imperial Relics, Nha Nhac Cung Dinh Hue (Hue royal music), Hoi An Ancient Town, My Son Relic, and Tay Nguyen Gong, Binh said.

Many other experts from travel companies also agreed with Binh, saying international overland tourism could make a significant contribution to socio-economic development in the border localities.

However, authorities were yet to pay due attention to this form of tourism, and thus the potential remains relatively untapped, they said.

Limitations

According to the VNAT, international visitors to Viet Nam through overland international border gates account for just 30 per cent of the total arrivals.

Of more than 200,000 km of roadways in the country, only 5.74 per cent are highways. Most of the roads that lead to international border gates have not been upgraded to express ways. Binh said,”Meanwhile, tourism destinations in the country are widely scattered so visitors have to spend a lot of time travelling.”

The travel situation becomes more difficult in rainy reasons with many roads were often damaged heavily by floods. Worse still, services on the roads are still poor with no rest areas, petrol and maintenance stations, he said.

As a result, tourists have to use facilities built for passenages of local cars and trucks that typically do not maintain high standards of hygiene and cleanliness, Binh said.

Caravan tours

Caravan tours were becoming more popular in Viet Nam, but tourists had to complete cumbersome and time-consuming procedures. Most tourists of this kind were high income earners requiring high-quality services, he said.

In recent years, many caravan tours from Thailand and Laos have visited Viet Nam, contributing to increased tourism traffic in the Central Highlands and central regions. Sometimes, the overland international border gates at the regions received up to 2,000 international tourists a day, Binh said.

However, concerned provinces and the domestic tourism industry still had no specific plans to attract tourists of this kind.

To attract international overland tourists to Viet Nam, border provinces, particularly those in the Tay Nguyen and central regions, must attach priority to building tourism infrastructural facilities and ensure high quality services, Binh said.

He also stressed the need to set up close cooperation between Viet Nam and neighbouring countries including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and China in developing international overland tourism including caravan tours. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Thailand tries to restore faded tourism industry

by Mai Phuong

Thailand’s tourism industry is going to great lengths to drum up business, since political upheaval, the global recession – and now H1N1 flu fears – have all driven down visitor numbers.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has unveiled a multi-pronged strategic marketing campaign for 2009-10 targeting to restore the prestige of tourism in the country since its image as an easygoing tropical getaway was marred by political upheaval.

The troubles started last November when anti-government protesters shut down Bangkok’s two airports for a week, stranding thousands. Then in April, a rival group of demonstrators broke into a summit of Asian leaders in the seaside resort of Pattaya and later clashed with police in the streets of Bangkok, leaving two dead.

All quiet now

The turmoil has gone and most of the country is quiet – apart from flares of violence from the Muslim insurgency in the far south of the Buddhist-dominated country. The recent spate of flu fatalities has added to the gloom.

Business is normally slower from June through October because of the rainy season, but this year has been particularly sluggish. Luxury hotels seem to be hit hardest, with many in Bangkok reporting occupancy of only 40 per cent. Hotel occupancy around the country has dropped from 66 per cent last year to just 44 per cent this season. Foreign visitor arrivals have fallen 16 per cent.

The new tourism marketing strategies which were revealed earlier last week range from stepped-up online marketing efforts to short-stay packages targeted at neighbouring and nearby countries and an intensive pursuit of new markets.

TAT’s deputy director for international marketing, Santichai Euachongprasit, has also invited the private sector to help TAT improve its marketing efforts by submitting ideas and initiatives to capitalise on prevailing opportunities and trends in the wake of one of the most difficult market conditions the country has ever faced.

Specific forecasts are being avoided due to the fluidity of the domestic and international situation, but TAT is projecting a better global and local environment in 2010.

“Three key factors are impacting on visitor arrivals to Thailand. They are the global economic downturn, the country’s political situation, and the H1N1 flu. People have become more cautious about spending on leisure and business travel,” said Euachongprasit.

TAT would maintain its “Amazing Thailand, Amazing Value” theme and would combat negative fallout from media coverage of recent political developments by stepping up the number and frequency of promotional trips for both media and travel agents. These would be designed to instill confidence among opinion-shapers and those who influence travel decisions that Thailand remains a safe and secure destination.

A major effort would also be made to boost domestic tourism through increased support for local travel shows and trade events. Thai Airways is reportedly trying to lure passengers from outside Asia with offers of free domestic flights, and hotels on the resort island of Phuket are offering a fourth night free.

The Peninsula Hotel in Bangkok is offering a special package that includes a 3,500-baht ($100) bar and restaurant credit and a free second night at any Peninsula hotel around the world.

Mountain lodges up north are offering free golf and spa services, and hotels nationwide are offering discounts to Thai residents.

The government is extending a holiday next week to get more Thais on the road and has cut airport fees and offered low-interest loans to small businesses catering to tourists. Bangkok’s glitziest shopping malls are also slashing prices on many goods by 20-70 per cent.

For foreign tourists not scared off by news reports about the political situation or the H1N1 flu, now might be the best time to come, with both prices and crowds reduced.

“Most of the protests have taken place around the Government House, which is far away from the most of the tourist areas of Bangkok, so the political unrest is really not anything for most tourists to worry about,” said Matthew Watters, a US citizen now living in Ha Noi but who lived in Thailand during 2001-02.

Avoid the south

“Bangkok is a very large city, very spread out, and even most of the people already there probably only watched the protests on televsion. It just isn’t something that’s going to affect most tourists,” Watters said.

He said the only part of Thailand he would currently think twice about visiting was the far south of the country, due to the more random terrorist violence there associated with the unrest among the Muslim population.

“I’ve been to Thailand twice, and I would come back again despite any local protests, as I still think it’s one of the best value-for-money tourist destinations in the region, said Michael Libucha an Australian expat living in Ha Noi.

He said budget travellers can still find many cheap hotels, the tourism infrastructure is relatively good and Bangkok is a city that never sleeps – it’s a city that’s a lot more exciting than other capitals in the region.”

Meanwhile, many fear that recovery continues to be a long way off for Thailand’s tourism industry, which employs 2.5 million people and is a pillar of the Thai economy. TAT has targeted about 16 million international arrivals this year. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn