Vietnam has recently initiated changes to its visa requirements in order to attract more tourists.
 
The changes include a reduction in the cost of visas, some changes to visa conditions, as well as a new tourism and investment promotional campaign prepared by a country not used to preparing promotional campaigns. Even so, tourism industry professionals say that these changes fall far short of what is needed to push up the numbers of foreign arrivals.
 
Vietnam has built up an impressive gravitas as a serious destination for tourists. According to World Bank figures, Vietnam had 7.6 million tourist arrivals in 2013, compared to 26.5 million for Thailand, 8.8 million for Indonesia, and 4.7 million for the Philippines. This represents an increase of 362 percent for Vietnam over figures for 2000, compared to 276 percent for Thailand, 173 percent for Indonesia, and 235 percent for the Philippines over the same period.
 
And yet, in the months to September 2015, the arrival figures are down on the numbers for 2014. The authorities are worried. The number of tourists from China is down. The number of tourists from Russia is down, probably reflecting the much reduced value of the Russian rouble.
 
With China now becoming the largest source of tourists for Europe, Australia, Japan, South Korea and some other Asian countries, the Chinese, until early in 2014, represented one in every four foreign tourists entering Vietnam. Unfortunately, the 2014 spats between Vietnam and China over the South China Sea saw arrivals from China and Hong Kong down drastically.  Chinese tourist numbers reflect any bilateral tensions, for example the fall in Chinese tourist numbers going to Japan in late 2012 and 2013 following tensions over disputed territory, and the fall in numbers going to Malaysia after the MH 370 plane went missing in March 2014. This may be natural travel-plan choices made by Chinese individuals, but may also reflect an official government view of the power of its tourists as a strategic aspect.
 
Vietnam, a land of 92 million people, has come out of its isolation over the last 20 years. Free movement of tourists inside Vietnam was only allowed in 1997. Today, tourism represents an attractive source of foreign exchange, and forms part of the Government’s plans for development of the economy. Vietnam has a guiding government body - the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism - and this operates a long-term plan for the growth of tourism. As part of this plan, a more diversified offering for tourists is being initiated, possibly because there is the occasional comment that Vietnam, while interesting for the tourist, has a sameness about it.
Vietnam has moved from an agriculture-based economy straight to an economy based substantially on services (including tourism), while adding in a bit of manufacturing and a bit of mining along the way. Foreign investment into Vietnam has largely concentrated on tourism facilities.  
Still, Vietnamese officials and industry professionals believe that changing visa conditions is not enough. They argue that, apart from the hotel operators, Vietnam is not generating enough revenue from those tourists who do arrive. 
 
Neither private businesses nor local governments see the benefit to them. And this view confronts more fundamental questions. Some foreign visitors say that they have been disappointed with the ‘Vietnam experience’, citing public safety on narrow and dangerous roads, ‘environmental hygiene’, ‘boring’ destinations, and rip-off prices for some taxis and street-food. The ‘boring destinations’ aspect is picked by some government officials, who suggest that while there are many beautiful places in Vietnam, each city fails to differentiate itself and has no points of culture or entertainment which would allow foreign tourists to spend money. Or to put it bluntly, what use are the foreigners if they cannot be parted from their cash?
 
Vietnam is full of culinary delights, lush landscapes, remarkable coastal geology, miles of beautiful white beaches, and lots of historic, cultural and religious places of interest. Should be a money-spinner. Maybe the answer simply is that too many decades of communism has stunted the Vietnamese mindset - individuals or government - to the opportunities to slant local attractions to foreign exchange revenues.   No doubt bigger doses of capitalism, privatization, advertising, psychology and cynicism will in time allow the Vietnamese to gain greater control over the tourists’ wallets.    
 
Mike B. Bradshaw has been an officer of the Treasury, Canberra, an investment banker, and a consultant in Europe, the USA and Asia. He now works on project financing.
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