VIET NAM: China's Ban On Travel To South Korea,Chinese Tourists Flock Vietnam

According to Luong Quang So, head of the Mong Cai economic zone management board, on the days just before and after Tet (late January and early February), only 8,000-10,000 foreign travelers, including 2,500-3,500 Chinese, entered Vietnam through the Mong Cai border gate each day.

However, the figure increased sharply to 15,000 a day, including 5,000 from China in the last week, an increase of 50 percent over the same period last year.

Duong Van Co, chair of Mong Cai City, said that the increasing number of travelers has put pressure on customs clearance, but this has not had any impact on public order and tourism management.

The accommodations and tourism sites in Mong Cai are still capable of catering to travelers because most of the travelers go on domestic routes.

Thousands of Chinese travelers entered Vietnam through the Mong Cai international border gate two days after China's ban on travel to South Korea.

According to Co, as the number of tourists increases, the fees and charges collected from tourists at the border gate will increase. In 2016, the local authorities collected VND230 billion from this source.

On March 8, South Korean agencies said the Chinese administration met with representatives of tourism agencies and travel firms in Beijing and told the firms to stop providing tours to South Korea, commencing from March 15.

Seoul believes that the move is an unofficial sanction amid South Korea’s THAAD missile system deployment.

Beijing said it was disappointed about the South Korea’s decision, while it revealed to make comments about the retaliation plan.

Analysts said if Chinese travelers are prohibited from going to South Korea, they would flock to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam instead.

Tran Chi Cuong, deputy director of the Da Nang City Tourism Department, said the department is keeping a close watch over the number of Chinese travelers.

The facilities in the city will still be able to serve Chinese travelers even if the number of tourists increases, Cuong said.

The sea city of Da Nang, with one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet, last year received 400,000 Chinese travelers. There are 25 air routes from China to Da Nang with 81 flights provided a week.

Nha Trang City of Khanh Hoa province is also popular with Chinese travelers. It received 1.1 million foreign travelers in 2016, including 525,000 Chinese travelers.

However, Nha Trang has been warned not to rely on the Chinese market. Tran Viet Trung, director of Khanh Hoa Tourism Department, admitted that the rapid development of the Chinese market has caused embarrassing problems in management.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism is working with some localities that are popular destinations among Chinese tourists such as Quang Ninh, Danang and Khanh Hoa to cope with travel firms providing poor-quality tours to protect the interests of customers.

Vietnam’s tourism industry is taking a number of measures to increase service quality to welcome a greater number of Chinese visitors to the country, which is estimated to rise 50% to four million this year.

The agency also organizes many tourism promotion programs in China. Particularly, from May 11 to 20, the agency will cooperate with several travel firms to introduce Vietnam’s tourism in four Chinese cities, including Nanning, Fuzhou, Nanjing and Hefei.

The number of Chinese tourists to Vietnam has increased rapidly and is forecast to set a new record by the end of this year, with four million visitors, compared to 2.7 million in 2016.

The most popular Vietnamese destinations chosen by Chinese tourists include Hanoi, Halong, and Ninh Binh in the north; Danang, Hoi An, Hue and Nha Trang in the central region; and HCMC and Phu Quoc in the south.

Tour operators have also prepared themselves for the upsurge in Chinese arrivals.

Last year, the number of Chinese visitors increased by 50% and we expect strong growth this year. Therefore, we have to prepare hotel rooms in advance to ensure better service for the tourist season at the end of 2017, said Tu Quy Thanh, director of Lien Bang Travel Trading Company Limited,Lien Bang Travelink.

Similarly, Chinese tourists account for 60-70% of total international arrivals catered to by local tour operator Vietravel, and the company usually receives large orders for groups of tourists all year round.

INDONESIA: Indonesia Expects More From Tourism In 2016

Indonesia expects to generate Rp172 trillion in foreign exchange income from tourism in 2016 as the nation is targeting to attract at least 12 million foreign tourists.

The countrys tourism potentials could still be optimized in the coming years, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya stated here on Wednesday.

"In view of this, we have set optimistic targets of attracting 12 million foreign tourists in 2016 and generating an income of Rp172 trillion from the sector," he noted.

The minister explained that the number of domestic tourist travels in 2016 is expected at 260 million, with expenditures projected at Rp223.6 trillion.

He remarked that the contribution of the tourism sector to the countrys gross domestic product is projected to increase by five percent to create 11.7 million jobs.

To support the realization of the targets, the ministers office, in cooperation with stakeholders, has prepared action plans including continuing the current marketing and promotion strategy, with emphasis on positioning and strengthening the "Wonderful Indonesia" brand in the main market countries, Yahya pointed out.

"This is done in the framework of regaining the attention of prospective tourists to include Indonesia in their wish list of countries they would like to visit," he affirmed.

In connection with this, he said a massive marketing communication campaign would be conducted across the world through international media channels including print, electronic, and online media or outdoor media such as in buses, taxis, mass rapid transit networks, bus stations, railway stations, and shopping centers depicting images of tourist destinations in Indonesia.

He stated that offline promotion activities would also be conducted through international tourism exhibitions, sales missions, and familiarization trips.

Yahya said he would intensify activities to strengthen the Wonderful Indonesia brand as well as to promote advertising and selling activities involving tourism business players through international tourism exhibitions abroad.

In 2016, Indonesia plans to participate in exhibitions such as the ITB Berlin, WTM London, WTM Dubai, CTM China, NATAS Singapore, MATTA Malaysia, JATA Japan, Korea, Australia, or international tourism exhibitions with special purposes such as the DEMA show, Cruise Shipping, Boot Dusseldorf, GOLF, and MICE.

To introduce tourist destinations and the latest tourism packages in Indonesia, the Ministry of Tourism will also carry out the sales mission in big cities of several countries that are the main sources of tourists.

He referred to cities such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Malaka, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Phuket, HCMC, and Manila in the Southeast Asian region; Shanghai, Chengdu, Seoul, Busan, Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau, Guang Zhou, Tokyo, Osaka, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Mumbai, and New Delhi in the Asia-Pacific region; and Amsterdam, Paris, and Frankfurt in Europe; Dubai and Jeddah in the Middle East; Johannesburg in Africa; and Moscow.

The minister said the sales mission would be carried out to boost the sales of tourism packages and self-confidence among national tourists and industrialists as the presence of the government along with business players would lend greater confidence to foreign buyers.

Other strategic activities to be carried out include familiarization trips to introduce and promote tourist attractions to foreign stakeholders by inviting them to visit the locations under the framework of implementing the concept of "seeing is believing."

"They include tour operators, print/electronic media persons, social media and blogger activists, and people who could influence the decision-making process with regard to tourism events," he added.