Tourism promotion in Vietnam doubts

As a tourism expert living in Vietnam since 1999, being worked in several private & public companies as consultant, mentor and leaders creator, would like to drop a few questions on the wrong tourism promotion Vietnam is doing, with the aim of keep improving and seeing a good progress moving forward.

Reading a few articles, I do shoot some questions for you respected reader share your opinion:

• Does anyone knows which National Tourism Year is 2018 in Vietnam? I am asking this question linked to the local & domestic low profile promotion done by provincial authorities, no-one out of the province hears or knows. Many tour-operators oversea prepare their programs 12-18 months ahead of date, in Vietnam we are usually late and out of plan. Reading VNS now and an article on Wednesday 28th March where the Director of Quang Ninh Tourism Department shares few points on "HaLong - Heritage Wonder-Friendly Destination". You guess, yes, this is the logo for this year National Tourism Year. No-one knows, or nearly no-one (neither the RFC international off road motor race, the paragliding tournament, the carnival sun or over... Efforts lost, we are late again.
• SaigonTimes magazine's article on "The Absurdity of Tourism Arrival Growth" by Quoc Minh, asks the question "Why there is a hug gap in the spending by international tourists between Vietnam and other countries?".

If we observe Thailand's average spending per tourist of USD 1,486, Indonesia USD 928, Philippines USD 857. Would you like to know how much international tourists spend in Vietnam? USD 615 is the answer. Many points: not much souvenirs to buy, not much shopping culture or products, cheap eateries as common (selected top eateries are minimal) and the point that no-tourist come to Vietnam for shopping. Forget opening shopping malls and centers: I recall Parkson closure of their 7 malls in Vietnam, Paragon Saigon also closure and many centers with half-empty retail spaces all over Vietnam.

The author of the article mentions the cause: "international visitors do not know what to spend their money on during their stay in Vietnam. Many similar destinations with no significant differences among them, lack of brand positioning for each destination. Lack of tourism strategy for the tourism industry, Vietnam has to make yet a distinction that encourages visitors to stay longer and spend more in the country.

• HoiAn refusing the installation of a cable car in the center of the village, great achievement. A French company advising Hanoi to install a cable car in the capital to improve their mobility...hope they do follow the refusal attitude of the partners in HoiAn. How many destinations are now damaged with cables car aside of #PhuQuoc, #HaLong, #VungTau, #Dalat, #Sapa...with un-useful cable-cars? Just stop it.

Will keep adding more articles and "food-for-thought" for you readers, as usual glad to hear your positive/negative comments, and most of all your suggestions on how to improve and support our tourism board to make Vietnam more competitive inside ASEAN, always moving toward better quality.