Not only in Vietnam but also in developed countries in the world, tourism has become a key economic sector. Tourism not only brings a great source of income to the economy, creates jobs, develops service industries and infrastructure, but also promotes peace and cultural exchanges. In this context, Vietnam is attempting to synchronously implement many solutions to turn tourism into a key economic sector of the country.
Vietnam has 3,260 km long coastline, with 125 beaches, most of which are very beautiful beaches and convenient for tourism exploitation that not all countries have such as: Tra Co, Ha Long, Lang Co, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc ...
Regarding historical and cultural relics, our country has 85 relics classified as special national monuments, 3,329 national relics ranked national and 9,857 provincial monuments.
Up to now, Vietnam has 8 tangible heritage sites and World Heritage sites, namely: Hue Monuments Complex, Ha Long Bay, My Son Sanctuary, Hoi An Ancient Town. , Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, Thang Long Imperial City Center Area, Ho Dynasty Citadel, Trang An Scenic Area.
Vietnam has a large treasure of intangible cultural heritage with 191 heritages belonging to 7 types of intangible cultural heritage of ethnic groups living in all regions of the country included in the List of Cultural Heritage National intangible objects.
By the end of 2016, Vietnam had 11 recognized heritage as representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity and intangible heritage, namely: Hue royal court music; Space of Gong culture in the Central Highlands; Bac Ninh folk songs; CA Tru; Giong Temple Festival; Xoan singing; Worship of Hung Vuong; The Southern folk music ensemble; Folk songs for Nghe Tinh miles; Tug; The worship of Tam Phu.
In addition to the above advantages, Vietnam is also a country with a stable political regime and abundant human resources. The State's policy of renovation, openness and integration creates favorable conditions for foreign economic relations, including tourism development.
These factors have promoted tourism industry strongly (Table 1). In particular, 2016 was a successful year, developing an impressive tourism industry. The total number of international visitors to Vietnam in 2016 reached more than 10 million, an increase of 26% over the same period in 2015.
In addition, the tourism industry has also served 62 million domestic visitors, including nearly 30 million guests. Total tourism revenue reached VND 400,700 billion, an increase of 18.6% compared to 2015 (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, 2016).
All of the above figures are equal to or exceed the targets set out in the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy to 2020, with a vision to 2030 approved by the Prime Minister, which is welcoming 10-10.5 million International visitors; 47-48 million domestic visitors; The total revenue from tourists reaches 17-18 billion USD. Thus, the tourism industry has reached the finish line 4 years earlier than the proposed Strategy.
2016 was also the year marking the tourism industry surpassing the old growth threshold. According to the General Department of Tourism, in 1994 only 1 million international visitors came to Vietnam; In 2000, the number of international visitors increased to 2 million (each year this period only increased 170,000 international visitors).
By 2010, there will be 5 million international tourist arrivals (an average annual increase of 600,000 passengers). By 2016, it has doubled from the 2010 level. Previously, to increase from 1 to 5 million, the tourism industry took 14 years (from 1994 to 2010) to reach.
Notably, in recent times, many newly opened tourist attractions have attracted numerous visitors. Tourism destinations in the northern mountainous provinces such as Ha Giang have created a brand as a charming new destination through the organization of the Triangle Flower Festival; Yen Bai with a festival of "Mu Cang Chai Golden Season", the focus is the event "Flying on the Golden Season"; Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park with Son Doong cave creates a great attraction for international tourists and domestic tourists; The coastal tourism destinations in the Northern Coastal region, the Central region, the South Central Coast, Phu Quoc and Con Dao have many innovations in management and service provision, creating a new attraction for domestic and foreign tourists. international...
