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A national survey has revealed that more foreigners are coming back to
Vietnam after their
first visit, to rediscover the trendy Southeast Asian travel destination.
 The survey, conducted by the General Statistics Office, questioned more
than 30,500 foreign visitors to Vietnam in late 2003 and 34,000 others in
November 2005 at 26 cities and provinces considered major tourist
destinations, VietNamNet reported.
Accordingly, the number of foreigners visiting Vietnam for the first time
made up 65 percent. Those who made the second visit accounted for 21
percent, up 6.4 percent, and those in for their third visit made up 14
percent, up 0.3 percent.
The General Statistics Office said the 2005 survey showed a considerable
rise of foreign tourists returning to Vietnam, suggesting that the country’s
tourism activities are more attractive.
The survey also showed that most of the people visiting Vietnam for the
third time mainly came from the neighboring countries and territories like
China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In addition, foreign tourists’ average stay in 2005 was 13.8 days,
compared with 10.6 in 2003. Of them, participants in arranged tours stayed
for 9.7 days on average and those making their own trips 16.8 days.
Businesspeople, Asians take the majority
According to the survey, entrepreneurs made up 22 percent among the
foreign guests in 2005, compared with 20 percent in 2003.
Following were architects, engineers and doctors with 15 percent;
teachers and lecturers with 10 percent; students 9.1 percent; and government
officials 4.8 percent.
The number of visitors from Asia made up 45 percent; followed by those
from the Europe with 33 percent, America 14 percent, and Oceania at 8.2
percent.
The survey showed that 24 percent of foreigners surveyed had shifted to
stay at three-star hotels in 2005.
Meanwhile, the number of tourists staying at five-star hotels dropped
from 17 percent in 2003 to 10 percent in 2005; and the ratio of four-star
hotel guests rose from 10 percent in 2003 to 15.5 percent in 2005. |
