STUDY AND EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL AND DEVELOPMENT DIRECTION OF TOURISM AS AN IMPORTANT ECONOMIC SECTOR IN VIETNAM

Nghiên cứu khám phá tiềm năng và định hướng phát triển du lịch để trở thành ngành kinh tế mũi nhọn ở Việt Nam STUDY AND EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL AND DEVELOPMENT DIRECTION OF TOURISM AS AN IMPORTANT ECONOMIC SECTOR IN VIETNAM STUDY AND EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL AND DEVELOPMENT DIRECTION OF TOURISM AS AN IMPORTANT ECONOMIC SECTOR IN VIETNAM

STUDY AND EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL AND DEVELOPMENT DIRECTION OF TOURISM AS AN IMPORTANT ECONOMIC SECTOR IN

VIETNAM

Vietnam's tourism industry is considered an important economic sector because of itsgeographical location with rich and diverse tourism potential The study wasconducted to find solutions to improve the ability to exploit the potential of Vietnam'stourism industry to become a spearhead economic sector in the near future The studyused both research methods including qualitative research method and quantitativeresearch method By qualitative research method, the study has provided an overview

of Vietnam's tourism industry including growth rate, the contribution of tourism to thenational economy The research method is carried out through surveying 200individuals currently working in the tourism industry in Vietnam about the factorsaffecting the ability to exploit the potential of tourism development in Vietnam Theresults of the regression analysis have shown that all four factors in the research modelhave a positive impact on Vietnam's ability to develop tourism in the followingorder:1) Destination's Supply and Consumption Capacity; (2) Place's Demand andPurchasing Power; (3) The Development Value of Destination Resource; (4)Destination's Tourism Industry Contribution.On the basis of the research results, somespecific recommendations are proposed to improve the ability to exploit the potential

of tourism to become a spearhead economic sector of Vietnam, which are presented indetail below

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rational for topic

Tourism is one of the main pillars of international trade, plays an important role in theeconomies of many countries in the world, and is an important source of income formany developing countries (Costa, 2017; Mason, 2015), especially for countries withtourism development potential According to Turner and Freiermuth (2016), in thecontext of the modern economy, tourism has become one of the key economic sectorsfor sustainable development in developed and emerging economies, as it provides awide range of cultural, social, technological, experiential and natural products forrecreational and commercial activities The World Travel and Tourism Council(WTTC 2021) also pointed out that tourism plays an important role in creatingemployment opportunities, including direct, indirect and influence Reason; It isestimated that a quarter of the global employment opportunities are created,accounting for about 334 million, accounting for 10.6% of the total employmentopportunities, accounting for 9.2 trillion US dollars and accounting for 10.4% ofglobal GDP At the same time, international tourists' consumption accounts for 6.8%

of total exports and 27.4% of total global service exports, contributing 1.7 trillion USdollars in 2019 Therefore, tourism is considered as an important part of internationaltrade in services, and has become a prominent and burgeoning industry Comparedwith many countries in the region, Vietnam is one of the countries with great potentialfor tourism development, especially marine tourism and ecotourism

Vietnam's tourism industry is considered an important economic sector because of itsgeographical location with rich and diverse tourism potential In 2019, Vietnam'stourism industry welcomed 18 million international tourists for the 1time, an increase

of 16.2% over 2018 Between 2015 and 2019, the number of international tourists inVietnam increased 2.3 times, from 7.9 million to 18 million, with an average growthrate of 22.7%/year Vietnam has been one of the fastest growing tourist countries inthe world (ONS, 2019) In 2019, Vietnam Tourism Bureau won the "World BestHeritage Destination" awarded by the World Travel Award and the "World Best GolfDestination" awarded by the World Golf Award In addition, the World TravelAwards also rated Vietnam as the best destination in Asia in 2018-2019,

However, Vietnam's tourism industry has certain limitations, such as: low return rate(10-40%); International tourists in Vietnam do not spend much because of the lack ofattractiveness and cohesion of Vietnamese tourism products, the lack ofdiversification of recreational activities, shopping and customer service, and theineffective promotion This may be due to resource mechanisms, operationalmechanisms, the absence of an overseas tourism promotion office, and the absence ofoperational and operational tourism development and support funds; Airportinfrastructure approximates to be overloaded and cannot meet the high growth rate oftourist numbers; Entry visa policies remain limited compared to directly competitivedestinations for Vietnamese tourism, such as Laos and Thailand For the abovereasons,

1.2 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to understand the potential and current situation oftourism development in Vietnam On this basis, this paper puts forward the directionand solutions to improve the ability of Vietnam's tourism to develop into an importanteconomic sector in Vietnam

In order to achieve the overall goal, the specific objectives of this theme include: (1)inventory and evaluation of the conditions and potential of tourism development inVietnam; (2) Analyze the current situation of tourism in Vietnam from 2016 to 2020.Using the theoretical and practical basis of tourism in the world and Vietnam, thispaper provides appropriate directions and solutions for the goal of developing tourism

as an important economic sector in Vietnam

1.3 Subjects and scope of study

The subjects of this study is the natural tourism resources, cultural tourism resourcesand tourism activities in Vietnam

The study was conducted within Viet Bam and collected travel data between 2016 and2020

1.4 Research significance

The main research result of this paper is to evaluate and analyze the potential oftourism in Vietnam, and then put forward that tourism should be developed into animportant economic sector in Vietnam At the same time, this thesis is the result of

interdisciplinary research, which makes use of the knowledge of many scientificdisciplines: tourism, geography, history, economics and literature Therefore, acomprehensive understanding of the tourism potential and current situation of cities isobtained, not only based on economic data, but also based on the analysis of humanvalues and social changes, and the influence of natural changes on tourism activities.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Concept of Tourism

Up to now, there is no common and unified definition of "tourism" (Buckley, 2012).According to Perles & Ivars (2018), tourism involves different themes, entities anddirections, including many different economic, environmental and social activities.The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) defines tourism as an activity in whichindividuals regularly travel outside the environment (their daily residence) for a period

of no more than one year For one year in a row, the main purpose of their travel hasnothing to do with the money-making activities they go to (UNWTO, 2018) Tourismplays an important role in the global economy It creates economic benefits for localeconomies and energy for small and medium-sized enterprises, thereby creatingmillions of jobs It is also boosted economic development in developing countries(Robin, Pedroche, & Astorga, 2017; Boluk, Cavaliere, & Higgins-Desbioles, 2019;Batle, Orfila-Sintes, & Moon, 2018) However, the negative aspect of tourism lies inits negative impact on the environment, as it causes environmental damage, pollution,biodiversity loss and heritage degradation (Costa, Rodrigues, & Pacheco, 2020; Girard

& Nocca 2017) The development and expansion of tourism has led to the extensiveexploitation of resources such as water and energy and to the generation of largeamounts of waste (solid waste and wastewater) that need to be properly managed Theincrease in travel also leads to more travel, resulting in road congestion, noise and airpollution, and therefore CO2 emissions Due to unsustainable economic andenvironmental imbalances,

2.2 The role of tourism in the national economy

The first,Tourism economy contributes to increase national income through foreign

currency collection, plays a great role in balancing the balance of internationalpayments

Tourism services have high export value and the highest socio-economic efficiency inservice export activities, especially in terms of foreign currency revenue and laborattraction and job creation Import and export of services also have a great influence

on the balance of payments of the entire economy

SecondTourism economy contributes to attracting foreign investment capital,

participating in expanding domestic and international markets

The current trend of economic restructuring in the world shows that the value of theservice industries increasingly accounts for a high proportion of the total socialproduct Therefore, when businessmen look for the efficiency of capital, tourism is anattractive business compared to many other economic sectors The tourism economyoffers a high rate of return, the investment capital in tourism is relatively smallcompared to the heavy industry and transportation industry, the ability to recovercapital is fast, the technology is not complicated, the level of risk is low low risk Inparticular, through international and regional cooperation in the field of tourism,countries can take advantage to attract foreign investment capital Therefore, tourismeconomic development is considered an important channel in attracting foreigninvestment for socio-economic development of each country The development oftourism economy will lead to the development of other economic sectors becausetourism products are interdisciplinary and have relationships with many fields in theeconomy Stemming from this demand of tourists, the tourism industry is constantlyexpanding its activities through inter-sectoral, inter-regional and transnationalrelationships Therefore, economic tourism participates in expanding domestic andinternational markets for each country

Tuesday,tourism economy contributes to enhancing the exchange and integration of

the country with the region and the world

The interaction of factors such as: natural conditions, socio-psychology, livingenvironment, tourists makes the tourism economy always have a constantdevelopment movement It is the thought of accepting the old, being confined infamiliar motifs, and refusing to innovate that has created the failure of the tourismeconomy in some countries Since then, the requirement for tourism economicdevelopment is to expand links and cooperation between countries in the region andthe world For local tourism product and service suppliers, it is necessary to expandrelationships to learn and exchange experiences to create rich, diverse, and differentproducts take advantage of comparative advantage For the residential community atthe tourist destination, through the activities of the tourism economy,

2.3 Tourism Development Potential

According to Elliot et al (2011), the concept of tourism development potential isunderstood as an assessment form to predict the sustainable development of tourism,which makes it easier for decision makers to make decisions related to tourismdestinations (Andrades et al., 2017) Tourism potential of a region or a country hasalways been a topic of great concern and research by tourism researchers According

to Crettaz (1976), the potential of tourism was initially considered as a factor inmeeting the complex needs of tourists However, through the development andresearch process, by the 1990s, tourism potential has been widely applied in theeconomic and geographical fields, and fought a material and non-material aggregatewith the ability to promote the capitalization of tourism and give full play to itsfunctions (Corneliu, 2010; Glavan, 1996; Mamun et al., 2012) In addition, in the laterperiod, the concept of tourism development potential was considered from otherperspectives such as social and environmental factors of tourist destinations(Havlíková, 2019; Shohan et al., 2012) Then, most of the discussions about theconcept and connotation of tourism development potential are based on sustainabledevelopment Ma Hedong (1997) thinks that the sustainable development potential of

a region's tourism is the sum of the supply limit of regional environment, social andeconomic support and tourism resources in a certain period of time Yang (2006)proposed that the tourism development potential of a region or country is the ability topromote the sustainable development of tourism under the stimulation of some factors.Wang (2008) emphasized the study of tourism development potential that tourismdevelopment potential is the space for sustainable development of tourism under thecapacity of tourism resources, social economy and environment This is an importantfactor to measure the development of tourism in a region or a country, and it is also acomprehensive scale to measure the sustainable development prospect of regionaltourism (Wang, 2008) Based on the multi-disciplinary perspectives of geography,economics and management, under the background of spatial scale and sustainabledevelopment of tourist destinations, this study holds that tourism developmentpotential is the exchange and transformation ability of destination resources, society,

economy and technology complex system, and is the driving force of sustainabledevelopment.

2.4 Previous relevant studies

Yuying Chen et al (2021) conducted a study to assess the tourism developmentpotential of provinces along the Silk Road in China In this study, the authorsemphasized that the assessment of tourism development potential is one of theimportant activities and plays a fundamental role in the implementation of basicsustainable tourism development plans and policies.The purpose of this study is todevelop an effective multi-dimensional map to evaluate the tourism potential ofdestination areas along the Silk Road in China by building models Tourism potentialindex On the basis of literature review, this study develops four regular layers(tourism supply and consumption (X1), tourist demand and purchasing power (X2),destination resource development value (X3) and destination tourism contribution(X4) and 31 factors representing the four regular layers Then, all factor classes areassigned according to the statistical data provided by the local statistics bureau withinthe scope of the study in 2019 The data are analyzed by SPSS 24.0 The results showthat the factors of tourism potential have different coefficients: y=0 2573x 1 +0 1305

x 2 +0 3177x3 +0 2945 x 4

Xueyan Li, Xiaoxiao Zhan, Jinli Jiang (2021) carried out a comprehensive evaluation

of silkworm tourism development ability in Anhui Province based on cluster analysisand factor analysis The study points out that the comprehensive evaluation of urbantourism development level in Anhui Province is of great significance to improve theurban tourism potential in Anhui Province This study constructs a comprehensiveevaluation index system of tourism development level In the second step of the study,the researchers divided 16 cities in Anhui Province into four categories through clusteranalysis, among which Hefei has the best tourism development Then, factor analysis

is carried out to get the ranking of prefecture-level cities The top two cities in tourismdevelopment level are Hefei and Huangshan Finally,

2.5 Vietnam's Tourism Potential Analysis Framework

2.5.1 Research model of factors affecting the development of tourism potential in Vietnam

Tourism development potential is the comprehensive development ability of a region

or country to achieve sustainable tourism development (Melián-Gonzále et al., 2003),and tourism development potential is easily affected by both tourism demand andtourism supply In the research, the author inherits the research theoretical framework

of Yuying Chen et al (2021) From there, a framework for analyzing Vietnam'stourism potential has been formed, as follows:

Figure 1.1Analytical framework of research

2.5.2 Hypothesis development

Destination's Supply and Consumption Capacity

According to Yuying Chen et al (2021) Destination supply capacity is a set of factorsincluding: number of tourism enterprises, total investment in the tourism industry ofthe country, number of tourism staff and capacity Meanwhile, the destination'sconsumption capacity is investment activities to upgrade traffic works, publicsanitation facilities and activities to limit negative impacts from tourism developmentfor example For example, the amount of carbon emissions released by the tourismindustry and tourists to the environment, damage to vegetation, etc., besides that,

TourismDevelopmentPotential ofVietnam

consumption is also understood as the growth rate of accommodation infrastructure,tourist area to improve customer service capacity Research results of Yuying Chen et

al (2021) showed that there exists a positive relationship betweenDestination's Supplyand Consumption Capacity and the ability to develop local tourism potential In otherwords, when the country improves its supply and consumption capacity, it alsocontributes to the development of tourism potential On that basis, the researchhypothesis is formed

H1: Destination's Supply and Consumption Capacityhave a positive impact on the ability to exploit Vietnam's tourism potential

Place's Demand and Purchasing Power

According to Yuying Chen et al (2021) Place's Demand and Purchasing Power isreflected through specific factors such as per capita income, level of economicdevelopment, people's spending on tourism products, transportation costs, transport Inthe same study, the same group of researchers also found empirical evidence of apositive relationship between Place's Demand and Purchasing Power on thedestination's ability to exploit the tourism potential On that basis, the researchhypothesis is formed

H2:Place's Demand and Purchasing Powerhave a positive impact on the ability to exploit Vietnam's tourism potential

The Development Value of Destination Resource

According to Yuying Chen et al (2021) the Development Value of DestinationResource includes resources, heritage, culture, transport infrastructure, tourist areas,tourist landscapes that create value in the tourism development of the destination.The researchers believe that the effective exploitation of cultural heritages and touristresources of the destination makes an important contribution to improving the ability

to exploit the development potential of the locality On that basis, the researchhypothesis is formed

H3: The Development Value of Destination Resource has a positive impact on the ability to exploit Vietnam's tourism potential

Destination's Tourism Industry Contribution

According to Yuying Chen et al (2021) Destination's Tourism Industry Contribution

is the tourism industry's ability to contribute in such aspects as its economic

contribution, its contribution to job creation and its contribution to improving theliving standards of society of the destination Researchers believe that when thetourism industry of a country or a region has a great contribution to important sectors

of the country, the possibility of exploiting the tourism potential of that locality ishigh On that basis, the following research hypothesis was formed:

H4: Destination's Tourism Industry Contribution has a positive impact on the ability to exploit Vietnam's tourism potential

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design

Quantitative research method is conducted by the author through conducting an onlinesurvey with the participants who are currently working in the tourism industry in theprovinces and cities above nationwide

3.1.2 research process

The study was carried out according to the following specific procedure:

Figure 4.1 research process

Kết luận và hàm ý Thảo luận kết quả nghiên cứuNghiên cứu định lượng (bảng khảo sát, n=167)Nghiên cứu định tính (thu thập và phân tích dữ liệu thứ cấp)

Lược khảo tài liệu, đề xuất mô hình nghiên cứu và các giả thuyết nghiên cứu

Xác định vấn đề và mục tiêu nghiên cứu

3.1.3 Questionnaire design

The survey questionnaire is designed with questions to collect the assessments ofpeople working in the tourism industry on the factors affecting the ability to exploitVietnam's potential for tourism development The survey questions are divided intogroups of 5 specific factors as follows:(1) Destination's Supply and ConsumptionCapacity; (2) Place's Demand and Purchasing Power; (3) The Development Value ofDestination Resource; (4) Destination's Tourism Industry Contribution.;(5) The ability

to exploit the development potential of Vietnam's tourism industry

The questions are designed on a 5-point Likert scale with a linear range from level 1strongly disagree to level 5 strongly agree

The survey questionnaire is divided into three specific parts as follows:

Part 01: Includes 04 questions designed to collect information related to the surveyparticipants' demographics such as gender, age, income, and education level

Part 02: Includes questions designed to collect participants' assessments of factorsaffecting the ability to exploit the potential for tourism development in Vietnam.Below is the scale of factors in the research model

Table 4.1Scale and coding scale

I Destination's Supply and Consumption Capacity

1.1 The State focuses on investing in training and educating

human resources in Vietnam's tourism industry in terms ofboth quantity and quality

DSC1

1.2 Public transport infrastructure is upgraded and improved DSC21.4 The number of tourism businesses is constantly growing DSC31.5 Infrastructure for tourism is interested and invested DSC4

II Place's Demand and Purchasing Power

2.2 Vietnam's per capita income is increasing day by day PDP22.3 People's spending on tourism products is increasing PDP32.4 The revenue of the tourism transport industry is increasing

day by day

PDP4

III The Development Value of Destination Resource

3.1 Vietnam has tourism potential in terms of historical sites DVDS13.2 Vietnam has tourism potential in terms of landscapes DVDS23.3 Vietnam has tourism potential in terms of cultural DVDS3

heritages and festivals

IV Destination's Tourism Industry Contribution

4.1 The tourism industry contributes significantly to Vietnam's

gross domestic product (GDP)

DTIC1

4.2 The tourism industry plays an important role in creating

jobs for workers

DTIC2

4.3 The tourism industry contributes to improving the lives

-society of local people

DTIC3

4.4 The tourism industry contributes to promoting the image

of Vietnam to international friends

DTIC4

DRAW The ability to exploit the potential of Vietnam's tourism development

5.1 Developing Vietnam's tourism industry into a spearhead

economic sector

POT1

5.2 The number of international tourists to Vietnam and the

number of domestic tourists is increasing

POT25.3 Sustainable growth in tourism revenue POT3

3.2 Data Collection

Data were collected by the author through the google form online surveyquestionnaire Convenience sampling method was applied by the author for this study.According to Bollen (1989) cited in Cao Hao Thi & Swierczek (2010), the sampleratio for each observed variable must be at least 5:1 Meanwhile, McDaniel and Gates(2000) suggest that an acceptable sample size for most studies is between 30 and 500

On that basis, the minimum sample size of a study is = 15 x 5 = 75 (sample) As abackup for the case that the research sample is invalid and not eligible for analysis, theauthor proposes that the number of research samples is 170 research samples

3.3 Data Analysis

3.3.1 Check the reliability of the scale by Cronbach's Alpha coefficient

Quantitative research is conducted with data obtained by data analysis software SPSS

22 The 1is to check the reliability of the scale The cronbach's alpha coefficient inSPSS will help us check this Cronbach's alpha coefficient varies from 0 to 1 A scalehas good reliability when it ranges from 0.75 to 0.95 (Nguyen Dinh Tho 2013) Thescale with Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.6 is an acceptable scale in terms of reliability, if ameasurement variable has a total correlation coefficient of ≥ 0.3, it is satisfactory(Nunnally & Bernstein 1994)

When testing the reliability, the author will keep the Cronbach's alpha scale ≥ 0.6 andremove the variables with the total variable correlation coefficient < 0.3

3.3.2 EFA exploratory factor analysis

To know whether the exploratory factor analysis is appropriate, we conduct a test ofthe correlation between the observed variables, that is, when the variables arecorrelated, the factor analysis will be appropriate (Hoang Trong, Chu Nguyen MongNgoc, 2008) We test the hypothesis H0: the variables are not correlated with eachother in the population The acceptance criterion is that the correlation coefficientmatrix between variables is not a unit matrix, and the test, Barlett's test shows: (1)Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin coefficient (KMO) >0.5; (2) Chi-square quantity is as large aspossible; (3) coefficient sig < 0.05

Once the hypothesis that observed variables are not correlated in the population isrejected, we conduct factor analysis There are methods to determine the number offactors, which are: pre-determined, based on eigenvalue, based on the slope plot,percent of the explainable variation, dividing the sample in half to test the level.meaning (Hoang Trong, Chu Nguyen Mong Ngoc, 2008)

In general, factor analysis includes the following steps and acceptance criteria:

- Factor analysis is suitable when KMO coefficient>0.5 and sig coefficient <0.05

- Extraction method: extract the main components (Principal components)

- Factor rotation method: Varimax (in order to enhance the ability to explain variables

by rotating the factors at all angles to minimize the number of factors with largecoefficients at the same variable)

- Eliminate the observed variable with factor loading factor less than 0.5

Determine the number of factors: method eigenvalue > 1 and total variance extractedmust be greater than 50%.

- When analyzing factors that appear new factors, check cronbach alpha again for newfactors, if Cronbach alpha is good, name the new variable and adjust the model tomatch the results of EFA analysis

3.3.3 Regression analysis

Correlation analysis

After factor analysis, the author enters into the correlation analysis through thecorrelation coefficient r (Pearson) The purpose of this step is to consider (1) thecorrelation between the independent variables and the auxiliary variable, whetherthere is a correlation or not, to what extent, if so, whether it is positive or negativecorrelation, (2 ) correlation between the independent variables whether these variablesare closely related to each other to avoid multicollinearity If the independentvariables are weakly or not correlated with each other and the independent variablesare correlated with the dependent variable, this is the basis for conducting regressionanalysis

Multiple Linear Regression Analysis and Violations Detection

Variables are entered into the model by the Enter method

- Consider adjusted coefficients R, R2, R2 to evaluate the appropriateness of theresearch model

- Testing the model's suitability: testing hypothesis H0: β1=β2=β3= =0 If there is abasis to reject H0, the model under construction is appropriate

- Detecting the assumption violations of the multiple regression model that are:

Assuming a linear relationship between the independent and dependent variables, thetool is the scatter plot of the residuals;

Assuming a normal distribution of the residuals (remnants must be normallydistributed), the tool is a histogram of the residuals and the mean & variance of theresiduals;

Assuming no correlation between the residuals, ie the residuals are independent, theinstrument is the coefficient d of the Durbin-Watson test;

It is assumed that there is no correlation between the independent variables, that is,there is no multicollinearity (acceptance of large variables and VIF less than 10).After passing the tests, we can conclude that the model we are studying is suitable andthis is also a testament to the success of the model.

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS 4.1 Tourism industry overview

4.1.1 World tourism overview

According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the number of internationaltourists in 2019 is estimated at nearly 1.5 billion, up 3.8% compared to 2018, higherthan the global economic growth (+3 %) This is the tenth consecutive year of growthsince 2009

However, in the period 2017-2019, the growth of international tourist arrivals globally

is slowing down In 2017 it increased by 7.0%, in 2018 it decreased to 5.7%, in 2019

it increased only 3.8% In 2019, the leading region in terms of growth in internationaltourist arrivals was the Middle East (+6.8 percent); followed by Africa (+6.4%),Europe (+4.0%), Asia and the Pacific (+3.7%), and America (+2.0%)

4.1.2 Vietnam tourism overview

Vietnam's tourism is considered by the State of Vietnam as a spearhead economicsector because it believes that the country has diverse and rich tourism potential In

2019, Vietnam's tourism industry set a miracle to welcome 18 million internationalvisitors for the 1time, an increase of 16.2% compared to 2018 In the period from2015-2019, the number of international visitors to Vietnam increased by 2, 3 timesfrom 7.9 million to 18 million, the average growth rate is 22.7% per year Vietnam isconstantly in the group of countries with the fastest tourist growth rate in the world In

2019, Vietnam tourism received the World's Leading Heritage Destination award bythe World Travel Awards, the World's Best Golf Destination by the World GolfAwards Along with that, the World Travel Awards also honored Vietnam as Asia'sLeading Destination for 2 consecutive years 2018-2019, Asia's Top CulturalDestination 2019,

In 2019, in the context of the world tourism's growth slowing down, Vietnam'stourism overcame many difficulties, welcomed over 18 million international visitors,fulfilled the targets assigned by the Government; Domestic tourists and total touristrevenue grew positively

 International tourists to Vietnam

In 2019, Vietnam welcomed a record 18 million international visitors, up 16.2%compared to 2018 In which, international visitors from the top 10 markets reached15.2 million arrivals, accounting for 84.3 % of total international visitors to Vietnam

Taiw

an US

Russia

Cam

puchia

Germ

any

Phili

ne In a

Cana

Indo

nesia0

Figure 4.1The number of visitors in 2019 from the markets that send the most

international visitors to Vietnam

The top four positions belong to the Northeast Asian markets China ranked 1with 5.8million visits (+16.9%) Followed by South Korea with 4.3 million visits (+23.1%),Japan with 952 thousand turns (+15.2%), Taiwan with 927 thousand turns (+29.8%).The US and Russia continued to maintain the 5th and 6th positions with growth rates

of 8.6% and 6.6% Malaysia is in 7th place with double-digit growth (+12.2%)

Notably, Thailand overtook Australia to rank 8th after a year of breakthrough growth(+45.9%) The UK maintained the 10th position, increasing at a steady 5.7%.

In the period 2015-2019, the number of international arrivals increased 2.3 times from7.9 million (in 2015) to 18 million (in 2019), achieving an average growth of 22.7%per year This is a very high growth rate compared to the average growth rate of 7.6%/year in the period 2011-2015 and is the highest in the world according to annualreports of UNWTO

Figure 4.2International visitors to Vietnam in the period from 2015 to 2019

In terms of visitor structure by region, Asian markets accounted for the majority(79.9%), of which Northeast Asia accounted for 66.8%, Southeast Asia accounted for11.3%, the rest of Asian countries accounted for 1.8%, showing the importance ofclose markets in Asia European markets accounted for 12%, America accounted for5.4%, Australia accounted for 2.4%

 Domestic tourists

In 2019, the whole country had 85 million domestic tourists, an increase of 6.3%compared to 2018 In the period of 2015-2019, domestic tourists increased nearly 1.5

times from 57 million in 2015 to 85 million turns in 2019, an average increase of10.5% per year.

85 9%

18%

9%

6%

Series 1 Series 2

Figure 4.3Domestic tourists in the period from 2015 to 2019

 Contributing to the national economy

The direct contribution of tourism reached 9.2% of the economy's GDP.

Total revenue from tourists reached 755 trillion VND (equivalent to 32.8 billionUSD), of which:

(1) Total revenue from international tourism is 421 trillion VND, accounting for55.7%, equivalent to 18.3 billion USD in export value from tourism; (2) Total revenuefrom domestic tourism is 334 trillion VND, accounting for 44.3%, equivalent to 14.5billion USD

44.30%

International tourism Domestic tourism

Figure 4.4Structure of total revenue from tourists in 2019

Out of the total revenue from tourists, the total revenue from international tourists isconsidered the value of local exports, bringing foreign currency to the country From

2015 to 2019, the local export value of tourism increased 2.1 times from VND 197trillion (~USD 9 billion) to VND 421 trillion (~ USD 18.3 billion), an averageincrease of 20 9%/year

Along with the rise of the domestic economy, people have more and moreopportunities and need to travel Spending by domestic tourists contributes animportant part of tourism revenue From 2015 to 2019, revenue from domestic tourismincreased 2.1 times (average increase of 21.0%), although the number of visitorsincreased only 1.5 times during this period That result reflects the fact thatVietnamese people spend more and more on tourism when income and livingconditions are significantly improved

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 0.00%

Figure 4.5Direct contribution of tourism to Vietnam's GDP in the period 2015 - 2019

According to a report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Vietnam's tourismcompetitiveness increased by 12 places, from 75/141 economies in 2015 to 67/136 (in2017) and 63/140 (in 2019) )

- In 2019, the group of the highest rated indexes is: Price competitiveness (ranked22/140); Cultural Resources (29/140); Natural resources (35/140) In Southeast Asia,cultural resources of Vietnam ranked second, after Indonesia; natural resources rankedthird, after Thailand and Indonesia, showing a great comparative advantage in terms

of cultural and natural resources of Vietnam in the region and in the world

- The most progressive indicator is Visa Requirements, up 63 places, from 116/136(2017) to 53/140 (2019), driven by a pilot e-visa policy From the beginning of 2017.Starting from applying to 40 countries, through a number of additions, by 2019,Vietnam has extended this policy to citizens of 80 countries around the world

- Some groups of indicators ranked low: Environmental sustainability (ranked121/140); Tourism service infrastructure (106/140); Priority level for tourism industry(100/140).

However, Vietnam's tourism industry has limitations such as low return rate 40%) Spending by international tourists in Vietnam is not high, averaging more than1,000 USD for a 9-day trip due to Vietnam's unattractive tourism products, lack ofcohesion, entertainment activities, shopping, care Customer care is not diversified,promotion and advertising are not really effective due to limited resources, operatingmechanism, not yet established Overseas Tourism Promotion Office, TourismDevelopment and Support Fund not yet put into operation and put into operation;Airport infrastructure tends to be overloaded, unable to meet the high growth rate inthe number of tourists; Visa policy on entry is still limited compared to the directcompetition of Vietnam tourism such as Thailand

(10-4.1.3 Vietnam's tourism potential

Tourism is a general economic sector that plays an important role in economic,political and social development and protection of natural resources and environment.Tourism development will contribute to economic restructuring, bring in nationalbudget revenue, attract investment capital and export local goods, positively impactthe development of economic sectors relevant (Giang, 2021) In recent years,Vietnam's tourism industry has had many innovations and is becoming more and moreknown in the world, many domestic destinations have been voted as the favoriteaddresses of international tourists Thereby can clearly see the potential for tourismdevelopment of our country That potential is rich and diverse in the followingaspects:

Historical and cultural sitesCultural-historical relic means a construction work, a site,

relics, antiquities and national treasures belonging to that work or location havingcultural, historical or scientific value Vietnam has many famous historical sites.Among them are eight cultural heritages recognized by the world This is a ratherlarge number that not only shows the rich history but also the tourism potential ofVietnam (Dinh Thi Tuyet, Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Do Van Phuc, Tran Viet Hoang,2021)

Landmark: A scenic spot or scenic spot is a natural landscape or a place with a

combination of natural landscape and architectural works of historical, aesthetic orscientific value With the climate and topography in our country, the landscapes arevery diverse: Vietnam has 32 national parks, scattered across all parts of the country.Typical examples can be mentioned as: Du Gia - Dong Van rock plateau, Tam Dao,

Ba Vi, Cuc Phuong, B Phong Nha - Ke Bang, Tram Chim, Ca Mau cape, U Minh Ha,

U Minh Thuong, Phu In which, there are 4 places recognized as ASEAN HeritageSites, one recognized as a world natural heritage (Phong Nha - Ke Bang) Vietnam'scave system is also very rich, located mainly in the north of the country Vietnamranks 27th out of 156 countries with sea in the world with 125 beaches, most of whichare beautiful beaches Vietnam is 1/12 countries with the most beautiful bays in theworld, Ha Long Bay and Nha Trang Bay A system of ponds, lakes and an interlacednetwork of rivers with nearly 2360 large and small rivers There are 400 sources of hotsprings from 40 to 120 degrees Celsius Many springs have good infrastructure such

as Dam Rong, Lam Dong; Kim Boi, Hoa Binh; Binh Chau, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Thereare 400 sources of hot springs from 40 to 120 degrees Celsius Many springs havegood infrastructure such as Dam Rong, Lam Dong; Kim Boi, Hoa Binh; Binh Chau,

Ba Ria Vung Tau, There are 400 sources of hot springs from 40 to 120 degreesCelsius Many springs have good infrastructure such as Dam Rong, Lam Dong; KimBoi, Hoa Binh; Binh Chau, Ba Ria Vung Tau,

Cultural:Talking about culture, it is impossible not to mention the long history of the

nation's development Experiencing many ups and downs, Vietnamese culture hasboth features and a combination of different cultural flows (Q.-H Vuong et al., 2019;

QH Vuong et al., 2018) In addition, our country has 54 ethnic groups living together,each ethnic group has its own distinctive features in life, customs and habits Thesetwo factors combine to create a diversity in art and music forms Theatrical arts can bementioned such as water puppetry, cheo, tuong, cai luong, In terms of music, it iseven richer with Chau Van, Quan Ho, Ca Tru, Court Music, The integration of theworld economy and the trend of globalization make our culture bring both traditionaland modern features Speaking of culture, there is also environmental culture (Khuc,2021b, 2021a; District-H Vuong, 2021; QH Vuong, 2021; QH Vuong et al., 2021)