The industry last year hosted 1.7 million tourists, an increase of 10.6 per cent over 1996. Viet Nam only attracted around 30,000 foreign visitors during the first two months of this year.
Authorities expect the tourist influx to increase during summer holidays and the year-end months.
Over the past few months, the occupancy rate in HCM City's hotels dropped to 50 per cent, causing major concern among hotel managers. The industry also worried about the effects the on-going regional financial crisis would have on the number of foreign tourists to Viet Nam. Viet Nam's tourism industry has become far less competitive with regional countries. The country's tourism sector now faces fierce competition from regional countries as the devaluation of regional currencies against the US dollar has made countries like Thailand and Malaysia cheaper for tourists compared with Viet Nam. For example, Thailand's tourism industry has launched a promotional campaign offering trips to Thailand at affordable prices.