According to the Office of Kien Giang Province People's Committee, the Province is actively preparing to hold the inauguration of the airport in the first stage in the mid-December this year. This is a significant event, not only important to the province of Kien Giang but also to the whole of Mekong River Delta area.

Phu Quoc International Airport has been built in Duongto commune, Phu Quoc district and covers an area of ​​more than 900ha with a total investment of 16,200 billions VND, in which the investment until 2020 include of about 50% from the Southern Airports Corporation. The main items of this work include: the runways for landing and taking-off, taxiways, aircraft parking places with the total investment of 1,500 billions VND; passenger terminals of 1,576 billions VND; flight control center (VOR) of 70 billions VND. Accordingly, the taking-off and landing runways are 3,000m long, 45m wide ensure to receive the Boeing 777, Boeing 747 - 400 and the equivalent. By 2020, will construct the taxiways in parallel with the size of 3.000m x 25m and the connections of taxiways.

Currently, the main items of the airport are landing and taking-off runways, taxiways, aircraft parking and passengers terminal has basically been completed, ready to get into operation as planned.

Phu Quoc International Airport will be served on the mid-range and long-range flights linking Phu Quoc with Hanoi and the other northern provinces, the countries in the region and on the world, in order to exploit efficiently the advantages and the economic potential of Phu Quoc, especially marine tourism, trade and investment island.

This also is one of the important driving forces for Phu Quoc to be a high-quality eco-tourism at international stature, contributing to development of Phu Quoc in being the economy special zone of the country.

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(Source: Vietnam Tourism)

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According to the work plan of the Steering Committee for tourism development of Thua Thien - Hue province, there will be 9 activities in 2013 including:


Organizing of travel teams to study, understand, be familiar with and to make markets for travel agents by domestic and foreign journalists dedicated to tourism; organizing promotional sales in the low season; holding fairs for promotional sales; Organizing the "Tourism Golden Week"; Launching the response to Tourism Businesses; Developing tourism products and upgrading the quality of travel services; Honoring travel organizations brand.. Giving comments on the drafted opinions focused on the problems of the policy for travel businesses; The point of time to offer the key of stimulus programs; To raise the demands without cutting down travel prices, only increasing promotional packages; Making clear the criteria of travel businesses; Further getting the local media involved with advertisements..

In the 2012, the province of Thua Thien-Hue has received about 2.4 million tourists to visit Hue relics system, increased 25% compared to the 2011. The programs of Thua Thien - Hue province were all focused on exploitings festival and the marine tourism with the highlight Hue Festival 2012.

National Tourism Year 1012 successfully held in Hue

Marine tourism in Thua Thien-Hue in the last time had a series of tourism promotion activities, associated with such tours as "Tam Giang the River", "Thuan An beach calls" "Lang Co - the bay of world beauty"

In addition, the province has synchronized multiple solutions to improve the quality, increase the efficiency of the services, and updated regularly to provide information about the new products typically like Thanh Toan Tile Bridge, Phuoc Tich ancient village, Kim Long - Phu Mong house-garden.. The accommodation facilities, hotels, restaurants, are invested to upgrade, enhance the marketing, strengthen business methods..

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(Source: Vietnam Tourism)

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Vietnam Tourism Association will deploy the methods to deal with the mayhem, to sign with the travel enterprises to ensure the quality of tourism services, universal forms of information to promote and encourage good quality facilities and services

6.8 millions of international visitors and 160,000 billions VND (more than 7.5 billions $US) of sales in 2012 are remarkable numbers in the world economic situation but tourists have not been really satisfied with the human element, the cultural behaviors.


Invitation with insistence, pushing one another, fighting each other over customers are common images in many destinations of Vietnam. Visitors are usually surrounded by a line of all kinds from beggars, pickpockets, peddlers to shoeshine men, souvenir sellers. Regardless of the time, with need or not, customers are still "bullied" for the services. The stable growth of Vietnam tourism in the last three years can be seen as a bright spot in the difficulties of the economy. However, according to the experts, Vietnam tourism development is not commensurate with its potential. According to an evaluation report on tourism competitiveness of the World Economic Forum, Vietnam tourism has the strength of culture, nature, gastronomy however tourism environment, tourism infrastructure and the services are down sides.

According to the General Statistics Office, the number of international visitors to Vietnam in nov. 2012 estimated to about 656,000 passengers and the total of that 11 months has reached 6 million, 14.4% increase compared to the same period in 2011, taken 93% percent of international passengers targeted in 2012. Many tourists and the international travel organizations in Vietnam have to admire the beauty but only 15% of them want to go back the second time.

Transport, environment and food safety have always been the specter of the international visitors to Vietnam. Never has the the phrase "tourism culture" been mentioned that much. The nature beauties, the heritages, the abundance of food can attract visitors to Vietnam but such beauties are really endless when only 15% of foreign visitors want to come back for the second time.

Besides, the bully at the destinations is an alarming situation of Vietnam's tourism. There are cases for that any one can be startled such as a vendor took 1 million VND (50$US) for the 4 pieces of a pineapple and the photography taken beside Hoan Kiem Lake. Recently, the TTR Weekly magazine of Thailand published an article entitled "The invisible hand in Hanoi Old Quarter", reflecting the fact that international tourists have been pocket-picked by vendors here . According to the article, due to language barriers and trust from tourists, many foreign tourists were deceived large sums of money by the street vendors in many different ways, meanwhile, the thieves took advantage of the crowded streets to be active. These facts are harming the reputation of Hanoi tourism so that Hanoi government has to carry out powerful solutions to stop. The article also outlines the common tricks of the street vendors in town to foreign visitors when come to Hanoi. According to Ian-Lyne, the Leader of the group "program of tourism capability for environmental responsibility and EU society": "There must be community education projects, to educate street vendors and people of small services for tourism, what tourists need and the most important is their sense of pride in their country and the city they are living in. This must be done in all localities of Vietnam ".

In the coming time, the Vietnam Tourism Association will deploy the methods to deal with the mayhem, to sign with the travel enterprises to ensure the quality of tourism services, universal forms of information to promote and encourage good quality facilities and services. Many localities have issued decisions to stabilize the prices, the Department of Finance and other relevant agencies to organize multiple inspections requiring the accommodation facilities in the area not to rise more than 50% on regular prices, to have commitment to stabilize prices and improve service quality. Some localities have established a hotline to organizations, citizens and tourists for promptly report the violations of prices, quality of services to the authorities to have timely measures.

(Source: Vietnam Tourism)

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To build a good image of Hanoi tourism, the city needs to plan the parking places, saving spaces for pedestrians, needs to have solutions to overcome current traffic and environment issues, needs to plan areas reserved for visitors with tourism and commercial activities; methods to reduce population density, to reduce motorcycle traffic and to create the walking areas.


Recently, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Hanoi has a practical investigation on international tourist sources about the quality of the services with 1,420 visitors from many different countries at Noi Bai Airport and a number of tourist attractions in Hanoi showed that 81.32% want to return to Hanoi; 93.64% answered Hanoi is worth sightseeing.

In general, travelers to Hanoi felt relatively good about the city tourism. Most of the components of Hanoi tourist attractions are highly appreciated. The main reasons for tourists to choose Hanoi as a destination in their trips are the cultural values ​​and the historical values; the advices of friends and relatives for Hanoi as a safe destination; the hospitality of the people; the shopping opportunities...

However, the three most critical issues in the complaint of the travellers are the environment sanitation, the infrastructure, the traffic and the behaviors of a number of the drivers, sales staffs.

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Hanoi believes that to build a good image of Hanoi tourism, the city needs to plan the parking places, saving spaces for pedestrians, needs to have solutions to overcome current traffic and environment issues, needs to plan areas reserved for visitors with tourism and commercial activities; methods to reduce population density, to reduce motorcycle traffic and to create the walking areas.

The departments of Hanoi also need to improve the system of signs, the public toilets at the airport, the streets and the tourist attractions, the shopping places. In particular, it needs to propagate, educate and enhance the management of taxi drivers and street vendors due to their attitude and dishonesty, causing psychological discomfort and loss the good image of Hanoi tourism.

In the coming time, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Hanoi also enhance the management of travel businesses, tour operators, hotels, to reduce complaints about the quality and price of the services, to provide the satisfaction, the sense of safety and trust to the tourists coming to Hanoi.

At the same time, the Department have also proposed to the city for more entertainment activities at night, to better serve the needs of the tourists. In 2012, number of international tourists to Hanoi reached over 2.1 millions and in 2013 the city aims at 2.25 millions.

(Source: Vietnam Tourism)

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To become a rich in characteristic tourist site, many participants proposed to focus on developing such tours as community tours, eco-tours, adventurous excursions, cultural and belief tours; offering advantageous products, local-specific products, while enhancing the overall links in the region and the international areas. They also came up with five main groups of issues including: tourism development and tourism products; promotion for investments; create links between Mang Den and the outside; management of planning and building the national eco-tourism Mang Den and finally the human resource development. To deliver sustainable development, many scientists gave practical solutions such as the development of agriculture, of forestry and of handicrafts for the development of sustainable tourism in the ecotourism area of Mang Den. In addition, in order to promote tourism Mang Den to the outside, a number of participants also came up with solutions to build the tour should focus on the connection between the Mang Den "Central Heritage Road", "I Central Highlands Green Road ", Highlands with other regional and international ... To implement the above tasks, Kon Plong district needs to increase investment and exploitation reasonable infrastructure systems; investment environment, attract investment in manufacturing the product has the advantage of bringing local characteristics such as high-end vegetables, cold water fish, forest products such as alcohol Sim ...; focused on developing traditional manufacturing industries associated with tourism; uses and protects resources rational nature ... In addition, focus on propaganda, advertising and branding; tourism development must be linked to the conservation of heritage objects, intangible of each local community; branding for the national ecotourism Mang Den specific route. On the same day, in a square Kon Plong district, Kon Tum province solemnly celebrated published Decision 298/QD-TTg, dated 05/2/2013 of the Prime Minister on construction planning ecotourism region Status Mang Den and general urban planning Kon Plong district Kon Plong (Kon Tum) in 2030. (Source: Vietnam Tourism)

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The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has been asked by its department in Ha Noi to establish a tourism police force dedicated to protecting visitors who are increasingly suffering from tourist scams in the capital.

Cases are reported daily of foreign tourists being overcharged by taxi drivers and cheated by hotel employees. This has negatively affected the image of both the city and the country in the eyes of international visitors, said the department's deputy director Mai Tien Dung.

A crackdown on security management has been conducted in hotels, hostels and resorts, Dung said, adding that despite this, inspections could only go so far to solve the problems in the absence of specific regulations.

His department has proposed that as well as forming a special police force, other measures should be implemented. They suggested that crimes against tourists, such as overcharging, stealing and harassment from peddlers should be met with heavy fines.

Colonel Dao Duy Ngoc, deputy director of the city's police department, agreed with the proposal for the creation of a tourism police force. "This is a good idea. We will set up the force as soon as it is approved by a higher authority".

While the establishment of the force is considered an effective measure to tackle crime in the tourism sector, some people have argued that it has limitations.

Such issues arouse partly due to the lack of authorities' sufficient management in tourism. Major-General Le Van Cuong, former director of the Institute of Strategy and Science under the Ministry of Public Service, said that the force alone would not solve all the problems.

"The tourism industry should firstly analyse its strength and weakness. Only then will it know if co-operation from other authorities is necessary," he said.

"Another important measure is to raise people's awareness so that tourist businesses are fully conscious of the risks that their customers face and potential scammers know that their behaviour is unacceptable," he pointed out.

"However, if the police are needed whenever a problem occurs, then we will definitely set up a specific police force in the future," he added. 

Souce: Google.com

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VietNamNet Bridge – Travel firms prove to be very professional in soothing travelers with sweet words. That explains why many people fell into the firms’ traps, and they only realized that they were swindled after experiencing terrible trips.

Xuan Thanh, 30, in Hoang Mai district in Hanoi, is one of the travelers who have experienced a terrible trip to Da Lat.

“I booked a tour to Da Lat, and I thought I made a good deal. The tour was dirt cheap, just VND1 million for 3 days and 2 nights. However, I now feel regret for choosing the tour,” Thanh said.

“I have realized why the tour was so cheap,” he added.

The travel firm promised to arrange rooms at a 2-star hotel, but it was just a guest house which proclaimed itself as a hotel. Thanh and his family members had to stay in cramped and damp rooms.

“The meals were frugal with just some dishes. The drivers and tour guides were so unfriendly. I was scolded when I made complaints,” Thanh said. “What do you expect when you book a low cost tour? You get what you pay for.”

Thuy in Tan Binh district in HCM City was in the same situation. She booked a tour to the sea city of Nha Trang at VND1.4 million, which included the ticket for cable.

“I was so happy because I could book a tour at a reasonable price. However, in fact, this was a miserable one,” Thuy said.

“There was nothing more except some daily dishes and boiled vegetables. The tour guide disappeared when we came to the tourist site. We were told that we could go what we wanted before we had to come back on schedule,” she added.

The hotel was located near the beach, but it was so terrible and suffocated. However, Thuy still was asked to pay an extra sum of VND100,000. The hotel explained that it was in the high season, where the demand for accommodations was very high, and it needed to collect surcharges.

Though the surcharge was not mentioned in the contract signed with the travel firm, Thuy could do nothing except to pay the extra money, or she would be asked to leave the hotel.

Minh Long in Tay Ho district booked a tour from Hanoi to Cua Lo Beach which was design to last 3 days and 2 nights. With the offered discount of 40 percent, Long had to pay VND1,399,000.

However, VND1,399,000 was not the sum of money Long had to pay for the trip. He was told to pay VND250,000 per person in surcharge, because the tour was “at the weekend.”

“I’d rather to pay VND250,000 more to book the tour at weekend. If I changed my mind and booked the tour on normal days, I would have to ask the managers for a leave. If so, I would have a part of my salary cut. The part might be higher than VND250,000,” he said.

However, the problem was that Long was not warned about the surcharge until he came to the travel firm to sign the contract.

However, even when Long accepted to pay additional money, he still received bad services. The travel firm advertised that the tour guides were enthusiastic and friendly. However, in fact, the tour guide who came together with Long and others did not accompany the tourists to many points.

Souce: Google.com

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