The tourism industry has projected to receive 3.2 million foreign visitors and 15 million domestic visitors in year 2005. According to officials of the industry, it is not easy to reach such target.

Md. Vo Thi Thang, Chairwoman of the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism said right in the beginning this year, it was not sure whether the projected target could be reached due to unexpected changes. Two of those are tsunami disaster and spreading chicken flu in Southern Vietnam.

Though there has not been any statistics about number of tourists canceling their visits, many tourists are hesitating due to the bad news.

Additionally, according to Mr. Nguyen Phu Duc, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism, infrastructures of the tourism industry have so many limitations. There are only 18 five-star hotels and 4 four-star hotels mostly in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh, and Khanh Hoa, representing .2% and 2.8% of accommodation places respectively. Forms of tourism are not varied and attractive. For many years, Vietnam has participated international tourism fair just with slogans.

To settle its shortcomings, the tourism industry has thoroughly prepared a program for year 2005. Series of tourism promotion programs are going to be organized from Northern Vietnam to Southern Vietnam from the beginning to the end of the year in order to attract more tourists. In addition, the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism is going to hold four road shows in India, ASEAN, Australia and the US to promote Vietnam’s image. Vietnamese tourism companies are going to take part in 11 international tourism fairs in key markets. Vietnam’s tourism promotion programs on the CNN television are also being pushed up.