Vietnam Tourism

Policies and Practices

Huong T. Bui, Giang T. Phi, Long H. Pham, Huong H. Do, Andrew Le, Binh Nghiem-Phu

• Publisher: CAB International
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781789242782
• eBook ISBN: 9781789242805
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

Vietnam has experienced rapid growth within its tourism industry during the past decades. This growth is part of Vietnam's opening economy allowing a wide range of forms of tourism. Vietnam Tourism: Policies and Practices provides a comprehensive review of tourism development in Vietnam. Part I outlines the history of tourism, the role and involvement of public and private sectors in governance and planning, and the markets for tourism. Part II offers analysis and assessment of various types of tourism in Vietnam, including marine and island, eco, heritage, dark and community-based tourism. Part III centres on current operational issues of tourism, hotels and events. The book provides an up-to-date analysis on Vietnamese tourism policy, structure, governance, and operations as well as various forms of tourism from both a theoretical and practical perspective by: · providing a comprehensive review in a single resource;· outlining public and private sector tourism;· addressing Vietnamese structure, governance and planning of tourism;· examining special interest tourism;· addressing current issues of industry's operations and management;· embracing local and global perspectives; · principles and practices applicable to Southeast Asia. Written by scholars with extensive research experience on tourism in Vietnam this book is a reliable source of reference for students, researchers and industry practitioners who are interested in modern tourism specifically in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

1 Vietnam Tourism: a View from Within

Huong T. Bui¹* and Giang T. Phi²

¹Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU), Japan; ²VinUniversity, Hanoi, Vietnam

*Corresponding author: [email protected]

© CAB International 2022. Vietnam Tourism: Policies and Practices (eds Huong T. Bui et al.)

DOI: 10.1079/9781789242782.0001

Introduction

Vietnam Tourism: Policies and Practices is a unique work offering an emic view of tourism in Vietnam. Thirteen chapters in the book cover a broad range of tourism development issues with reference to the historical, political, cultural and economic background of the country. The compendium of work in this volume fills an existing gap in tourism publications, where Vietnam is often considered a relatively minor destination within the broader context of tourism in South-east Asia and where much of the literature overly links tourism to the Vietnam War (1959–1975). More importantly, the research represented in this volume consists of original empirical studies conducted by Vietnamese authors and contributors over a long period of engagement with tourism in the country as government officers, development consultants, tourism researchers, educators and industry workers. The writers are thus able to access government policy papers, industry reports, research documentation, data, and fieldworks in the native language, Vietnamese. This, in turn, ensures the inclusion of relevant and up-to-date insights on tourism policies, structures and governance, various forms of tourism, and the industry’s operational research from both theoretical and practical perspectives. The authors are also experienced with global and regional tourism trends and theories owing to their diverse backgrounds in teaching, research and consulting inside and outside of Vietnam. This work is the culmination of their knowledge and experience and their inspiration to embrace both local and global perspectives, representing the viewpoint of a new generation of researchers in the area of Vietnam tourism.

Current Issues in Vietnam Tourism

Vietnam is situated on the east of the Indochinese Peninsula, bordering Cambodia to the west and Laos and China to the north. The territory covers an area of some 327,500 km². Its long and narrow territory stretches 1700 km from north to south, and in the centre it spans a mere 50 km from east to west (see Fig. 1.1).

On the one hand, Vietnam possesses 3260 km of extensive coastline, stretching from the Gulf of Tonkin to the Gulf of Thailand with a plethora of fine beaches and archipelagos. On the other hand, mountainous areas cover three-quarters of the land surface, typified by hilly terrains. Vietnam thus boasts a high level of biodiversity. Vietnam ranks as the 16th most biodiverse country in the world (Mittermeier et al., 2004). It is home to several of the world’s most iconic species, including the Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris) and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). Since 1992, four mammal species have been discovered previously unknown to science (Timmins and Duckworth, 2001). Furthermore, 109 large mammals and about 850 bird species have been recorded in Vietnam, which is also home to between 9600 and 12,000 plant species. Vietnam is also known as one of the world’s richest countries in agricultural biodiversity, with over 800 plant species cultivated in diversified agro-ecological production (USAID (United States Agency for International Development), 2013).

Fig. 1.1. Administrative map of Vietnam. Map courtesy of Thuy T. Duong.

From a cultural perspective, with over 4000 years of civilization, Vietnam has a long line of cultural heritage ranging from historical sites, monuments, both French colonial and ‘Indo-Chinese’ architecture, war heritage, spiritual practices and intangible heritages. Vietnam is also ethnically diverse with a myriad of languages, cultures and traditions belonging to 54 different ethnic groups, most of whom are ethnic minorities living in the high plateau and mountainous regions (Nguyen, 2016). The combination of Vietnam’s rich historical, natural and cultural resources forms a solid basis for developing unique tourism products (Jansen-Verbeke and Go, 1995), yet there are arguably significant challenges related to the sustainable use of these resources.

Travel in Vietnam had existed since the feudal era to French colonization, but it was not until the last decade of the 20th century that tourism development accelerated upon the ending of major wars and conflicts (see Chapter 2, this volume). The centralized political and economic system as the main driver of post-war reconstruction left its traces in contemporary tourism governance, policy and planning. However, the market economy with the socialist orientation has largely shaped current tourism development (see Chapter 3, this volume). Tourism has been one of the first economic sectors of Vietnam to open up to foreign investment and privatization in the era after the Đổi Mới (Renovation) economic reforms were initiated in 1986. The tourism industry witnessed a transition from the state-owned enterprises in the early 1990s to the privatization of those in the early 2000s and the flourishing of the large domestic and international groups that dominate the hotel industry. The Law on Tourism (originating from the Tourism Ordinance of 1997, then becoming the Tourism Law in 2005, amended to its current form in 2017) highlights the importance of the operating environment in supporting tourism development (Semone et al., 2011). Unlike some other countries in the region, where tourism has been encouraged but primarily left to develop organically, Vietnam has implemented a structured planning approach to the tourism sector, guided by the Master Plans (World Bank, 2019). This centralized planning approach to tourism development has been exemplified in Chapter 4 (this volume). The diversity of tourism products built on various natural and cultural resources of the country is presented from Chapters 5 to 9 (this volume), covering different forms of tourism such as marine and island tourism (Chapter 5), ecotourism (Chapter 6), community-based tourism (Chapter 7), heritage tourism (Chapter 8) and dark tourism at the former battlefields of the Vietnam War (Chapter 9). Due to its tendency to employ high shares of low-skilled, rural, and youth workers, tourism has also positively impacted poverty reduction and has facilitated some redistribution of income from richer to poorer localities in Vietnam (World Bank, 2019). The chapters covered in Part I and Part II of this volume reflect this social viewpoint of tourism development.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Vietnam has been experiencing a tourism boom, establishing itself as one of South-east Asia’s top tourist destinations while achieving record growth in international and domestic visitors. In 2019, Vietnam welcomed 18 million international tourists, a target reached 10 years earlier than planned. In the same year, domestic tourism grew exponentially, reaching 85 million trips and surpassing the target set for 2030 (VNAT, 2020). Tourism’s direct and indirect contribution to Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached 9.2% in 2019, with tourism as the country’s single largest service export. The focus of tourism development has also switched from primarily economic objectives to social and environmental sustainability. Among other things, the institutionalization of sustainable and responsible tourism development has subsequently impacted the operation and management of tourism-related businesses. Chapters 10–13 of this volume reflect the embracement of new values in the business operations of the tourism industry. In particular, the tour operators’ perception and implementation of responsible tourism practices are presented in Chapter 10. Various questions concerning corporate social responsibility in the current situation of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are further addressed in Chapter 11. Moreover, the intertwining of policies and stakeholder engagement, reflective of the top-down governance of the event industry, are demonstrated in Chapter 12. Human resource management practices are discussed in Chapter 13.

Vietnam has achieved the most considerable overall improvement in destination competitiveness among its South-east Asian neighbours (i.e. Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) since 2015. According to The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 (WEF, 2017), Vietnam improved in the areas of ICT (information and communications technology) readiness, international openness, safety and security, as well as ground and port infrastructure. However, several areas remained relatively behind regional benchmarks, including tourist service, air transport infrastructure and prioritization of the tourism sector (WEF, 2017). As a whole, while the South-east Asian region performed very poorly in the dimension of environmental sustainability, Vietnam ranked 129th globally. This ranking raises critical issues, drawing immediate attention to policy making and implementation. Other concerns about current tourism development in Vietnam are visitor growth, declining visitor yield, and overcrowding pressures at some popular tourist destinations. These issues need to be addressed to ensure that future tourism growth is more sustainable, in...

Table of contents

• Cover
• HalfTitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Authors
• Guest Contributors
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Part I. Tourism Policies and Practices Across Time and Space
• Part II. Types and Forms of Tourism
• Part III. Tourism Industry Practices
• Index
• Backcover