Share market opens sluggish

Opening the first session of the new year, both national stock indices lost ground on plunging market values.

On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index slid 0.44 per cent to 350 points, with nearly half of the listed stocks losing.

The trading value dived 60.4 per cent compared to the previous session, totaling just VND320.5 billion (US$15.2 million). The volume of trades also lost 63.2 per cent to 20.6 million shares.

The weak performance of the Index was despite the gains of some blue chips, including insurer Bao Viet Holding (BVH) up 4.6 per cent, Military Bank (MBB) up 0.9 per cent, Petrovietnam Finance (PVF) up 2.8 per cent and Sacombank (STB) up 2.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, other large-cap shares retreated.

With around 957,000 shares changing hands, STB was the most active code on the southern bourse.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index ended 3.3 per cent off, hitting 56.79 points. However, gainers overwhelmed losers by 121-89.

The market value reached 41.5 per cent of the previous trading day, or VND117.7 billion ($5.55 million) on a volume of 14.7 million shares.

PetroVietnam Construction Co (PVX) saw the highest trading volume nationwide of nearly 1.4 million shares. It concluded today's session up 3 per cent to VND6,800 per share.

Fuel importer asks to withdraw from business

Petro Mekong, a subsidiary of state-owned PetroVietnam Oil (PV Oil), is seeking approval from the Ministry of Industry and Trade to stop importing fuel next year.

Petro Mekong said it made the move following the directive from PV Oil, VnExpress reported.

According to this directive, as of 2012, PV Oil will directly import fuel products and distribute to its subsidiaries, among them PV Mekong, which currently operates as a business that directly imports fuel.

Earlier in July, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced a list of 5 wholesalers that had failed to import the minimum quota of fuel as stipulated by the ministry and thus faced losing their fuel import licenses.

They included Military Petroleum Co., Vinalines and Petro Mekong.

Firms resist new tax forms
 
Enterprises must begin printing their own value-added tax (VAT) invoices effective from January 1 this year, instead of buying invoices from tax offices as previously. Most companies have made orders to have their own invoices printed, but many smaller firms are still unsure about how to use them lawfully.

Lawyer Tran Xoa, director of the Minh Dang Quang Law Firm, told the Phap luat Thanh pho HCM (HCM City Law) newspaper many small businesses lacked experiences using the invoices and needed more instruction from tax officials to comply with the new regulations.

Meanwhile, companies were being forced to check with authorities regarding the validity of their invoices, he said. When their new invoices have been printed, they have been required to send notices to the tax authorities in a bid to get official recognition of the new forms.

Without this approval, many tax offices were regarding the invoices as non-compliant, Xoa said.

Huynh Thi Thanh Thao, an accountant for a small business, said her firm would have to begin using self-printed invoices in the next few days, but her company still needed invoices to cover bills for the closing days of 2011.

Other companies have delayed printing invoices due to planned changes in office locations.

"Our lease will expire early in 2012, and we plan to move but have not yet selected a new place, so we have delayed printing invoices," Nguyen Van Quoc, director of the La Quoc Co Ltd in HCM City's District 4 told the Phap luat Thanh pho HCM (HCM City Law) newspaper.

TQN Accounting Consult Co director Tran Quoc Nam said early 2011, many businesses did not know the regulations on self-printing invoices or they knew but intentionally hesitated to act until faced with the deadline. As a result, the limited number of printing houses have been overloaded with orders and tax offices are still providing invoices to businesses.

Taxation authorities have urged businesses to print invoices early and have even asked companies to report their orders with printing houses or sign commitments upon receiving tax agency guides on using self-printed invoices.

Nam said that greatest difficulty presented by self-printing of invoices was the additional expense. Although the number of printing houses has risen, and printing prices have fallen somewhat since 2011, the cost of each invoice book was now about VND80,000. Invoices bought from tax agencies, meanwhile, only cost about VND16,000.

22 exports earning US$1 billion each in 2012

Garments topped the list of 22 export items, fetching US$14 million in revenue, according Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

They were followed by crude oil, mobile phones and spare parts, footwear and seafood.

2011 saw a sharp increase in export of mobile phones and accessories, bringing home US$6.8 billion, up 197 percent against 2010.

Timber product exports also ranked first in Southeast Asia and tenth in the world, raking in US$3.9 billion.

The US took the lead among 24 key markets of Vietnam, importing more than US$1 billion each, followed by Japan and China.

The MoIT forecast that exports in 2012 will face difficulty because many key markets have fallen into public debt crisis. This is already demonstrated by a significant decline in the number of garment business contracts.

Rambutan and dragon fruit exported to US and EU

Four containers of rambutans will be shipped to the US on January 3, 2012.

Mai Xuan Thin, Director of the Rong Do Company in Ho Chi Minh City said the company has exported several batches of fruit to different markets in the first days of 2012.

In the first week of this year, 17 containers of fruit will be shipped to various international markets including five containers of rambutans and two containers of dragon fruit to the US, and 10 containers of dragon fruit and other types of fruit to the EU, China, and the Middle East.

Group gives US$380,000 house as Tet bonus

Two chief executive officers of the multi-business C.T Group in Ho Chi Minh City have each received a house worth VND8 billion (US$380,000) and VND200 million (US$9,514) in cash as a Tet (Lunar New Year) bonus.

Tran Thi My Hoa, CEO in charge of the retail and hospitality business, and Dinh Thi Bich Thao, another CEO of investment, received their grand bonus at an awards ceremony held during the meeting to review the group’s 2011 performance on the last day of the year.

Both houses are located on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, District 3.

Ten other special bonuses were also given to 10 employees, each receiving a Beehome flat worth VND500 million on Cong Hoa Street, Tan Binh District, and VND50 million in cash.

These bonuses had been considered for the most outstanding executives and employees who have greatly contributed to the business success of the group in the past year, the group’s management said.

6 new projects invested in Phu Yen IZs

Industrial zones (IZs) in Phu Yen province attracted six new projects in 2011, bringing the total number of projects to 78 with a combined registered capital of US$130 million.

The new investments included major projects such as the Hoa Tam and Vung Ro Oil Refinery projects.

Truong Phuoc Cuong, head of the IZ managing board in Phu Yen, predicts that the prospects for attracting more investment will be brighter in 2012, as the province is offering many incentives for investors, such as land-use tax and simplified administrative procedures.

Mekong Delta exports over 600,000 tonnes of Tra fish in 2011

The Mekong Delta provinces recently exported 53,000 tonnes of tra fish, bringing the total export volume to 607,000 tonnes in 2011.

As a result, they earned more than US$1.67 billion, surpassing the set target of US$50 million.  

In 2012, the Mekong Delta will use 5,440 ha of surface water to breed tra fish, mostly in the provinces of Dong Thap and An Giang, Ben Tre, and Vinh Long and Can Tho City. Each of these provinces will only develop high-productivity fish farming on 10 ha to avoid water pollution, and closely cooperate with breeders and processing factories to sign contracts on the consumption of fish. The whole year’s output of fish is expected to reach more than 1.2 million tonnes.

In 2011, apart from exports, these provinces created favourable conditions for tra breeders to expand their domestic consumption of diversified products, such as fresh and frozen fillets. They applied advanced technologies into breeding organic tra fish, preserving and diversifying processed products, and regularly informed farmers about the consumption trend of tra fish in both local and international markets.

These provinces also upgraded breeder establishments, providing 2.6 billion high quality fish and 3 million tones of feed to tra fish breeders.

To avoid the shortage of high quality varieties of tra fish, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is implementing a plan to upgrade four centres to produce high quality tra fish in An Giang, Dong Thap, and Ben Tre provinces and Can Tho City

At the same time, the MARD will also build laboratories with modern facilities on quality control of fish for An Giang, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Hau Giang, Soc Trang, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, and Tra Vinh provinces and Can Tho city.  

Haiphong port receives first shipment of the New Year

Late on New Year’s Eve, the Chua Ve Container Terminal under the port of Haiphong received its first batch of goods for 2012.

The Chua Ve Container Terminal handled a total of more than 6.1 million tonnes of goods in 2011.

The Chairman of the Board of Members of the Haiphong port company, Duong Thanh Binh, said in the New Year, the port will boost its marketing activities, improve its efficiency and service quality, and streamline its operating models.

The port aims to handle 19 million tonnes of goods to fetch more than VND1.23 trillion in revenue, and continue modernizing itself in 2012, said Binh.

On the coming birthday of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 3), the port will inaugurate its quay No 7.

Despite the global economic meltdown, the Haiphong port completed its 2011 production goals on December 13, earning a turnover of over VND1.2 trillion.

Vietnam-a top destination for Japanese businesses

Vietnam was one of the leading destinations for Japanese businesses in 2011, which provided total investment capital of US$1.84 billion this year, according to the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).

Japan’s 208 projects operated in Vietnam during the year, an increase of 82 percent against 2010, in which production and processing projects accounted for 54 percent, followed by those in the commerce-service sector, with 15 percent. In particular, a series of Ministop retail shops has entered the Vietnamese market to meet domestic demands.

At the same time, businesses from the Republic of Korea run 270 projects in Vietnam, up 5 percent compared to 2010, while Singapore continued to penetrate the Vietnamese market with 105 projects, a rise of 19 percent compared to the previous year.  

Export-import strategy for 2011-2020

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved the national export-import strategy for Vietnam in the 2011-2020 period, with a view to 2030.  

Accordingly, total export revenue in 2020 is expected to be triple that in 2011 and the average income per capita is set to reach more than US$2,000 by 2020.

Average export growth is also projected to increase by 10-12 percent annually from now until 2030.

The country plans to reduce its trade deficit to below 10 percent in 2015, towards balanced trade by 2020, and it should enjoy a trade surplus in the following decade.

Work on HCM City's second metro line to be finished by 2017

Construction of Ho Chi Minh City's second metro line is expected to start in mid-2013 and be finished by 2017.

The project, worth US$1.37 billion, fell a year behind its original schedule, which planned to begin operating of the system in 2016.

Provincial People's Committee deputy chairman Nguyen Huu Tin urged for quicker land clearance in areas needed for the metro line to help speed-up the process.

The 11.3-kilometre line will link Ben Thanh (District 1) and Tham Luong (District 12) and will pass through District 1, 3, 10, 12 and the Tan Binh and Tan Phu areas.

The system was designed with 11 stations, 10 of which will be underground, with a single elevated terminal in Tan Binh District.

With the train speeds reaching 80 kilometres per hour, the metro will allow journeys of only 18 – 20 minutes from one end to the other.

Work on the first metro line which spans 20-kilometres connecting Ben Thanh and Suoi Tien, began in early 2008 and is expected to be operational by 2017, according to the Urban Railway's Management Authority.

The city plans to build a total of six metro routes to create a safe and convenient urban transport system for the city's economic development.

Steel, cement suffer huge unsold inventories

The domestic steel and cement manufacturing sectors currently hold a huge amount of unsold inventory due to low consumption in domestic and export markets, high transporting costs, and legal disputes.

According to the Vietnam Steel Association, the unsold steel inventory is around 500,000 tons, double the allowable rate; while the Vietnam Cement Association reported that the rate in its industry is as high as 2 million tons.

In this new year of 2012, if the real estate sector remains in its frozen state and construction projects are reduced in accordance with cuts in spending, steel and cement consumption will remain low, and clearing bank loans at high interest rates will continue to burden the manufacturers, Saigon Giai Phong reported.

With the slow domestic market presenting such a challenge, many steel manufacturers have attempted to exploit the export market, but they still have to face many barriers.
In the US market, for instance, local steel exporters have encountered many anti-dumping lawsuits due to their lack of experience.

For its part, the Vietnam Cement Association said the main cause of the high unsold inventory index is the abundant supply against the falling demand caused by delayed construction projects.

The high unsold inventory, plus the low consumption rate, will drive cement makers to the brink of halting production, or even going bankrupt in the near future, the association warned.

While exports seem to be an escape route for the industry, many insiders said this solution is not feasible, since export values are not high, while transportation cost is a major problem.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese cement exporters may also face tough competition from Thai, Chinese, Indonesian, and Taiwanese rivals in certain potential markets, such as Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Moreover, while most of the production lines of Vietnamese companies are newly-invested, the facilities of their rivals have come to complete depreciation, leading to the fact that locally-made products have higher cost prices than those of Thailand, Taiwan, or China.

The situation looks even worse if the exorbitant lending interest rates are counted, the cement association concluded.

First merged bank officially inaugurated

Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), the first merged bank to be formed under the State Bank of Vietnam’s plan to restructure the banking system, yesterday officially became operational one month after completing procedures for the merger.

On December 6, TinNghiaBank, Ficombank, and Saigon Commercial Bank became the country’s first three banks to be merged, and the central bank announced on December 16 that the newly-merged bank would be named after the latter.

The newly-merged bank is now headquartered at 927 Tran Hung Dao Street, District 5, which was also the headquarters of the erstwhile SCB prior to the merger.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Nguyen Thi Thu Suong, SCB chairwoman, said the merger will enable the three banks to fortify their strength in financial ability and operating scale.

With the merger successfully executed, SCB has become one of the country’s five largest banks, with total registered capital worth VND10.58 trillion (US$507.84 million), and total assets worth VND154 trillion ($7.4 billion).

The merged bank will inherit 230 transaction offices and 4,000 employees of the three erstwhile banks.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam Deputy Governor Tran Minh Tuan, the rights of depositors and customers of the three banks will be transferred to the new institution and fully protected.

Also on Monday, many branches of TinNghiaBank and Ficombank changed their name signs to read SCB.

According to employees of TinNghiaBank, there have yet to be any personnel adjustments in the bank.

The bank’s executives also promised that the staff will be kept unchanged, they said.

Earlier on December 21, the newly-merged bank promised that it will commit capital to three major real estate projects in Ho Chi Minh City, namely the Times Square, Royal Garden, and Saigon Peninsula.

New car imports totaled $1 bln in 2011

The country spent more than $1 billion on importing 55,000 new cars in 2011, despite economic difficulties, estimated the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The figures were up 2.1 percent in volume and 4.2 percent in value against the previous year.

The last month of the year saw 4,000 units worth $64 million imported, up on the previous month when 3,000 units totaling $52 million were brought into the country.

The GSO said that the car market was quieter than in previous years when there was an usual surge in sales ahead of the Lunar New Year.

Industry insiders said that 2011 has been a tough year because the Government issued a series of measures and increased tax on imported cars in a move to restrict imports and curb the national trade deficit.

They added that the tax hike has added thousands of dollars to the cost of each imported car, leading to the year-end slump.

In June, the General Department of Customs set higher minimum tax brackets for hundreds of imported car models. Tax on both new and used cars rose between 2 and 20 percent compared to the end of 2010.

In the same month, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular 20 which required automobile importers to fulfill extensive procedures to trade vehicles with under 10 seats.

These restrictive procedures included a letter of attorney from manufacturers, contracts legalized by Vietnamese diplomatic offices overseas and auto maintenance certificates granted by the Ministry of Transport.

Import taxes on used cars have also been raised since August. Under the new regulations, used cars with engines of 1.5 liters or more are subject to the same tax rates as new cars of the same model, which range between 77 percent and 83 percent of their total value.

An additional $5,000-15,000 levy is also imposed on used cars, depending on their engine capacity. Previously, used cars were only subject to a fixed import duty, starting at $3,500 per car.

Vietnam imposes tariff on petrol imports

The Ministry of Finance has decided to impose a 4 percent tariff on imported petrol products after maintaining a zero tariff for 11 months to stabilize prices.

Speaking about this decision, director of the Price Management Department Nguyen Tien Thoa said all tariffs of imported diesel oil, mazut oil and petrol were still much lower than the 10 percent ceiling set by the government.

The import price of petrol end-products from the Singaporean market, which is Vietnam's main fuel supplier, has remained low and stable, allowing petrol importers to make significant profits, Thoa told Tuoi Tre Newspaper.

The prices of petrol products imported into Vietnam on December 22 and 23 were US$113 per barrel. Earlier, petrol prices in all transactions in Singapore were about $108 or $109 per barrel. The average price of imported petrol since December 16 is thus $110 per barrel.

In addition, petrol traders have also been receiving financial assistance from the petrol price stabilization fund, which is VND550 per liter.

As the domestic retail price for petrol is VND20,400 ($0.97) per liter, petrol traders can generate a profit of about VND700 per liter, including the fixed profit of VND300 a liter, as stipulated by the Ministry of Finance on wholesalers' prime cost calculation.

Petrolimex said it had gained a profit of VND800 on every liter of A92 gasoline they sold from December 1 to December 15 when the price of petrol imported from Singapore was $111.06 per barrel.

In November, it also reaped VND1,000 a liter for gasoline.

According to market watchdogs, the finance ministry's recent changes on petrol-pricing policies only protected the interests of the State and enterprises rather than consumers. It is reflected most clearly by the ministry’s hesitance to cut petrol retail prices to help consumers.

A source from the ministry said it was preparing to make some adjustments on current regulations related to oil and gas price calculations, such as the formula for prime costs, fixed business expenses and price stabilization funds.

Apricot farmers worried about early blossoming

As the Lunar New Year, or Tet, is still 3 weeks away, it is too early for apricot flowers to blossom nowApricot tree farmers in HCMC are being worried as their flowers have started to bloom well before the Lunar New Year because of heavy rain and unfavorable weather.

As the Lunar New Year, or Tet, is still 3 weeks away, it is too early for apricot flowers to blossom now.

At Ut Cao apricot flower garden, the flowers on half of the trees have been blossoming.

“The weather this year is awful,” Ut Cao, the garden’s owner, said with a sigh.

He said rain was unexpectedly occurred at this time of the year, causing apricot flowers to blossom untimely.

“Customers wouldn’t like full-bloom flowers for Tet,” he said.

Vietnamese want their Tet flowers to remain for a while after Tet ends so before Tet, they prefer to buy trees and stalks with more buds rather than less.

Artisan Nam Dong, owner of an apricot flower garden in Thu Duc District, said unfavorable weather had caused 70% of his trees to blossom early.

Among his total 1,000 flowerpots, only 300 are in saleable conditions now.

But Nam Dong said he wouldn’t raise prices even though he has spent a lot on pesticide and workers’ wages.

“I’ll only plant 200 apricot trees next year,” he said.

Several horticulturists have gathered apricot trees in some locations along Kha Van Can Street in Thu Duc District for sale.

Tran Ngoc Vuong, owner of Hanh apricot tree garden in Lon Dong Ward, Thu Duc District, said he had been displayed 200 apricot trees at the above site.

According to Hanh, clients often buy apricot trees in the first year and then ask farmers to help take care of their plants every year after that.

Pham Anh Dung, chairman of the Ornamental Creatures Association in Cu Chi District, predicted that prices of apricot trees wouldn’t increase much because many people have switched to orchids.

“There are different types of orchids – different colors and species. Orchids are also easier to care for,” Dung said.

According to the Cu Chi Ornamental Creatures Association, the total area of orchid farming in the district has increased by 30 hectares and the prices of orchids will increase by 10% compared to last year.

An unstable year for domestic gold

This year has seen gold in Vietnam priced up by 18 percent compared to last year while the global price has increased by only 11 percent.

At present, the selling price of gold has increased by as much as VND6.6 million a tael compared to prices recorded earlier this year, which hovered around VND36 million a tael.

Gold once topped the VND49 million/tael mark in late August, an all-time record high.
The price of gold in Vietnam has steadily increased for the last 11 years, making gold the most profitable form of investment, NHDMoney Newswire reported.

Yet, not all investors will manage to reap profits from gold even though it remains a better investment channel than securities and real estate.

Many investors scrambled to buy the metal when its price topped the record high VND49 million a tael.

If these investors are still holding bullions bought at that period, they will suffer a loss of as much as VND7 million for every tael of gold now.

The gap between domestic and global gold prices has increasingly widened this year.

The gap once reached VND4 million a tael, while a gap of only VND400,000 a tael is enough to suggest speculation, according to the State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Van Binh.

At present, domestic gold is still VND2.5 million a tael more expensive than global gold.

The central bank has continued to come up with ways to stabilize the domestic gold market.

One of the central bank’s efforts is a draft decree on gold trading management aimed to make SJC, the gold bullion brand name of Saigon Jewelry Co., the country’s largest gold trader, a national brand name.

When this new regulation takes effect, SJC will become a monopoly, although gold bullions produced by other brand names such as Rong Thang Long of Hanoi-based Bao Tin Minh Chau, or AAA gold bullions, will be still eligible for circulation.

However, the draft decree has led to an unprecedented phenomenon, in which gold bullions of traders other than SJC were sold at lower prices than SJC’s.

Rong Thang Long, and AAA gold bullions, for instance, were once sold for nearly VND1 million less than SJC bars.

In the last months of the year, the central bank stopped granting traders quotas for gold imports but it allowed SJC and five other banks to form an alliance to stabilize the market.

The alliance, including DongA Bank, Asia Commercial Bank , Techcombank, Eximbank, Sacombank, and SJC, were allowed to reopen international gold trading accounts to help narrow the gap between domestic and international prices.

Though it seemed to be effective initially, the measure later was not strong enough to narrow the gap to a reasonable figure.

Meanwhile, global gold this year experienced the lowest increase in the last 3 years, Reuters reported.

The metal rose by a total of 11 percent this year on the international market, while the figure last year was 26 percent.

Currently, the global gold price dropped by 18 percent compared to the record high of $1,923.7 an ounce in September.

Travel agencies woo local market

As millions of Vietnamese travel abroad each year, many foreign travel agencies have come knocking on the local tourism market, being aware of Vietnam’s great potential.

Patrick Kwok is stunned at the number of arrivals in Hong Kong from Vietnam last year. The general director of business development of the Hong Kong Tourism Board says over 100,000 Vietnamese people traveled to Hong Kong in 2010, which represented a staggering growth rate of 33.1 percent year on year.

The upsurge in the number of Vietnamese taking outbound trips to Hong Kong is a crucial point prompting this territory’s tourism body to direct attention to Vietnam as a visitor-generating market.

Kwok, therefore, has over the past month made two visits to Vietnam to prepare for a far-reaching promotion program to tap the local market.

He is just one among representatives of many foreign travel agencies who have been coming to tap into the local tourism market’s potential.

An annual steady growth of the country’s outbound travelers has drawn a great attention of many tourism agencies from neighboring nations, including Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.

The neighboring country of Cambodia regards Vietnam as its largest visitor-generating market. Besides deploying many promotion activities at the annual International Travel Expo HCMC 2011, the Cambodia Tourism Association took the occasion to introduce Cambodia’s culture local customers, including performances by Cambodian art troupes at the HCMC Municipal Theater.

According to Cambodia’s tourism industry, Vietnam is its biggest visitor-generating market with some 470,000 visitors last year and this figure is projected to rise to about 550,000 this year.

Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have also established ties with local tourism industry players. This has created favorable conditions for these foreign sellers to receive strong support from local partners in promoting their products and services.

Despite some disadvantages for its tourism sector recently due to prolong flooding, Thailand has still attracted 452,000 Vietnamese tourists in the first ten months of the year, up 44 percent year-on-year, with the number of returning customers recorded at up to 68 percent.

South Korea has also joined the race to capture Vietnamese people’s attention. This country for the first time has launched several promotion programs to attract local buyers to Cheju Island.

Between last month and early this month, Patrick Kwok, general director of business development of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), had two working trips to Hanoi and HCMC.

The first trip witnessed local firms working with HKTB and several Hong Kong’s enterprises active in tourism and hotel and entertainment industries.

In the second trip, HKTB joined forces with China’s Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism in a bid to make its destinations more attractive for local buyers.

In reality, HKTB had prepared a strategy to approach local tourists when launching a series of unofficial promotion programs at the International Tourism Expo in HCMC (ITE HCMC 2011) in September.

Vietnam’s travel firms say the outbound segment has developed strongly owing to suitable policies that foreign counterparts have applied for local visitors and partners.

For instance, outbound tour buyers enjoy new services at existing tourist attractions with reasonable price levels, while local travel agencies have earned benefits with incentives offered by foreign sellers.

Foreign travel firms say they have to rely on Vietnamese partners as the best approach to attract Vietnamese travelers.

“No one understand the Vietnamese market better that local partners. We should meet with local businesses in person to develop the market rather than launching general programs for visitors to Hong Kong,” said Kwok of HKTB.

With such a view, several programs by HKTB have been executed by a Vietnamese company and this organization will likely appoint a local partner as its tourism representative in Vietnam.

Beside the affordable price of outbound tours, foreign tour operators have continuously renewed their old destinations with new services, meaning that both sellers and buyers have win-win deals.

For instance, tourists to South Korea have opportunities to enjoy different programs for every season. Notably, there are numerous airlines to the country, allowing passengers to have chances of netting free tickets.

In South Korea, all services ranging from means of transports to restaurants and sightseeing places are combined so as to provide convenient packaged services for visitors.

Or in Thailand, the owner of a shopping venue is willing to supply vehicles to bring visitors to his or her place, meaning the travel firm can cut costs and thus offer more competitive package tours to visitors.

Vietnamese travel agencies lack such practice.

In an interview with the Saigon Times Daily, Kwok unveiled his agency’s ambitious plan to tap into the local market within a year, including direct meetings, tour arrangements to Hong Kong for travel and media agencies, and efforts to launch new products and services at home.

HKTB also intends to establish a representative office in Vietnam at the end of the year.

“We consider Vietnam one of the most crucial visitor-generating markets to woo,” Kwok said.

Over 3.2 million travelers arrive in Hanoi

36,500 flights carrying more than 3.24 million passengers arrived and departed Hanoi in 2011, said the Hanoi Customs Department.

They included passengers on domestic flights as well as overseas Vietnamese returning to the homeland and travelers leaving Hanoi for countries and territories around the globe.

Most foreigners entering Hanoi in 2011 came from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Europe and North America.

The number of arrivals was up by 640,000 over 2010, and the number of flights rose by 9,500.

Next year, Hanoi will continue to enhance administrative reform and improve the customs sector’s operational efficiency to meet requirements for international integration in line with Vietnam’s WTO commitments.

Tourism to become key industry by 2020

Tourism will become a cutting-edge industry with high professionalism and consistent, modern infrastructure by 2020, under a strategy recently approved by the Prime Minister.

Vietnam will strive to offer diverse and high-quality tourist products imbued with national cultural identity which are able to compete with their counterparts from countries in the region and the rest of the world, according to the strategy for developing local tourism until 2020 with a vision for 2030.

The decision on the strategy signed by the PM took effect as of December 30, 2011.

The country is expected to become a nation with a highly effective tourism sector by 2030.

Specifically, the sector will grow by an average of 11.5-12 percent from 2011 to 2020. It has set the target of welcoming 7-7.5 million international tourists and having 36-37 million domestic tourists in 2015. Total tourism revenues are expected to hit US$18-19 billion in 2020.

The tourism sector will focus on developing green and cultural tourism packages and strengthening linkages within each region to build tourist products typical of the seven regions across the country.