VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese tourism authority has launched what is seen as the biggest travel promotion program of the year to fuel domestic travel growth and arrest the continued fall in international visitor arrivals.

The launch of the 2015 Tourism Stimulus Program last Saturday coincided with the opening of the National Tourism Year 2015 in the northern province of Thanh Hoa.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the program this year is aimed at promoting domestic and inbound travel through discount programs and new tourism products.

Given the decline in international tourists to the nation, especially those from Russia which has been affected by Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, this year’s program will focus on mitigating the impact of plunging international arrivals by encouraging locals to travel.

VNAT said the past 10 years have seen steady domestic travel growth, with 19.5 million locals traveling in the first quarter of this year alone.

Tourism revenues in January-March grew 1.9% year-on-year to around VND96.4 trillion, according to VNAT.

The tourism authorities of a number of cities and provinces have launched their own tourism promotion plans. For example, the HCMC Tourism Association has joined hands with three air carriers – Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific and VietJetAir – to offer discounts of 20% to 40% on domestic tour programs departing from HCMC and Hanoi.

These tours take in Haiphong, Thanh Hoa, Vinh, Hue, Danang, Dong Hoi, Quy Nhon, Tuy Hoa, Nha Trang, Buon Ma Thuot, Dalat and Phu Quoc.

The HCMC Department of Tourism is calling for tourism-related services entities like restaurants, hotels, shopping centers and resorts to cut prices to encourage domestic tourists to come to the city.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has asked the Government for approval to slash value-added tax by half, exempt the corporate income tax or cut it by half for those firms getting involved in the domestic tourism promotion program.

The National Tourism Year 2015 comes with the theme of connecting the World Heritage sites in the country and features about 20 events in Thanh Hoa and 15 other provinces. In Thanh Hoa alone, events will be organized on a monthly basis to bring five to 5.3 million travelers to the province the year, up from last year’s four million.

SGT