Vietnam’s tourism should have a commander with a good vision to map out a master plan so as to promote sea tourism nationwide, said Ngo Minh Chinh, director of Binh Thuan’s Department of Tourism.

Chinh, speaking in a seminar at the Romana Resort & Spa in Binh Thuan Province on Wednesday, said the country’s seaside destinations hold great potentials, but the lack of concerted efforts make development stagger.

Hosted by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) with the theme "Developing Sea and Island Tourism in Vietnam", the seminar attracted some 120 representatives from 29 coastal provinces and agencies like the ministries of defense, planning-investment, culture-information and transport.

Chinh cited remarks by foreign tourists, saying "Vietnam" has potential to develop an international brand name for beaches, but you do not know how to make use of these advantages". Ha Long, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc and Mui Ne are but a few among a long list of worth while destinations for tourists.

Attendees pointed out that along a coastline of over 3,200 kilometers, there are around 125 big and small beaches, of which 20 beaches meet international standards.

With favorable natural conditions such as smooth beaches and crystal-like water, they are suitable for sea tourism development since they can receive hundreds of thousands of travelers at any one time.

Are view report shows tourists coming to the sea accounted for 70% the number of international arrivals in Vietnam in the past several years.

It also expects some eight to ten million international tourists will visit Vietnam from now to 2010, of which coastal destinations will possibly attract 50-60%.

However, the question in focus was how to promote the natural advantages to attract more international tourists to Vietnam. Due to lack of plans and directions, those landscapes are far from reaching international standards.

Besides issues such as the environment pollution, participants shared the view that the current way of developing sea tourism was not harmonious and in a small scale, without a clear plan for investors to follow.

Moreover, tourist services are boringly the same among coastal regions, so tourists don’t have many alternatives to choose from "excepts swimming and taking rest in hotels.

"If we don’t have enough experience and abilities, we should invite international experts to help us improve Vietnam’s tourism image," Chinh underlined.

VNAT’s vice chairman Pham Tu, who chaired the seminar, said there would be a specific plan for sea tourism development.

Besides, VNAT is preparing to promote Vietnam’s tourism with the key image being about Ha Long Bay, to be aired in December on the well-known news network CNN.

(Source: SGT)