| How
do you comment on ANA’s business in Vietnam?
In
2001 and 2002, ANA had only two flights per week. At
that time, the number of Japanese tourists coming to
Vietnam was very large and the average room occupancy
was up to 90.92%.
Then,
we increased number of flights to four per week. In
2003, due to SARS and chicken flu epidemic, room occupancy
reduced to lower than 30%. Last summer, the number of
tourist recovered to over 280,000.
But
at the same time, two million of Japanese tourists traveling
to Thailand. We have been introducing Vietnam to Japanese,
for whom, Vietnam is a new destination but very potential.
I
believe that there will be more Japanese coming to Vietnam
in the near future.
How
should Vietnam do to attract more Japanese tourists?
Vietnam
should improve its hotels, airports, roads, and places
of tourist interest. And the most important issue is
of security.
We
considered Vietnam as the safest destination for travel
now. Things concern tourists are what to see, what to
eat and what to do.
For
Japanese, Vietnamese foods are excellent. Vietnam has
four places approved by UNESCO but they are all far
from cities and to get there, tourists need means of
transport.
The
third one is really a bit complicated as tourists like
most places with beach such as Hawaii and Bali in Indonesia
or Phuket in Thailand. There are also many resorts in
Vietnam but they have not meet tourists’ demand.
Our
work is to bring Japanese tourists to Vietnam. It is
a bit difficult for us to bring Vietnamese tourists
to Japan. We have discussed with the Japanese Consulate
to Ho Chi Minh City to simplify criteria and procedures
for visa for Japan to facilitate Vietnamese tourists.
What
are the best and the worst things for Japanese tourists
in Vietnam?
The
most attractive things are foods and shopping places.
Japanese tourists like Vietnamese foods very much. In
Japan, Vietnamese traditional long coat has become fashionable
for youngsters. Young male tourists prefer entertainment
activities to enjoying foods and doing shopping.
Moreover,
most of Japanese tourists come to Vietnam just one time
and never come back like they do to other places like
Hawaii, for example.
The
most unattractive thing is army-style uniform of polices
and customs officers at airports and border passes.
In
other countries, such uniforms has been replaced by
more friendly-looking ones. |
