Director of the Vietnam Tourism Development Research Institute Pham Trung Luong said at a workshop on solutions to develop Da Nang’s tourism held several days ago that the reported figure about foreign travelers to Vietnam is unreliable.

According to Luong, any foreigner entering the Vietnamese territory and receiving a stamp on his passport would be counted as one ‘foreign traveler’. The number of foreign travelers to Vietnam announced by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) is based on the figure.

Foreigners come to Vietnam for many different purposes. Many of them come to Vietnam to work, study or do business. This includes individuals who come in and out of Vietnam many times within one year.

Luong believes that the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam must be lower than the reported figure.

According to Tang Van Khien, former director of the Statistics Science Institute, the figure about foreign travelers announced by VNAT annually is based on statistics provided by the General Statistics Office (GSO). Meanwhile, GSO calculates the number based on data provided by customs agencies and the police.

Statisticians believe that the number of foreign travelers in Vietnam may actually be double the amount, and that the real figure is lower than the reported figure.

Regarding domestic travelers, VNAT calculates the number based on reports from tourism service units. However, the figure is not published in statistical yearbook.

Khien did not say if the real number of travelers is higher or lower than the reported figure, but affirmed that the number may be counted twice or several times.

One person, when visiting Da Nang, will be counted by the Da Nang tourism agency as one traveler. And he will also be counted by the HCM City tourism agency when he visits HCM City.

As for foreign travelers, the calculation by VNAT is based on the figures of immigration/exit through customs. However, foreigners entering the Vietnamese territory could be for both travel and non-travel purposes.

In principle, foreigners are asked to show their purpose of coming to Vietnam when making customs declarations. However, it is difficult to count the number of people coming for pure travel purposes.

Also according to Khien, it is even more difficult to calculate the number of domestic travelers. More importantly, it is necessary to calculate the average spending level of every traveler and the total spending of all travelers.

The total expenditure of tourists is calculated in a satellite account to determine how much the tourism industry contributes to GDP.

It is more difficult to investigate the figures about ‘sensitive matters’. For example, the error would be significant when investigating the income of people because people don’t want to declare their real income accurately.

Mai Lan 

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