Tuesday, Nov 22, 2005
Tourism as an engine of growth
Amit Baruah
The example of Hue, Vitenam's imperial capital, could hold a message for India about what can be done to boost tourism.
[BIG DRAW: The imperial city of Hue, seat of the Nguyen dynasty in Vietnam, is becoming a major tourist attraction. - PHOTO: AMIT BARUAH]
HUE, THE imperial capital of Vietnam, is set to receive 400,000 foreign tourists in 2005. A total of 2.9 million foreigners visited Vietnam as tourists last year; that figure has already crossed three million this year.
The whole of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) - two Chinese provinces (Yunnan and Guangxi), Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam - received 16.4 million foreign tourists last year. Of this 11.4 million went to Thailand alone.
By way of comparison, India - from the Taj Mahal to the beaches of Goa -received just 2.9 million tourists in the first 10 months of 2005. In thewhole of 2004, India received just 3.4 million foreign tourists.
If India has been slow to attract foreign tourists, GMS countries have been quick to realise that growing numbers of Indians are joining the ranks of global outbound tourists.
According to Asian Development Bank (ADB) figures, the Indian outbound market has been growing at 8.5 per cent per annum since 1998, reaching 6.2 million in 2004. "Over the same period, total arrivals of Indian nationals to the GMS countries grew by around 14 per cent per annum to 300,000 in 2004 - just under five per cent of total outbound travel," the Bank said.
It is estimated that Indian arrivals in GMS countries are likely to grow at the rate of 15 per cent per annum due to a growing interest in Hindu-Buddhist history, especially in Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar.
"Based on current trends and increased packaging and promotion to this market, total arrivals from India are likely todouble to around 600,000 by 2010 and double to around 1.2 million by 2015," the ADB said. Obviously, Indian tourists are a major target audience for GMS nations.
World Heritage Site
Hue's imperial city complex, in the slightly-sleepy capital of Vietnam's Thua Thien-Hue province, is recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Located on the banks of the Perfume (Hung) River, Hue is leading the charge as far as attracting tourists to Vietnam is concerned.
The example of Hue is a message to the Government of India and the country's travel industry about what can be done to boost tourism. Phan The Kang, vice-director of the region's tourist department, told Indian presspersons recently that in the last 10 years, tourist arrivals had grown by 18-20 per cent per annum in Hue alone.
Mr. Phan said that during the peak season Hue could receive 12,000 visitors a day. Today, the city has 4,000 hotel rooms and, separately, about 1,000 families run small, "home stay" guesthouses.
In a lighter vein, Mr. Phan said Vietnam's goal is to catch up with neighbouring Thailand with regard to tourist arrivals. Currently, foreign tourist arrivals in Vietnam are just one-fourth of the figure in Thailand.
If there is competition, there is cooperation, too. In December last year, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos signed an agreement that the vehicles of the three countries could enter each other's territory in groups of 10-15. "Right-hand drive vehicles from Thailand are entering left-hand drive Vietnam," the Vietnamese official pointed out.
Travel between the three countries is visa-free. A tourist going to Thailand can visit Vietnam and travel to Luang Prabang in Laos as well.
For Vietnam, tourism is not just about numbers. It is about people. The country has made a strategic decision that tourism leads to job creation and more jobs means that people can cross the poverty line.
"Tourism generates incomes and jobs for people," Mr. Phan said, pointing out that about seven per cent of Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP) currently comes from tourism. While "worried" about the cultural impact of a large number of foreigners coming in, the tourism official said frankly that Vietnam was controlling the population of Hue and also taking steps to ensure that the city's old architecture is maintained.
"We are concerned that rapid urbanisation can change the face of the city," he said, adding proudly that Hue was "drug-free, safe, and secure" for both foreign and Vietnamese visitors.
Clearly, Hue is just one example of what can be done to make tourism create jobs for local people. GMS has already adopted tourism as one of its flagship projects and agreed to set up a Mekong Tourism Coordination Office from January 1, 2006, to market the Mekong region as a single destination.
The stated objective is to distribute the benefits of tourism more widely, contribute to poverty reduction, sustainable development and gender equity while minimising adverse social impacts.
According to an ADB estimate, with a better distribution of tourism benefits between and within GMS countries, and the development of tourist zones, an additional 1.7 million jobs will be generated in 2010 and another 1.7 million by 2015.
Need anything more be said about the link between boosting tourism and creating jobs?
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