Draft regulations to allow foreigners to tour through Vietnam in their own vehicles is hoped to open new opportunities for the development of caravan tourism in the country.

Speaking at a press briefing in Hanoi on April 17, Vietnam Administration of Tourism’s (VAT) Travel Department Director Vu The Binh said the draft regulations stipulate that all road vehicles owned by foreigners will be allowed to enter Vietnam through international border gates.

Binh said the new regulation, recently submitted to the Prime Minister for approval, will this year help raise the number of caravans coming to Vietnam to 2,000, equal to the total number of caravans entering the country over the past three years.

Together with diversifying tourism services, VAT is focusing on major tourist programmes such as the Year of Can Tho Tourism, the Hue Festival and many tourist events nationwide.

The tourism administration also plans to take part in international tourism fairs in Japan , Thailand , France , the US , China , Cambodia , and the UK between September and November.

It is also urgently preparing for the ASEAN Tourism Forum, and the first professional tourism fair TRAVEX, to be held in Vietnam for the first time in early 2009.

According to VAT, the number of visitors to Vietnam has been on the rise, with more than 1.2 million foreigners arriving in the country in the first quarter of this year, a 15.7 percent rise over the same period last year.

In the first quarter of 2008, Vietnam also attracted eight foreign-invested tourism projects, with a total chartered capital of 1.6 billion USD, nearly the same figure the sector attracted in the whole last year.

Source : VNA