Chapter 1

OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1    Background of the study

Vietnam tourism during the last few years has made enormous progress. Along with the strong recovery of economy, the tourism is also thriving with many activities to attract tourists across the country. 2010 is a considerably successful year of Vietnam’s tourism with many national events, especially 1000th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi and the National Tourism Year event which took place in Hanoi attract a large number of tourists. According to the statistics of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the number of international visitors to Vietnam has been increasing continually from 1, 352, 000 in 1995 to 2, 140, 000 in 2000 and reached 5 million in 2010. Among Vietnam’s international tourism markets, Chinese visitors are leading the number of international visitors to Vietnam with 905, 360 arrivals, increasing by 76.7%, followed by Korean visitors with 905.360, increasing by 38.0%, Japanese with 442,089, American with 430, 993 arrivals, Australian guests increase by 31.0%, Malaysian increase by 29.1%. The number of domestic visitors is also increasing rapidly, reaching 28 millions in 2010. Only in March 2011, the number of international visitors to Vietnam was estimated 475, 733 arrivals, increasing by 5% compared with the same period of 2010. Generally in the first three months of 2011, the number reached 1, 511, 472 accounting for 11.9% higher than the same period of 2010. The development of tourism industry has motivated many other associated economic industries. Promotion activities for tourism industry have positively helped to deliver an image of Vietnam as a country of friendliness and hospitality image to the world and make a great contribution to nation’s traditional value reservation and development, especially values of the world heritages in Vietnam.

However, Vietnam tourism is still seen as a weak competitor despite of the great tourism potential and resources. The reasons are from the promotion programs or the labor force in tourism industry which is lack of both professional knowledge and language skill.

Sunshine 3 Hotel is a member of Sunshine Group which belongs to Ngoc Lan trading and service limited company. Sunshine 3 was opened on March 1st 2007 with 5 floors and 20 rooms in accordance with international standards of 3 - star hotels. Its business sectors include: accommodation service, tourism and supplement services such as transport, booking for train and plane tickets… Locating at the Ancient Area near - by HoanKiemLake, Sunshine 3 Hotel is an ideal destination for international visitors coming to Vietnam. Visitors staying here can find it convenient to go shopping at the Old Quarter Area, walk around Hoan