Foreign tourist arrivals in Vietnam are steadily increasing. This, according to the General Statistics (GSO) which recorded more than 460,000 visitors to enter Vietnam from all over the world in April of this year. This is equivalent to a 6.3 percent rise compared to last year’s statistics. All in all, foreign arrivals in Vietnam during the first four months of the year totaled to more than 1.9 million, an annual increase of 10.5 percent.

Surprisingly, one of the country’s most frequent visitors are Japanese. Despite the recent earthquake and tsunami there, Japanese entry into Vietnam equaled to 177,000, or a 21% increase than last year. Next in line are the Chinese with a 20% increase, followed by Americans with a 6.8% rise. South Korean tourists are up by 6.6%, French visitors by 6.3% rise. Australians also frequent traveling to Vietnam with an increase of 5.7%.

But despite this steady increase of foreign visitors, the Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VNAT) is still busy making plans on further promoting the country’s tourism. In fact, for the first time, the administration will hire a professional consultancy firm to concretize a four-year plan of advertising Vietnam’s tourist attractions. A strong, unique Vietnamese brand should be established to set the place apart from the rest of the world. Its breathtaking landscape is one thing that makes Vietnam an important international destination.

According to Vu The Binh, Chairman of the Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA), identifying potential markets in the country is also an essential part of the plan. So far, Vietnam’s traditional markets were people from Northeast Asia and Western Europe. But the country’s own region Southeast Asia is a promising market as well. In Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, 70% of the visitors were comprised of people from the region. In Vietnam, it only accounted to even less than 20%.

According to the hotel industry, a strong coordination between authorities and hotels, airlines and tourist companies, is also critical in promoting the country’s tourism. “A brand name will not work if foreign tourists cannot book air tickets or hotel rooms are not available,” according to a hotel marketing manager.

This year, Vietnam aims to attract 5.3 million international visitors and 30 million local tourists. This will earn the country VND110 trillion (over US$5 billion) in its tourism industry alone.