The number of foreign travelers fell 12.3 percent year-on-year to 3.4 million in the first 11 months this year, said a report of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam on Wednesday. Vietnam's travel and tourism industry, generating nearly five percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing about ten percent of the labor force in the service sector, has suffered a severe blow as a result of the economic crisis, said the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism at the Vietnam Business Forum held here on Tuesday. Baron Ah Moo, Chief Executive Officer of the Indochina Hotels and Resorts and chairman of the Tourism Working Group (TWG) of the Vietnam Business Forum said that the low return rate of international tourists to Vietnam is probably attributed to a variety of reasons including poor infrastructure, services and visa policy. To boost the country's tourism sector, Vietnam should streamline the visa-on- arrival procedure to increase the ease of travel. It is also necessary to establish a Tourism Advisory Board to directly consult tourism-related issues between industry representatives and government bodies, said Baron Ah Moo. Bui Quoc Trung, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Investment Agency of Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment said that visa programs and initiatives will be reviewed by relevant Vietnamese ministries and agencies. Vietnam will consider TWG recommendations and make efforts to create favorable conditions to enable travel and tourism industry growth in the country. Vietnam's 2009 tourist revenues are predicted to decline 70 percent or 40 billion U.S. dollars compared to that of 2008, according to statistics released at the Vietnam Business Forum. 