ASEAN Tourism Forum Opens in Vietnam

The eight-day ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) kicked off in Vietnam on January 5 with the participation of about 1,500 participants, including ministers, heads of national tourism agencies, businesspeople and reporters.

 

The ATF will include a raft of meetings between ASEAN tourism ministers, executives of tourism agencies and dialogue partners.

 

The forum would serve as a venue for Vietnamese tourism agencies to seek and set up cooperation with foreign partners, particularly those from potential markets such as Australia, China, Japan and Russia, said Nguyen Van Tinh, director of the Foreign Relations Department of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

 

“The event is considered a ‘golden opportunity’ for introducing Vietnam, its land and people, to international friends,” added Tinh.

 

The ATF has been held annually by ASEAN member countries since the first forum in Malaysia in 1981.

 

2008 was a bad year for Vietnam’s tourism industry, as the number of international visitors totaled 4.2 million, 87 per cent of projections. The country’s 2008 tourism revenues of VND60 trillion (US$3.6 billion) also failed the set target.

 

In an effort to boost tourism in 2009, the country has developed a strategy to further promote its tourism potentials. (Investment, Vietnam & World Economy)