Vietnam Boosts Tourism Ties with Foreign Partners

Vietnam organized series of bilateral talks with representatives from APEC member economies on the sidelines of the 4th APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting (TMM) in the ancient town of Hoi An from October 15-18, hoping to boost tourism ties with the regional countries in the upcoming time.

 

“Speeding up tourism cooperation between APEC economies would bring benefits to not only Vietnam but also the member countries as tourism is now considered an important industry which considerable contributes to the common development of the world,” senior officials of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said.

 

On October 16, officials of Vietnam and the Philippines signed a tourism cooperation scheme for the 2007-08 period, opening new opportunities for the tourism sector in both countries.

 

At the talks with the Chinese delegation, the two sides reviewed Vietnam-China tourism cooperation over the past few years, and discussed measures to boost cooperation in the future.

 

The two sides agreed to work out measures in order to speed up the implementation of a tourism cooperation agreement between Vietnam and China, beginning with exchanging high-level delegations and creating favorable conditions for potential localities to develop tourism and investment cooperation.

 

Vietnamese officials at the meeting also proposed that China continue to encourage its people to visit Vietnam as well as help Vietnam train personnel for the tourism sector.

 

At a meeting with the Japanese delegation, Vietnamese officials proposed that the two sides should coordinate closely in implementing the Vietnam-Japan Statement on Tourism Cooperation signed on April 5, 2005.

 

The Vietnamese representatives also suggested Japan increase official development assistance (ODA) for its tourism sector, help the sector set up a tourism promotion office in Japan, and organize FAM trips for travel agents and investors to find out investment opportunities in Vietnam.

 

Notably, in this year's TMM, VNAT senior officials held a meeting with Taleb Rifai, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), asking the UN agency to continue expanding its pledged assistance to Vietnam by opening training courses in the country and sharing tourism management experiences with Vietnam.

 

“We hope that the agreements would speed up multi-lateral tourism cooperation among member countries,” the VNAT officials said.

 

The APEC group consists of 21 member economies including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

 

Currently, the number of arrivals from APEC member nations to Vietnam accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total figure of international tourists to Vietnam.