Tourists visit Ba Den Mountain in Tay Ninh Province. — VNS Photo Thu Hang

Tourism co-operation and linkages between regions will help the recovery of travel and tourism firms that have been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, the Deputy PM said at a conference on tourism linkages in the Southeast region held in Tay Ninh Province on Sunday.

The initiative to develop tourism linkages will play an important role as a driving force for Vietnam’s tourism development in the coming time, he said.

The country is now focusing on promoting the domestic travel market to rejuvenate the tourism industry in the 'new normal' conditions.

The successful kickstarting of the domestic travel market will be good preparation for promoting the international travel market when the country reopens, he said.

At the conference, leaders of the Southeast region, including HCM City and Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh provinces, signed an agreement on tourism linkages to develop inter-provincial travel products, diversity travel products and services, and increase tourist spending.

The agreement outlines collaboration in five areas, including State management in tourism, development of tourism products, tourism promotion activities, human resource development, and investment in tourism development.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, said the Southeast region, which is considered the country’s most dynamic economic region, has huge resources and potential for tourism.

However, localities in the region have independently developed their travel products, making it impossible to fully tap the region’s potential and create attractive travel products combining popular destinations in the region, he noted.

New travel products

At a conference on development of inter-provincial travel products in the Southeast region held on the same day, nine travel firms in HCM City inked cooperation agreements with 20 tourism service providers in the five southeast provinces to develop inter-provincial travel products at reduced costs.

Travel firms said that traffic infrastructure between localities are convenient for connectivity in the region, while facilities in the region have a wide range of upscale hotels and resorts that meet the demand of tourists.

The region offers a wide range of tourism activities such as eco-tourism as well as religious, historic, cultural, leisure and culinary tourism.

Vo Anh Tai, deputy general director of Saigontourist Group, said the company would annually develop at least three travel products in the region.

The company hopes to increase the number of tourists traveling to the region by 10-20 per cent each year.

Three new inter-provincial travel products were launched at the conference, including two-day tours from HCM City to Tay Ninh and Binh Duong, HCM City to Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc, and HCM City to Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, with discounted prices ranging from VND1.39-1.49 million (US$60- 64) per person.

In the first half of the year, the number of foreign tourists visiting the region dropped by 65 per cent, compared to the same period last year, to reach 1.7 million.

Last year, the Southeast region welcomed 10.7 million international tourists, a year-on-year increase of 27.8 per cent.

Tourism revenue of the region was estimated at US$7 billion last year.  VNS

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