VietNamNet Bridge - A club comprising 30 companies allowed to serve Thai and Lao visitors to central Vietnam will organize a trip to Chiang Mai of Thailand in September to promote road tours for Thais, the club chairman said.

Cao Tri Dung, chairman of the club, told the Daily that funds would be raised from club members to finance the forthcoming trip to the biggest source market for road tours.

“This will be the first promotional activity abroad. We will have other similar trips to Thailand and Laos to prop up such tours in the region,” Dung said.

The club members are now responsible for 99% of the market for road tours of the central region.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has assigned the club members to exclusively arrange tours for Lao and Thai visitors to the country via the border gates of Nam Can, Cha Lo and Lao Bao.

The administration’s move is aimed at improving tour services, preventing price undercutting and dealing with unfair competition.

Dung said the club would also work with the customs at the border gates to find ways to ease customs procedures for Thai and Lao travelers. “Thai and Lao tourist arrivals in the central region are increasing. We need to prepare well to serve the tourists,” he said.

More than 200,000 Thai and Lao tourists visited the country by road last year, Dung said. Thai and Lao tourist arrivals normally increase from July.

VNAT has sent the list of the club members to authorities in seven central provinces – Danang, Quang Nam, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Nghe An, Thua Thien-Hue and Ha Tinh –in anticipation of getting help from the provincial authorities to better serve the tourists.

* In related news, the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it would organize a promotional trip to Dubai in the third quarter of this year to introduce Vietnam’s tourism image to the Middle East region.

The department will not be joining international travel exhibitions in foreign countries from now to the end of this year due to financial constraints, it said.

It’s focusing on activities at home such as the International Travel Expo in HCMC set for this September, and some press trips to HCMC for important markets such as the U.S.

Source: SGT