Following the success of previous years, the seventh Vietnam International Travel Mart 2019 (VITM 2019), themed ‘Green Tourism’, will be held at the Vietnam – Soviet Friendship Labour Cultural Palace in Hanoi from March 27-30.

The 2018 VITM Hanoi attracted a large number of visitors and businesses.

It will be one of the largest annual professional forums of the tourism sector, which is expected to be an effective and practical lever to boost tourism stimulation.

With the main theme of ‘Green Tourism’, the VITM Hanoi 2019 aims at sustainable tourism growth, in which ecotourism development in association with environmental protection and climate change response will be the focus.

Accordingly, the highlight of the mart will be a forum on green tourism with the participation of around 1,000 delegates who are representatives from state management agencies on tourism, leaders of travel enterprises and ecotourism areas and students from tourism universities and colleges. They will share their experience in sustainable tourism development on the basis of the preservation of resources and environmental protection. In addition, many enterprises will register to sell eco-tours at the event and many booths are oriented to use environmentally friendly materials.

According to the organising board, the mart will feature over 500 booths by about 700 units from 25 countries and territories worldwide. Many large-scale pavilions will be designed in modern and unique styles such as those of the Republic of Korea, Viettravel, Hanoi Redtours, Vietnam Airlines, Hanoitourists and Saigontourist. With the strong response, VITM Hanoi 2019 is expected to attract over 85,000 visitors as well as see an increase of roughly 10% in revenue from direct sales (approximately VND350 billion). On the occasion, a conference reviewing the one-year implementation of online tourism and a ceremony honouring outstanding businesses that have actively implemented online tourism will also be held, aiming to encourage enterprises to apply information and technology advances in their business activities.

Standing Vice Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association, Vu The Binh, who is also head of the Mart, said that in addition to the introduction of the beauty of destinations in many regions, VITM offers opportunities for visitors to experience high quality tours with reasonable prices, which creates the attraction of the VITM compared to other international fairs. Customers can directly contact many company and their products, thereby easily comparing and making decisions.

Statistics showed that the purchase of products at the tourism stimulation programme has increased both in quality and quantity every year, bringing practical and clear benefits to the public and participating units. At this year’s VITM, over 40,000 promotional air tickets and 18,000 discounted package tours will be offered.

According to the Vietnam Tourism Association, the annual number of Vietnamese traveling abroad has increased from 15% to 20%. Nearly 70% of travel agencies operate this type of tourism called outbound. However, outbound tourism has not received much attention in the past and witnessed unsustainable development with many shortcomings. Therefore, in order to develop this travel business, a forum themed ‘Outbound Tourism Vietnam – Opportunities and challenges’ will take place within the framework of the VITM Hanoi.

In addition, a seminar on job opportunities in the tourism sector will contribute to opening up opportunities for students who are studying at tourism training institutions to connect with enterprises. On the occasion, many programmes introducing destinations and tourism products of localities and foreign tourism promotion agencies will be part of the mart.

The leader of Vietnam Tourism Association also noted that, due to its limited area, the VITM is not able to meet the demand of tourism business units. This is a pity for units that cannot participate in the fair because there are rarely specialised activities that attract great interest and a large number of visitors like VITM. Therefore, the mart is expected to be organised alternately in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in the following years.