Vietnam needs to learn from Singapore’s experiences in tourism development thanks to opportunities presented from the Kim-Trump summit, experts said.

T-shirts with the images of US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sold in Hanoi

Singapore spent around USD12 million to organise the Kim-Trump summit in 2018, but the island country’s tourism sector earned up to USD565 million from the event.  

The Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times reported that coverage of the summit saw an estimated 2.36 billion views with 8,000 pieces of online content that mentioned Singapore in its headlines, while Google registered over two million hits on the phrase "where is Singapore" from the US alone, one day before the summit.

Thanks to the summit, the number of foreign visitors to Singapore increased by two million last year.

Nguyen Cong Hoan, deputy general director of Hanoi Redtours, said that Vietnam should have communications strategies for tourism promotion, taking advantages of the summit.

Demand for MICE tours have been on the rise. However, requirements for tourism infrastructure and security need to be catered for. According to Hoan, Vietnam being selected for holding the Kim-Trump summit is seen as a guarantee of the country’s security stability.

“This also proves that Vietnam is qualified for organising very important MICE tour events,” Hoa noted.

Nguyen Tien Dat, deputy general director of TransViet, said that the summit was a golden opportunity for the Vietnamese tourism industry.

“Thousands of international reporters have come to Vietnam. They’ll not only cover the summit news, but also information about Vietnam. This is an extremely effective way to promote tourism,” Dat highlighted.

Dat added that international reporters should be provided with documents about Vietnamese tourism information as well as the local people.

Ha Van Sieu, vice chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said that the agency worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to introduce the images of Vietnam through websites about the summit.

Free tours to some northern localities such as Hanoi, Ninh Binh and Quang Ninh will be also organised for foreign reporters

Dtinews