Vietnam is promoting the “Northwestern Tourism Year” in 10 ASEAN member states to introduce ethnic culture, adventure and eco-tourism attractions, said Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Khanh Hai. 

During the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) in Singapore from January 16-20, Vietnam introduced information about its tourism, support policies and new tourism products in the northwest. 

Vietnam and Thailand signed a tourism cooperation agreement for 2017-2018, under which, both sides will increase information exchanges, partner in marketing, personnel training and business facilitation, making it easier to bring new northwestern tours to Thailand and other regional countries. 

Agreeing with Thai Minister of Tourism and Sports Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul about utilising social media to promote tours, Director of East Travel tourism company Dong Hoang Thinh said his firm has released a cloud-based application to sell tours online. 

This year marks the 50th founding anniversary of ASEAN, so member states are preparing new tourism marketing campaigns, which will be highlighted on the bloc’s website. 

At the Travex exhibition 2017 as part of ATF, deputy head of Tourism Market Department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Vu Nam said many partners are interested in Vietnamese tourism, and hoped that the government would support the industry. 

Partners also hailed Vietnam’s visa waiver for tourists from several European countries, saying that helped bring more visitors to the country.

VNA