Participants at the forum

Participants highlighted the prospect for stronger tourism cooperation betweenVietnamese and Russian travel firms, as well as measures to promote tourist destinationsof each country.

Theyalso mentioned difficulties that hinder tourism cooperation between Vietnam andSaint Petersburg.

VoDuy Sang, head of the delegation from the central coastal province of Thanh Hoa,said Russia is the key international tourism market for the locality. 

Hesaid he hopes Russia’s tourism sector in general and the authority of Saint Petersburgin general, will provide information for Russian firms that are interested inand capable of cooperating with Thanh Hoa in the field.

Gorokhov Aleksander Felisovich, General Director of the Union of National and International Tourism Information Organisations (SONATO) said the lack of direct flights between Saint Peterburg and majorcities of Vietnam, and current visa regulations are obstructing tourism cooperationbetween the two sides.

Meanwhile, Kalganov Vyacheslav, head of Saint Petersburg's external relations committee, pledged that he will propose the Russian Ministryof Foreign Affairs consider simplification of visa-related regulations and procedures,thus facilitating tourism cooperation.

The Russia – Vietnam traditional relations have created favourable conditionsfor the two sides to expand tourism links and people-to-people exchanges, hesaid.

In the framework of the forum, a cooperation agreement on tourism developmentwas signed between representatives of Thanh Hoa’s coastal Sam Son city and acentral district of Saint Petersburg./. VNA

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