Ha Long Bay.
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According to Ho Minh Tuan, that recent tourism cooperation between Vietnam and the Czech Republic has not matched the two countries’ potential as a direct flight is unavailable and obstacles in visa procedures.
Participants at the talks proposed solutions to remove difficulties, underlined the need to strengthen tourism promotion activities, design unique tourism products and boost cooperation among travel companies from both nations.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Vietnam welcomed more than 10 million foreign arrivals in 2016. However, the number of Czech Republic’s visitors to Vietnam was only 15,000.
The VNAT and the Vietnamese Embassy plans to implement a program to promote Vietnam tourism in the Czech Republic in 2018 to attract more Czech visitors to the country and vice versa.
On October 18, the Vietnam Embassy in the Czech Republic and the host country’s Ministry of Regional development co-organised the Vietnam Tourism Day event in Prague.
A workshop on potentials offered by Vietnamese tourism also took place, with the participation of 80 Czech travel companies. The workshop spotlighted Vietnam’s 3,000-km coastal line, which could be a big draw to tourists from the European landlocked country.
According to Vietnamese commercial counselor Tran Hiep Thuong, 10 million Czech citizens travel overseas on a yearly basis. He attributed the issue to the absence of a direct flight between the two nations and information on Vietnamese tourism in the Czech Republic. That is why the Vietnam Tourism Day was organised, Thuong said.
The event featured an exhibition of over 100 large-size photos on Vietnamese people, landscape, seas, and islands. Visitors were also treated to folk music performed by artists from the Vietnamese expatriate community in the country.
