Vietnam, Taiwan implements tourism cooperation plans

According to the Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VNAT), it in conjunction with Vietjet Air is receiving the Taiwanese delegations, which includes Taiwanese leading tourist operators and media agencies, to survey Vietnam’s well-known tourist destinations of Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh Ciy and Phu Quoc.
At a meeting with the delegation on December 6, Dinh Ngoc Duc, Director of the VNAT’s Tourism Marketing Department, said that this survey is among activities to promote cooperation plans between Vietnam and Taiwan after the organization of the sixth conference on Vietnam – Taiwan (China) tourism cooperation in Quang Ninh Province’s Ha Long City on November 23.
Duc hoped that the two sides will promote the cooperation to attract more Taiwanese visitors to Vietnam and vice versa, contributing to the development of the two countries’ tourism.
At the sixth conference on Vietnam – Taiwan (China) tourism cooperation, both sides discussed ways to popularize Vietnamese and Taiwanese tourism markets, with a focus on marine tourism, human resources training, and gastronomy exchange.

Ha Noi is among destinations of the Taiwanese delegation.

Since the Memorandum of Understanding on tourism cooperation was signed between Vietnam and Taiwan in 2012, Taiwan has issued favorable visa policy to Vietnam. Tourist arrivals of the two sides soared from over 517,000 in 2012 to nearly 700,000 last year, of which 167,000 Vietnamese tourists visited Taiwan, a rise of 14 percent compared with 2015, and more than 507,000 Taiwanese tourists visited Vietnam, up 37 percent.
Tourist arrivals of the two sides are estimated at nearly 1 million in 2017 with Taiwanese tourist arrivals in Vietnam nearing 600,000 and around 400,000 Vietnamese people visiting the territory.
At the conference, Vu Thi Thu Thuy, Vice Chairwoman of the People’s Committee of Quang Ninh Province, said Quang Ninh’s major tourist markets include the North East Asian countries, mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
As of the late October, more than 8.5 million tourists arrived in Quang Ninh, up 18%, 3.8 million of them are foreigners from 140 countries and territories, up 21% annually. Taiwan is among the top three sources of tourists in the province. 
Thuy hoped that Taiwan will facilitate bilateral travel, contributing to popularizing Ha Long Bay, land and people of Quang Ninh.
To attract more Vietnamese tourists to Chinese Taipei, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau is promoting this territory’s image in Vietnam. It has adopted a tourist attraction slogan that roughly translated means “Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability”.