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Jun 26, 2018 / 12:07

Vietnam to promote tourism in Western European countries

Vietnam’s popular destinations, excellent tourism potentiality and policies will be nudged closer to Western European friends under a program held by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) in collaboration with relevant parties from September 25 to October 7.

The program serves as a catalyst to lure more Western European tourists while creating venue for tourism enterprises to bolster cooperation. It is scheduled to take place in France, Spain, Italy and Germany.
 
Ha Long Bay, Quang Ninh province.
Ha Long Bay, Quang Ninh province.
Between 60 and 70 Vietnamese tourism enterprises are expected to join the program. In addition, visitors to the event will have a chance to explore Vietnam’s traditional culture through special art performances.
Earlier, VNAT hold a similar tourism promotion program from June 18 to 29 in Zurich  (Switzerland), Munich (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary) and Prague (the Czech Republic). The program is part of activities VNAT has organized to promote Vietnam’s image, culture and tourism products as well as push up travel and tourism cooperation between Vietnam and those countries.
The Vietnamese government last month agreed to extension of visa waiver for a three-year period for the citizens of five Western European countries namely the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Accordingly, citizens from the five aforementioned countries will continue to enjoy visa exemptions to enter Vietnam up to 2020 after the previous visa-free policy expired in June this year.
The open-door visa policy aligned with enhanced tourism promotion has contributed to maintaining Vietnam's growth rate of foreign visitors at nearly 30% annually, according to Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung.
The Government will consider proposals made by  the Vietnam Tourism Association concerning the extension of the period of stay in Vietnam from 15 to 30 days and the expansion of visa exemption for more countries, among others, he added.
The number of tourists from these countries rose from 750,000 in 2015 to 855,000 in 2016 and up to 1.5 million in 2017. In the first four months of 2018, the figure hit 365,524, according to Mai Tien Dung.