Vietnam’s tourism administration is turning to Japan as the next important partner in the industry.
Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong recently led a delegation to multiple Japanese cities to promote Vietnam as an attractive travel destination for local tourists.
VietnamNet reports that Huong’s agency was joined by Vietnamese tour companies to conduct promotional programs in Kanagawa, Tokyo, Sendai and Nagoya. The stay in Japan is part of the government’s current efforts to boost Japanese visits to Vietnam, with a vision to achieve one million tourists by 2018.
Japanese partners at these localities shared with the team that potential tourism products that might appeal to local tour seekers include maritime tours, MICE – meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions – and golf. Da Nang is one of the ideal cities that have all of these attractions.
Tourists from China and South Korea currently top the list of international visitors in Vietnam. Japan comes third; however, the East Asian nation holds a lot of potential for Vietnam’s tourism as the growth in number of travelers has been steady throughout the years.
In 2017, so far some 600,000 Japanese tourists have chosen Vietnam for their vacation, a 7.8% increase compared to the same period last year. It’s expected that this number will increase to 810,000-820,000 by the end of the year.
In January-September, foreign arrivals rose 28.4% to 9.4 million. China remained Vietnam’s largest market with more than 2.9 million tourists, up 47.7% year-on-year, followed by South Korea with 1.7 million guests and Russia with over 420,000 arrivals, increasing 51.2% and 40.6% respectively.
[Photo via Cairn's Post]
