Last updated: 15:58 - November 23, 2006
US travel firms to survey Vietnam tourism http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/travel/231106/travel_us.htm
[Nui Coc Lake, charming site in Thai Nguyen province.]
A recent agreement between the United Airlines (UA) and Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Department on bringing some US travel firms to Vietnam for a market survey in 2007 will be an opportunity for the country to promote its tourism potentials.
Under the agreement, Joe Mannix, Director of UA in Vietnam informed that the UA will only invite high-quality travel firms, which are really interested in the Vietnamese tourism market.
"This is one of efficient forms to promote Vietnamese tourism abroad that the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism highly appreciates," said Pham Huu Minh, Director of Tourism Promotion Department under the VNAT. He added that VNAT also helps travel agencies as well as local tourism departments to co-ordinate with foreign airline agencies to boost promotion of Vietnamese tourism.
According to J. Mannix, the airline will work with Vietnamese hotels and travel companies to organise tours for American travellers and forecasts an important increase of these travellers in the coming time.
He said that promotion activities of Vietnamese tourism in the US are still very limited. The slogan "Vietnam - the hidden charm" and Vietnam's world-leading beaches have not yet been known by most Americans. The VNAT should have marketing strategies to attract US strong travel groups.
According to Luu Duc Ke, Director of Ben Thanh Tourist company in Hanoi, if Vietnamese tourism can convince multinational travel groups to send visitors to Vietnam, they themselves will market Vietnam as an attractive destination and even invest in hotels and resorts in Vietnam.
The United Airlines is the sole airway providing direct flights from Vietnam to the US with seven flights per week. The Airlines recently also sponsored a visit of eight American journalists to Vietnam, in the hope of boosting the number of Americans traveling to Vietnam as well as introducing Vietnamese image to US tourists.
The VNAT reported that 332,329 US visitors came to Vietnam by the end of October 2006, an increase of 17% compared to the same period last year.
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