Vietnam's tourism minister Hoang Anh Tuan (C) and his counterparts from Cambodian (L) and Laos tighten their handshakes after signing the agreement on developing a single destination for the three countriesIndochina moves towards ‘single destination’
ITE 2007 said to be better than expected
MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2007
By DAO LOAN
The Saigon Times
(SGT-HCMC) The three Indochina countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia are now geared up for developing a single destination as their tourism ministers on Friday inked an agreement to this effect in HCMC.
In a joint declaration on tourism cooperation, the top tourism officials agreed to connect efforts and resources to promote the region as a single tourism destination. The three countries will jointly stage promotions activities, develop common tourism products, sharing expertise on development of tourism skills, and making a list of potential projects to call for investment.
The three ministers encouraged efforts to make transport easier for citizens and international tourists from the three countries by upgrading tourism-related infrastructure, improving international border checkpoints, and opening air routes linking the region’s world heritage sites. They also called for the application of border pass cards for people on border provinces between the three countries.
“This is the first time we have reached the joint declaration, which is an effort to strengthen regional integration and collaboration to make the region a competitive and attractive destination,” said Hoang Tuan Anh, Vietnam’s minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism.
He said the three ministries would exchange information on tourism, culture, and sport events in each country and promote them overseas.
Anh said one of the first activities should be collaboration in making a joint video clip to promote tourism images of the three. It will be broadcast on television channels of the region, he said.
Somphong Mongkhonvilay, minister of Laos National Tourism Administration, said that in the past, each country had to promote its own tourism products individually but in the future, the three countries would have common products, images, and linked websites for effective promotion. He attached significance to the agreement.
“The declaration will have the three countries boosting the development of the tourism industry,” he said.
He said after the second Senior Tourism Officials meeting, which will be held in the coming months in Cambodia, his country will invite all officials to Laos for discussing more details.
“We don’t want cooperation on paper. We will try our best to materialize what has been agreed,” he said.
* The three-day International Travel Expo HCMC 2007, or ITE 2007, ended yesterday in better-than-expected success, especially in terms of promotion, an official said.
The event witnessed a great number of business meetings between international buyers and local sellers, as well as the heightened public awareness on what Vietnam has on offer, said La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Tourism.
He said that travel buyers and sellers had 3,000 meetings and exchanges among themselves to discuss business, which will help open further business windows for cooperation.
The third annual fair has attracted 180 local and foreign exhibitors and 101 foreign buyers. During the fair, the exhibitors who were travel companies, destination and service providers organized 62 programs to promote destinations and products to both buyers and customers.
Khanh said the organizer planned to organize the fourth ITE on September 12-14, 2008. “We plan to carry out more activities to expand “The three countries, one destination theme and make next fair bigger than ITE 2007,” he said.
In a joint declaration on tourism cooperation, the top tourism officials agreed to connect efforts and resources to promote the region as a single tourism destination. The three countries will jointly stage promotions activities, develop common tourism products, sharing expertise on development of tourism skills, and making a list of potential projects to call for investment.
The three ministers encouraged efforts to make transport easier for citizens and international tourists from the three countries by upgrading tourism-related infrastructure, improving international border checkpoints, and opening air routes linking the region’s world heritage sites. They also called for the application of border pass cards for people on border provinces between the three countries.
“This is the first time we have reached the joint declaration, which is an effort to strengthen regional integration and collaboration to make the region a competitive and attractive destination,” said Hoang Tuan Anh, Vietnam’s minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism.
He said the three ministries would exchange information on tourism, culture, and sport events in each country and promote them overseas.
Anh said one of the first activities should be collaboration in making a joint video clip to promote tourism images of the three. It will be broadcast on television channels of the region, he said.
Somphong Mongkhonvilay, minister of Laos National Tourism Administration, said that in the past, each country had to promote its own tourism products individually but in the future, the three countries would have common products, images, and linked websites for effective promotion. He attached significance to the agreement.
“The declaration will have the three countries boosting the development of the tourism industry,” he said.
He said after the second Senior Tourism Officials meeting, which will be held in the coming months in Cambodia, his country will invite all officials to Laos for discussing more details.
“We don’t want cooperation on paper. We will try our best to materialize what has been agreed,” he said.
* The three-day International Travel Expo HCMC 2007, or ITE 2007, ended yesterday in better-than-expected success, especially in terms of promotion, an official said.
The event witnessed a great number of business meetings between international buyers and local sellers, as well as the heightened public awareness on what Vietnam has on offer, said La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Tourism.
He said that travel buyers and sellers had 3,000 meetings and exchanges among themselves to discuss business, which will help open further business windows for cooperation.
The third annual fair has attracted 180 local and foreign exhibitors and 101 foreign buyers. During the fair, the exhibitors who were travel companies, destination and service providers organized 62 programs to promote destinations and products to both buyers and customers.
Khanh said the organizer planned to organize the fourth ITE on September 12-14, 2008. “We plan to carry out more activities to expand “The three countries, one destination theme and make next fair bigger than ITE 2007,” he said.
