Fostering better tourism ties
Nguyen Van Tuan, Chairman, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, visited India recently along with a delegation of top travel agents from Vietnam and met with travel agents in Delhi.
India and Vietnam have many avenues to increase co-operation in tourism but there are two bottlenecks – lack of direct flights and the limited information about tourism opportunities between the two countries. The potential for tourism between India and Vietnam is still untapped because while 2.5 million Indian tourists visited South East Asia last year, only 50,000 Indian travellers travelled to Vietnam.
This was the concern voiced by Nguyen Van Tuan, Chairman, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, when he visited India recently along with a delegation of top travel agents from Vietnam.
“When Jet Airways opened flights there was a boost in the number of tourists from Vietnam visiting India for Buddhist tourism, but direct connectivity is still an issue. People spend a lot of time in transit. The increase in number of tourists will benefit tourists too, we will continue to work with airlines for boosting direct connectivity between Vietnam and India. After Jet Airways, we are working with Vietnam Airline and VietJet Air for direct connectivity,” Van Tuan said.
The roadshow in Delhi organized by the Embassy of the SR of Vietnam, in association with OM Tourism, was also attended by Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism.
Tran Quang Tuyen, Deputy Chief of Mission highlighted the special relationship between Vietnam and India. He said the roadshow was welltimed as it has happened when both India and Vietnam are looking to enhance tourism.
Suman Billa affirmed that as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are favourite destinations for Indian tourists, they should also visit Vietnam. He said that while roadshows are an efficient tool to promote tourism, one roadshow in Delhi is not sufficient and Vietnam has to promote tourism in other states of India as well. “Tourism is a trillion dollar economy and it provides jobs to one billion people around the world. Certainly, Vietnam and India can’t lose this opportunity,” he added.
Direct connectivity is still an issue. People spend a lot of time in transit