Travel expo set to widen scope of promotion

The expo has the new theme called “Four countries one destination” is aimed at promoting the four countries of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar as a single tourism destination, said Nguyen Bao Anh, deputy head of the Tourism Promotion Division under the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Anh told the Daily on Tuesday that under the new theme, the travel expo would focus on promoting the world heritage sites, the common tourism potential of the four countries, health tourism and youth tourism, as well as beaches and islands.

He said that along with the new theme, the organizing committee is inviting Yunnan province of China to join this year’s event, aim to turn the expo into the tourism event of the Mekong sub-region.

At the event in 2007, the tourism ministers of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia signed a joint declaration on tourism cooperation to make the three countries a common destination for international tourists. Since that year, the annual travel expo has the theme of “Three Countries, One Destination”.

Last year, Vietnam invited Myanmar to join the event, and then the four countries’ tourism leaders have agreed to join hands in contents such as sharing information and experiences in tourism planning, product development and tourism investment promotion. The four countries also agreed to work together to take part in international tourism events among others.

This year’s travel expo will take place from September 14 to 17 at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center in District 7. The event will feature a tourism exhibition, buyers and sellers meetings, and conferences.

Anh said the number of exhibitors will be up around 20% compared to 175 exhibitors in last year’s event. To date, exhibitors have booked around 70% of the total exhibition space of nearly 2,000 square meters. “It’s quite good compared to the same period of last year. We will close the registration in early August,” he said.

He said 100 foreign buyers have registered to join the event. The organizer expects to have more than 180 buyers this year. The annual travel expo was held for the first time in 2005. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has recognized it as the national tourism event of Vietnam.

(Source: The Saigon Times)