Dao Loan
Ha Quang Long, director of the northern province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said cultural associations and investors of Japan and South Korea were actively helping the province set up tourism offices in these countries.
In addition to promoting tourism and deploying marketing programs, the offices will connect domestic and foreign enterprises and provide them with investment advice.
“Everything is going smoothly. We expect to open the offices late this year,” said Long.
These tourism offices will be funded by the State money and businesses. Quang Ninh is calling for support from tour operators and hospitality service providers to bring these offices into life.
Japanese and South Korean tourists account for 40-45% of the total number of international visitors to Quang Ninh.
Tourists coming from these two markets to Hanoi often visit Halong Bay, noted the Quang Ninh tourism department.
The Vietnam Tourism Association is calling for financial support from members and non-members to open a tourism representative office of Vietnam in Japan. The office would need about US$300,000 a year, said the association.
Last year, Japanese tourist arrivals in Vietnam reached 500,000, while more than 700,000 South Korean tourists came to Vietnam.
In the first half of 2013, Quang Ninh welcomed more than 4.67 million tourists, an increase of 9% over the same period last year, reported the provincial tourism department.
International arrivals in the northern province reached 1.3 million, down 2% year-on-year. Tourism revenue totaled over VND2.5 trillion, up 14% compared to the same period last year.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
