Strengthening Cooperation in Tourism Development Between Vietnam and India

In the coming time, Vietnam - India need to strengthen cooperation in tourism recovery, in which focusing on cooperation in propaganda about safe tourism; continue to further facilitate and encourage people of the two countries to travel to each other.

On December 12, Deputy Director General of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Pham Van Thuy, leading the Vietnam Tourism Delegation, had a meeting and worked with Mr. Shri Gyan Bhushan, Senior Economic Advisor, Ministry of Tourism of India on the development of tourism cooperation between Vietnam and India in the coming time.

At the meeting, Deputy Director General Pham Van Thuy said that Vietnam and India are two partners that have had a close, comprehensive and strategic relationship for many years, including the tourism sector. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian visitors to Vietnam reached nearly 170 thousand arrivals, an increase of 28% compared to 2018, Vietnamese visitors to India reached 25,000 arrivals, an increase of 11.3% compared to 2018 Tourist exchange between India and Vietnam nearly doubled in 4 years (from more than 100 thousand arrivals in 2016 to nearly 200,000 arrivals in 2019). In the period 2016-2019, Indian visitors to Vietnam increased by an average of 25% per year and Vietnamese visitors to India increased by an average of 17% per year.

In 2022, Vietnam officially reopened to international tourism from March 15, 2022 and restored immigration policies, so far has welcomed 2.73 million international tourists. In which, Asia remains the traditional destination of Vietnam, followed by Europe, America, Australia and Africa. India is one of the 10 countries with the largest international search volume for Vietnam tourism from the beginning of 2022 until now. That shows that the potential for tourism development between the two sides is huge. Mr. Shri Gyan Bhushan, Senior Economic Advisor, Ministry of Tourism of India congratulated Vietnam's tourism industry on the positive recovery after the pandemic. Shri Gyan Bhushan said that, with a similar culture and religion, Vietnam has become a popular destination for Indian tourists with various types of tourism, including wedding tourism, beach resort, cultural tourism, golf tourism and shopping tourism.

At the same time, India is a destination chosen by many Vietnamese people for the purpose of spiritual tourism, Buddhist tourism, medical tourism and landscape tourism. However, the amount of tourist exchange between the two sides in recent years is still limited, not commensurate with the development potential of the two countries. Mr. Shri Gyan Bhushan said that one of the limitations for the tourism development of Vietnam and India is language and cuisine. In order to attract and meet the needs of Vietnamese tourists coming to India in the near future, the Indian Ministry of Tourism proposed to strengthen human resource training activities in tourism, including opening a number of courses Vietnamese language, promoting culinary exchanges, sending Indian chefs to Vietnam to study Vietnamese cuisine and open Vietnamese restaurants in India.

Agreeing with the proposal of the Ministry of Tourism of India, Deputy Director General Pham Van Thuy said that in the coming time, the two sides need to strengthen cooperation in tourism recovery, in which focus is on cooperation in safe tourism propaganda; continue to further facilitate and encourage people of the two countries to travel to each other. At the same time, he suggested that India continue to simplify entry visa procedures for Vietnamese citizens; encourage airlines to continue to expand their network of routes connecting cities of India and Vietnam. The two sides support each other to organize market launch programs in each country; encourage enterprises to participate in international tourism fairs organized by each party; encourage localities of the two countries to cooperate and link; tourism promotion; encourage businesses to cooperate in building tourism products and services suitable to the needs and preferences of Indian guests, especially developing a system of restaurants serving Indian dishes, entertainment areas, shopping, wedding travel, golf travel and MICE travel.

Source: dangcongsan.vn