Vietnam for tourism ties with India

The Dollar Business Bureau To strengthen its bilateral cooperation with India, Vietnam is keen on enhancing tourism cooperation with India, said Nguyen Van Tuan, Chairman of Vietnam National Administration, Tourism. Vietnam, a fast-emerging tourist destination, is looking at India as a potential market to attract more number of tourists, the official told a delegation of Indian journalists in Vietnam, according to the reports. Bilateral ties between India and Vietnam have always remained good and India is definitely a potential market for Vietnam in terms of tourism, said the official, speaking to the Indian journalists’ delegation that was in Hanoi to attend the 40th anniversary of 30-year-long Vietnam War and its reunification. While a total of 2.17 lakh Vietnamese tourists including those residing overseas visited India in 2014, a total of 54,000 Indian tourists visited Vietnam during the similar period, he said. Nguyen Van also discussed about plans for starting a direct flight between India and Vietnam to help boost tourism and trade. Aimed at promoting tourism, Vietnam is planning to hold a road show in India, said the official, adding, “while one such road show has already been organized, two more are expected to be held in the days to come in cities like Chennai and Hyderabad. Vietnam has also invited Indian film industry to promote the country in India and a Bollywood team will soon visit Vietnam as part of a film festival to be organized here, he added. India has also been witnessing a rise in number of foreign tourists. According to the tourism ministry, the number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) during April, 2015 stood at 5.40 lakh, compared to that of 5.37 lakh FTAs in April last year and 4.51 lakh during the same month a year ago. There has been a growth of 0.5% in April 2015 over April 2014, says the ministry.    

May 11,  2015 | 6:10 pm IST.