First Japanese passengers on the direct Osaka-Đà Nẵng flight receive a warm welcome after landing at Đà Nẵng International Airport on July 3.VNS Photo Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG — The national carrier, Vietnam Airlines has resumed the direct Osaka-Đà Nẵng flight after a hiatus , operating seven flights per week on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

The airlines said the re-opening the route is seen as an effort to expand air services from Đà Nẵng City to the other cities in Japan, and key market for the national carrier with 20 per cent annual growth.

Vice director of Đà Nẵng City’s tourism department Nguyễn Thị Hoài An said the flights will offer favourable conditions for visitors travelling to and from Japan and Đà Nẵng.

She said Đà Nẵng has organised different tourism promotion programmes in Tokyo and Osaka as well as press and farm trips from Japan.

Đà Nẵng alone has welcomed 108,000 tourists from Japan in the first half of this year.

The city will host the annual Japan–Việt Nam Cultural Festival on July 4-6.

Đà Nẵng City has inked memorandums of understanding on investment and cooperation with Yokohama, Kawasaki and Sakai, and built relationships with 15 other cities in Japan.

Many deals and exchange programmes in tourism, culture, education and environment protection have been promoted between Đà Nẵng and Japanese partners.

The first Japanese language studies and culture research faculty in the central and Central Highlands region was established at the Đà Nẵng-Đông Á University from 2020. 

At least nine cities in Japan and more than 100 businesses have signed agreements to recruit students from the university and the region to work or study in Japan. 

More than 162,000 Vietnamese students currently study the Japanese language, while 40,000 students have joined training courses in Japan. — VNS