HÀ NỘI — A series of co-operation agreements were signed during a conference on marketing to promote Vân Đồn International Airport in the northern province of Quảng Ninh last week.

The two-day conference, which ended on March 1, attracted more than 60 airlines and travel companies whose representatives enjoyed famtrip activities in the province.

The conference witnessed the signings of many co-operation agreements on tourism and aviation between Vân Đồn International Airport and airlines and well-known regional travel agencies such as Sky Angkor, DHT Aviation Inc – which is the Vietnamese representative of major airlines in East Asia – Hana Tour of South Korea, Viet Travel and Smile Viet.

These agreements are the result of negotiations between the parties over time and their famtrip in Quảng Ninh Province as well as the quality of the airport’s facilities.

According to the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), national carrier Vietnam Airlines and Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism signed a tourism development agreement that runs through 2021 during the working visit by General Secretary and President Nguyễn Phú Trọng to Cambodia on February 26.

Under the agreement, Vietnam Airlines will open routes connecting the city of Hạ Long in Quảng Ninh with famous destinations in Cambodia including Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville.

Deputy Director of CAAV Võ Huy Cường said this would be the first step for the aviation industry to implement the Prime Minister’s Decision 105/QĐ-TTg, dated January 22, 2019, on enhancing air connectivity with tourist source markets.

"Vân Đồn Airport will be connected by domestic flights to Vinh, Đà Nẵng, HCM City, Quảng Nam, Nha Trang, Cần Thơ, Đà Lạt, Huế, Quy Nhơn and Phú Quốc and will have international routes to China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore from now to 2025,” Cường said.

These are the decisive factors for sustainable development of Vân Đồn and tourism in Quảng Ninh,” he said.

Vân Đồn Airport has recently announced a series of incentives to attract airlines and travel companies to open routes and tours. The incentives include reducing the rental price to open counters at the airport terminal and decreasing the cost for advertising in the airport.

Director of Vân Đồn Airport Phạm Ngọc Sáu said the airport had applied policies supporting airlines and charter flights such as reducing taking-off and landing fees and cutting up to 70 per cent of ground service costs.

The cost of ground services for such flights is normally at about VNĐ20 million (US$860), but it has been reduced to just VNĐ5-6 million, according to Sáu.

Đặng Minh Trường, Chairman of Sun Group, the investor of Vân Đồn Airport, said that besides incentives for tourists (discounting tickets by 20-50 per cent at Sun World Halong Complex), Sun Group committed to giving incentives for airlines and travel agencies when they open tours to Quảng Ninh.

“It is a privilege to experience the group’s projects in the province such as Sun World Halong Complex, Quang Hanh Hot Mineral Stream Resort, Sung Premier Village Halong Bay and other products of the group,” Trường said.

At the conference, leaders of the CAAV and Quảng Ninh discussed strategies to remove obstacles for travel agents and airlines to bring passengers to the province through the airport. For example, Quảng Ninh will call on local businesses to build an incentive package, including entertainment services, accommodation and restaurants, for tourists who visit Hạ Long through the airport.

Cường said the CAAV supported charter flights and stopover flights, creating conditions for airlines to lure passengers to Việt Nam through Vân Đồn.

The department will work with relevant ministries and sectors to assess the impacts and benefits of stopover flights that combine two or three destinations.

"We are committed to researching and evaluating to make decisions soon," Cường said.

Stopover flights are seen as an important solution that airlines and tour operators are particularly interested in because they are suitable for tourists from East Asia – the biggest source of tourism revenue for Việt Nam.

Vân Đồn Airport is a six hour flight from Japan, more than three hours from Singapore, three hours from Taiwan and two hours from Hong Kong.

Experts said Vân Đồn Airport has great potential thanks to the strong development of Quảng Ninh Province, attractive and reasonable preferential policies and the aviation industry’s spirit of innovation.

After nearly two months in operation, Vân Đồn Airport has received more than 15,000 passengers were carried by Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air and Bamboo Airways. It hosts about 30 arrivals and departures each week.