Deputy Director of the Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hương said Việt Nam’s tourism industry was enjoying high growth. — VNS Photo Linh Anh

HÀ NỘI — The 2019 Việt Nam Travel and Tourism Summit will be held for the second time in Hà Nội on December 9 under the theme: “For Vietnamese Tourism To Really Take Off”.

The details were announced by the organisers at a press conference yesterday.

The event will be co-organised by the Government's Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Việt Nam Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), the Việt Nam Tourism Association and VnExpress.

The summit would offer an opportunity for enterprises and investors in Việt Nam and abroad to look at strategies and potential, as well as challenges, for tourism development, said Deputy Director of the Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hương.

Hương said that Việt Nam’s tourism was in a period of strong development with high growth. Vietnamese tourism has also been honoured by many prestigious international organisations and won global awards. Most recently, Việt Nam was honoured to receive four world tourism awards.

The delegates will discuss the infrastructure of Vietnamese tourism, and measures to attract investment and training in the field.

Trần Trọng Kiên, chairman of the National Tourism Advisory Board, told Việt Nam News the summit had three major goals.

Those were to promote sustainable development for Việt Nam's tourism sector, enhance national tourism competitiveness, and increase the sector’s direct contribution to GDP from 8.39 per cent in 2018 to over 10 per cent in 2021, Kiên said.

“The event will also help promote the image and culture of Việt Nam to the world, thus luring more foreign investment to Việt Nam’s tourism sector,” he said.

The third target is to realise a common aviation market called “ASEAN Open Sky”, the first-ever of its kind in the Mekong countries (CLMTV) community.

The summit will include four thematic sessions and a plenary session.

Each thematic session is expected to welcome 150-200 guests, who will discuss topics such as promotion activities, improving trip planning and travel experience, and connect the aviation market.

The plenary session will involve 2,000 guests. In addition to discussing solutions for tourism and aviation development, the session will also witness the launch of tourism promotion offices in the UK and Australia.

The organisers board will also invite leaders of the world’s largest tourism corporations, along with senior representatives from the World Tourism Organisation and other international agencies.

The first Việt Nam Travel and Tourism Summit was held in Hà Nội last year with the participation of 1,500 guests. Within the framework of the event, five trade deals worth nearly US$2 billion were signed between international partners and domestic enterprises. — VNS