Beautiful natural terrain and appealing resort services give Việt Nam great potential to become a popular tourism destination for visitors from GCC countries. Photo courtesy of Vietnam Pictorial

Bảo Ngọc

HÀ NỘI — A conference to promote tourism cooperation potential between Việt Nam and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries was held on Thursday, gathering more than 100 travel agencies and hospitality providers.

The event, which takes place both virtually and in person, was co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In his remarks, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Đoàn Văn Việt highlighted the untapped potential for increasing the efficacy of tourism collaboration between Việt Nam and the GCC countries.

Deputy Minister Việt stated that with many different types of tourism, such as beach resorts, golf, culture, and shopping, Việt Nam is becoming an increasingly popular and appealing destination for Muslim tourists from the Middle East and South Asia.

According to Deputy Foreign Minister Phạm Quang Hiệu, the GCC countries are the world's top prospective tourism markets.

He believes that Việt Nam and the GCC countries have many favourable conditions to promote tourism development cooperation, because of good friendship and cooperation in many aspects, and many international airlines are exploiting direct routes from Việt Nam to the region and vice versa.

However, the number of tourists from the GCC area to Việt Nam in recent times has been limited. 

He hoped that the event would help to find new directions and solutions to create a breakthrough in tourism cooperation between Việt Nam and GCC countries, thereby strengthening friendship and cooperation as well as increasing mutual understanding between the two sides in the future.

Participants at the event all saw the potential in expanding tourism partnerships between Việt Nam and the GCC. However, many believe that the number of visitors coming to Việt Nam from this area is still quite low, hovering around 6,000 per year, and that this is due to a combination of objective and subjective factors.

Some of the key recommendations by the delegates included increasing the frequency and effectiveness of Việt Nam's tourism promotion activities in the Gulf region, creating tour packages that meet Halal standards, increasing direct flights between both sides, diversifying passenger transport options, training a workforce fluent in languages and Islamic culture, and simplifying visa procedures.

They also discussed the potential for joint investment of tourism infrastructure and services.

At the conclusion of the conference, Chairman of the Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism, Nguyễn Trùng Khánh, stressed that Việt Nam's tourism development strategy to 2030 identifies the Middle East as a highly prospective tourist market that should be prioritised.

According to Khánh, the National Administration of Tourism will propose plans to increase the number of communication activities, to better promote and introduce Vietnam, and also to encourage investment in e-marketing activities for market development and promotion via online promotion channels and social networks.

Khánh hoped that in the future, the two ministries will maintain their close collaboration in order to host tourism promotion events in the region. VNS