HÀ NỘI — The 16th annual meeting of the Council for Promoting Tourism in Asia (CPTA) opened yesterday with the participation of member cities including Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Taipei, Manila and Hà Nội.

During the four-day meeting, representatives will review recent activities, discuss new projects, work on tourism development, enhance the responsibilities of state tourism management agencies and strengthen cooperation between municipal governments and tourism agencies, as well as other issues related to the cooperation and promotion of the ‘Welcome to Asia’ campaign.

“With a history of 1000 years, Hà Nội has the potential to develop its tourism industry. The city attached special importance to the CPTA. Since its establishment 16 years ago, the CPTA has proved its adaptability to global development,” said deputy chairman of Hà Nội’s People’s Committee, Ngô Văn Qúy, during a working session.

President of the CPTA Yuji Fujita said the focus of the meeting was to work on more effective policies and activities to attract more tourists to Asia’s cities.

He said he hoped the delegates would contribute to stronger and more effective cooperation in tourism development in Asia.

This is the fourth time Hà Nội has hosted this event, which is expected to help the city lure more international visitors.

On Friday and Saturday, there will be a tourism promotion meeting and a tourism exposition of member cities of CPTA.

On Sunday, participants will visit the Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum, the Temple of Literature, the Thăng Long Royal Citadel and Bát Tràng pottery village.

The CPTA includes State tourism management agencies from 10 member cities of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 (ANMC21): Tokyo, Bangkok, New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Seoul, Taipei, Manila, Tomsk and Hà Nội.

In the first six months of 2018, Hà Nội welcomed more than 13 million visitors, a 10 per cent increase compared to the previous year, among which were 3 million foreign tourists. Total tourism revenue during the period reached an estimated VNĐ40 trillion (US$1.7 billion). — VNS