The event, which was part of the activities within the 3rd Vietnam - Laos culture, sports, tourism border exchange festival in 2022, attracted the participation of leaders and staff working in the tourism sector from 20 Vietnamese and Lao localities along the shared borderline.
The seminar evaluated that tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Laos is gradually developing with various bilateral and multilateral cooperation activities, including product development and tourism promotion held by localities, agencies, association, and tourism businesses.
Especially, since the two countries reopened international tourism after the pandemic is under control, Vietnam has welcomed nearly 47,000 Lao visitors. Meanwhile, nearly 50,000 Vietnamese tourists have chosen Laos as their destination (accounting for 28% of the total number of international visitors to Laos), ranking second among the markets sending tourists to Laos.
At the seminar, delegates focused their discussions on tourism development and management policies; experience and orientation to develop and popularize tourism products to contribute to improving the quality of the Vietnam - Laos tourism; scientific and practical proposals, assessments, orientations and measures to boost tourism linkages and cooperation along the shared borderline in the coming time.
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Vice Chairman of the Dien Bien provincial People's Committee Vu A Bang speaks at the event. |
Speaking at the event, Deputy Director-General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Ha Van Sieu highly appreciated the outcomes of the bilateral cooperation in tourism development over the past time.
He said that the seminar was to evaluate potential and orientation to develop tourism products to attract tourists to border areas. It was also an opportunity to share experience in tourism development cooperation between border localities and businesses of the two countries and to jointly seek solutions and initiatives for tourism development in border areas.
The seminar also created opportunities for tourism units and travel enterprises to promote information exchange and develop market.
To effectively exploit the advantages of geography and the traditional relationship and special solidarity between the two countries, Vice Chairman of the Dien Bien provincial People's Committee Vu A Bang affirmed that Dien Bien will actively improve the quality of external information work to introduce its potential, strengths and investment opportunities to Laos. The province will also hold tourism promotion programs, create the best conditions for local organizations and tourism businesses to foster their cooperation as well as people living along the shared borderline to participate in cultural and sports exchanges.
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Delegates learning about tourism information on the sidelines of the seminar |
The Northern province will cooperate with Laos’ localities to organize tourism promotion programs and popularize their tourism products. In particular, the province will work with Phongsaly and Luang Prabang provinces, propose the two governments to invest in the Luang Prabang - Huoi Puoc - Na Son route, study and invest in constructing economic zones and Vietnam - Laos border markets.
Translated by Tran Hoai