PANO - The Management Board of the EU-funded Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Program (EU Project in short) and the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) on October 9th held a seminar discussing priorities to develop VITA in the time to come and measures to enhance performance of tourism associations nationwide.

The seminar heard experiences from typical tourism associations in the world, such as Ireland and Thailand, presented by Jim Flannery, an international expert on tourism associations under the EU Project.

Participants at the seminar

Participating experts also analyzed three major matters, including financial shortage , poor co-ordination and lack of a clear information channel which are the real situations facing Vietnam’s tourism associations.

Besides, the competition to lure more international tourists is very tough among Vietnam and other countries. To achieve a win, both public and private Vietnamese tourism associations have to strengthen their capability.

To this end, expert Jim Flannery suggested make clear responsibilities of related organizations, avoid overlapping activities, group local tourism associations in 7 tourism areas as mentioned in the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy by 2020 with a vision to 2030, reach consensus on annual action plans and goals and maintain fund for international marketing work. Besides, law on responbile tourism is needed to be checked and consolidated.

Translated by Mai Huong