Participants highlighted the prospect for stronger tourism cooperation between Vietnamese and Russian travel firms, as well as measures to promote tourist destinations of each country.

They also mentioned difficulties that hinder tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Saint Petersburg.

Vo Duy Sang, head of the delegation from the Central coastal province of Thanh Hoa, said Russia is the key international tourism market for the locality.

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Participants at the forum

He said he hopes Russia’s tourism sector in general and the authority of Saint Petersburg in general, will provide information for Russian firms that are interested in and capable of cooperating with Thanh Hoa in the field.

Gorokhov Aleksander Felisovich, General Director of the Union of National and International Tourism Information Organisations (SONATO) said the lack of direct flights between Saint Peterburg and major cities of Vietnam, and current visa regulations are obstructing tourism cooperation between the two sides.

Meanwhile, Kalganov Vyacheslav, head of Saint Petersburg's external relations committee, pledged that he will propose the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs consider simplification of visa-related regulations and procedures, thus facilitating tourism cooperation.

The Russia – Vietnam traditional relations have created favorable conditions for the two sides to expand tourism links and people-to-people exchanges, he said.

In the framework of the forum, a cooperation agreement on tourism development was signed between representatives of Thanh Hoa’s coastal Sam Son city and a central district of Saint Petersburg.

Source: VNA