(TITC) - On 4th March 2022, the hybrid tourism meeting “Bodh Gaya - A spiritual journey” took place at Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) via offline and online modes.
The hybrid tourism meeting under the theme “Bodh Gaya - A spiritual journey” introduces a new spiritual tourism programme to Bodha Gaya, one of the most important Buddhist sites of pilgrimage related to the life of Buddha, located in the Gaya District of Bihar, India. More significantly, that has a detailed glance at the tourism of both countries, enhance the effectiveness of tourism development plans in the new context as well as strengthen the relationship between India and Vietnam in the future.
Overview of the meeting
Attending the meeting were Mr. Ha Van Sieu - Vice Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Mr. Tran Phong Binh, Deputy Director of VNAT’s Tourism Marketing Department, Mr. Pranay Verma Ambassador of Embassy of India in Hanoi, representatives from India Ministry of Tourism, Tourism Bihar, Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee, Chancery Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City, Quan Am Monastery, along with the participation of about 120 Indian and Vietnamese tour operators.
H.E. Mr. Pranay Verma, Ambassador of Embassy of India in Hanoi said in the welcome remarks, for the upcoming celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between India and Vietnam, India tourism industry is putting many efforts to organise several tourism events, particularly, spiritual tourism events to welcome back international tourists in general and create a highlight for India tourism in particular. After 2 years of COVID-19 outbreak, India will soon restore fully international flight routes including the flight route to and from Vietnam. For the preparation, India Government with Ministry of Tourism and other relevant ministries have agreed to implement some preferentials such as loosen e-visa policies, reduce visa fees for Vietnam and international tourists, develop scenarios to welcome international tourists safely and effectively while ensuring regulations on prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.
H.E. Mr. Pranay Verma, Ambassador of Embassy of India in Hanoi giving a welcome remarks
In response, Mr. Ha Van Sieu - Vice Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) expressed gratitude and appreciation towards the efforts of India in the process of tourism recovery. He also affirmed that Vietnam will definitely support tourism cooperation between Vietnam and India for a better recovery in the near future.
Mr. Ha Van Sieu - Vice Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) giving a speech at the meeting
Tran Phong Binh (left), Deputy Director of VNAT’s Tourism Marketing Department delivered a presentation about Vietnam - India tourism updates
Also, at the meeting, Mr. Tran Phong Binh, Deputy Director of VNAT’s Tourism Marketing Department delivered an attentive presentation about Vietnam - India tourism updates. In his presentation, he mentioned that from 2016 to 2018, the number of visitor arrivals from Vietnam to India has been doubled, from 16,728 to 31,427 visitor arrivals. The same goes for the number of visitors from India to Vietnam in the period of 2016 (85,126 visitor arrivals) to 2019 (168,998 visitor arrivals). It showed that the scope for promoting tourism between the two countries is huge.
Thereby, he gave a good look at Vietnam tourism situation before and after Covid-19, some points of view to recover and especially the issuances of pre-departure guidelines in associated with 6 steps (Book a tour, have a health insurance, register for a visa, valid vaccine passport, vaccine certificate and covid-19 tests) and 4 quick steps guideline upon arrival at Vietnam Airport. He also stated that Vietnam was switched away from “zero covid” to “safe and flexible adaptation to and effective control of the pandemic”. At the same time, Vietnam has implemented the pilot plan to welcome international tourists with ‘vaccine passport’ under tour package programmes from the end of November 2021, along with the ‘Live Fully in Vietnam’ communication campaign in association with the national tourism brand identity: Vietnam Timeless Charm to attract international tourists to Vietnam, promote Vietnam tourism on website https://vietnam.travel/ and social networks of the VNAT with interesting and useful information along with lively pictures.
In the new normal condition, Vietnam will officially reopen tourism from 15th March 2022 with some new rules and regulations in order to create a favourable condition for international tourists to travel to Vietnam. Mr. Binh appraised the special bilateral relationship between the two countries, based on more than 2000 years of commercial transactions and Buddhism propagation from India into Vietnam. He assured that Vietnam will continue to cooperate in disseminating safe tourism from both sides, Vietnam and India; create favourable conditions and encourage tourists to visit both destinations; reopen flights connecting tourism centres in Vietnam and India; support India in organising Roadshow and Tourism marketing activities in each other country and offer tourism products.
In the same thought as Mr. Binh, a representative of India Ministry of Tourism expressed the seriousness towards tourism recovery and hope that in the near future, India can welcome more Vietnam tourists to travel and discover the homeland of Buddhism as well as the urgent need to strengthen the interactions and cooperation between Vietnam and India.
Representative of India Ministry of Tourism
The report from the Indian side by Mr. G. Kamala Vardhana Rao shows that one of the areas of mutual interest between India and Vietnam was places of Buddhist heritage. India has taken several steps to strengthen connectivity including constructing a new international airport at Kushinagar, highways connecting Buddhist places, and developing other tourism-friendly amenities. A number of cultural and other events have been planned to showcase Buddhist heritage and India seeks whole-hearted participation from the people of Vietnam.
At the meeting, there were presentations on Tourism situation in India and Reopening of India for international tourism by representative of India Ministry of Tourism; Buddhist heritages and their importance for Vietnamese pilgrims by Nun Thich Nu Hue Duc, Abbess of Quan Am Tu Vien Monastery; an update on Bihar tourism and facilities for Buddhist tourists at Bodh Gaya by Mr. Praghakar and Mr. Nangzey Dorjee in respectively.
Nun Thich Nu Hue Duc presenting the Buddhist heritages and their importance for Vietnamese pilgrim
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