The Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) 2020 themed “Digital transformation pushes tourism" opened at the Vietnam-Soviet Friendship Cultural Palace in Hanoi on November 18.
Vietnam Int’l Travel Mart 2020 opens in Hanoi
The event attracted more than 300 local enterprises, including hotels, resorts, travel agents, carriers, tourism associations, tourism management agencies, tourism promotion centers from 47 cities and provinces across the country, and representative offices of South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan (China), Columbia and Peru.
More than 10,000 promotional tours and over 100,000 low-cost airline tickets have been launched during the event.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that Vietnam’s travel and tourism industry could lose at least US$23 billion due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He hoped VITM 2020 will create a chance for insiders to come together, find solutions and overcome challenges to recover from the disease.
Countries’ tourism sector are facing with challenges and difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nations have made all efforts to find solutions and share experience together, leading to mutual benefits as well as acknowledge each other as partners, not competitors, added Ratiwan Boonprakhong, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Ho Chi Minh City Office.
VITM 2020 aims to encourage participants to launch initiatives and ideas on management, operation and organization of tourism activities to continue maintain the growth rate in next years.
The 4-day expo will include a wide variety of activities, such as the introduction of destinations, tourist products and services; promotional programs; a forum on the change of Vietnamese tourism for the development, talks on tourism development trends and digital transformation in boosting Vietnamese tourism.
The travel show was initially rescheduled from April 1-4 to May 14-17 and then to August 12-15 due to the pandemic with previous two themes, namely “Heritage - Power of Vietnam Tourism” and “Vietnamese Tourism Looks towards the Future”
The Vietnam International Travel Mart was launched for the first time in 2013 by the Vietnam Tourism Association and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and then is considered as the biggest travel fair of the country.
The event attracts more than 300 local enterprises.
More than 10,000 promotional tours and over 100,000 low-cost airline tickets are launched during the event.
By Mai An – Translated by Kim Khanh