(TITC) - Recently in Ha Noi, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) had a meeting with HE.Mr. Antonio Alessandro, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam on promoting tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Italy.
HE.Mr. Antonio Alessandro, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam feels grateful about the meeting with VNAT on the occasion of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties.
The Italian Ambassador to Vietnam stated, tourism is one of the important pillars in the strategic cooperation relationship between Vietnam and Italy. Tourism not only contributes to promoting economic and trade development, but also helps build a strong relationship between the people of the two countries. After nearly 3 years of being heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the priority tasks set by the Italian Government is to rebuild and promote two-way tourism exchange between Vietnam and Italy.
The meeting between VNAT and Italian Embassy taking place on 17 March 2023 in Ha Noi (Photo: TITC)
HE.Mr. Antonio Alessandro, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam and Ms. Maria Elena Rossi, Global Marketing Director Italian National Tourist Board at the meeting (Photo: TITC)
Speaking at the meeting, Ms. Maria Elena Rossi, Global Marketing Director Italian National Tourist Board emphasised the importance of cooperation and exchange of visitors between Vietnam and Italy. By organising the Seminar on Presentation of the Ryder Cup 2023 in Vietnam, Ms. Maria Elena Rossi hopes that the event will be an open door for cooperation activities in the field of golf tourism in particular and other types of tourism in general.
Maria Elena Rossi stated, tourism contributes about 13% of Italy's GDP. Recently, eco-tourism, golf tourism, and MICE tourism have received a huge amount of attention from Italians. Since Southeast Asia is a potential region in the above-mentioned types of tourism, the country is having an investment strategy to promote the coming time, in which, Vietnam is the first country Italy wants to explore and seize an opportunity to cooperate and develop.
Ms. Maria Elena Rossi is expecting that in the near future a direct flight between Vietnam and Italy will be operated, and hopes that VNAT will support in connecting tourism businesses, tour operators to organise fam trips to learn tourism in the two countries.
Addressed at the meeting, VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh gave an overview of Vietnam’s tourism situation. Accordingly, by possessing diverse and rich natural resources, cultural, tangible and intangible heritage sites, along with a coastline stretching 3,260 km, Vietnam is a country with strong growth in tourism. Tourism is one of the economic sectors with a large contribution to the GDP of the country and ranks 6th out of 10 in terms of growth rate worldwide.
VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh at the meeting (Photo: TITC)
In recent years, Vietnam has continuously received prestigious awards in tourism from international organisations, affirming the country's position and great potential. Post the pandemic, Vietnam is one of the countries to resume international tourism activities at the earliest with no travel restrictions. Moreover, VNAT has coordinated with relevant departments and units to implement plans and policies to create favourable conditions for international visitors to Vietnam as well as promote the recovery of the industry. VNAT also attentively promotes the image of Vietnam worldwide.
According to VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh, Vietnam tourism is now focusing on 4 types of main tourism products, including: Sea and island tourism, cultural and heritage tourism including culinary tourism, ecotourism, and city break tourism. The Visit Vietnam Year 2023 in Binh Thuan Province with the theme “Green tourism comes together” aims to promote green and sustainable tourism. Simultaneously, potential tourism products such as golf tourism, MICE tourism, and wellness tourism are being developed.
Golf tourism in Vietnam has been developed gradually recently, with 100 golf courses and more than 100 thousand golfers. The number of golf courses will increase to 200 by 2025. With 5 consecutive years being crowned as Asia’s Best Golf Destination and 3 times in a row as World's Best Golf Destination by the World Golf Awards (WGA), Vietnam is a rising star for international golfers to play and enjoy the beautiful sceneries.
The Ryder Cup is the most prestigious golf tournament in the world. If the Ryder Cup tournament is held in Vietnam in the future, it will be a great opportunity to attract a large number of international visitors to Vietnam to enjoy the tournament as well as visit and relax. VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh shows his support in strengthening tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Italy. He suggested the Embassy of Italy in Vietnam and Italian National Tourist Board to actively exchange information on the tourism market with VNAT, promote visitor exchange and strengthen business cooperation between the two sides.
Italy is one of the source markets of Vietnam's tourism from Western Europe, with a lot of experience in tourism development. However, tourism cooperation between Vietnam - Italy has not been commensurate with its potential. Therefore, VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh gave out a number of suggestions to promote the development of tourism of both countries as follows.
Regarding creating favourable conditions for travel, the two sides need to consider the possibility of operating a direct flight route between Vietnam and Italy. On the Italian side, simplifying visa procedures to facilitate Vietnamese tourists to Italy should be put on consideration.
Regarding the information exchange and human resource training, the national tourism agencies of Vietnam and Italy should strengthen the exchange of information and experience on tourism management and development, propaganda, promotion and tourism statistics, support in training to develop tourism human resources.
Regarding tourism promotion, the two countries should consider proceeding with a MoU signing to cooperate in tourism promotion, and actively attend international tourism events organised by the two countries.
VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh gifting souvenirs to HE.Mr. Antonio Alessandro, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam (Photo: TITC)
VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh gifting souvenirs to Ms. Maria Elena Rossi, Global Marketing Director Italian National Tourist Board (Photo: TITC)
Delegates taking souvenir photo (Photo: TITC)
On the same day, VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh attended the Presentation of the Ryder Cup 2023.
VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh at the Presentation of the Ryder Cup 2023 (Photo: TITC)
VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh discussing with Italian guests at the Presentation of the Ryder Cup 2023 (Photo: TITC)
Overview of the Presentation (Photo: TITC)
The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The 44th Ryder Cup Matches will be held in Europe from 25 September to 1 October 2023.
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