Tourism attraction

Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien chaired the 18th ASEAN Plus Three Tourism Ministerial Meeting on January 18, which forms part of the ongoing 2019 ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province. Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien (centre) poses with participants at the conference In his opening remarks, Thien emphasized the significance of tourism cooperation between ASEAN and its three partner countries, namely China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK). In 2018, the two-way exchange of tourists between ASEAN and China reached more than 50 million arrivals, including around 30 million Chinese arrivals to ASEAN countries (up 30% year on year) and approximately 22 million ASEAN arrivals to China (up 105% annually). Japan and the RoK are also the two important tourism source markets of ASEAN. Last year, about three million arrivals of ASEAN tourists visited Japan, a year-on-year increase of 16%, and … [Read more...] about ASEAN looks to strengthen tourism ties with China, Japan and RoK

A friendly visa policy is among major reasons to help boost the Vietnamese tourism development, said Kenneth Atkinson, vice president of Tourism Advisory Board (TAB). He made the suggestion at the Vietnam Travel and Tourism Summit held in Hanoi Monday. Kenneth Atkinson, vice president of Tourism Advisory Board, at  the Vietnam Travel and Tourism Summit In 2016, Vietnam lured up to 781,000 visitors from five Western European countries, up 19% on-year, which was mainly attributed to the country’s free-visa travel for these nations. The tourist increase helped to add up to USD150 million for the Vietnamese tourism industry’s revenues in the year, according to Atkinson. Earlier, Vietnam News Agency cited Hoang Nhan Chinh, head of the Vietnam Tourism Advisory Board secretariat, as saying that Vietnam currently grants visa-waiver scheme for tourists from 26 countries. The figure is quite low compared to the visa-free travel for 57 nationalities to Thailand, 168 … [Read more...] about Expert urges for more flexible visa policy for Vietnam tourism takeoff

The top five teams contest the final round of the Blue Venture Award season 2 in HCM City on Tuesday. — VNS Photo Thu Ngan Season 2 of Blue Venture Award, the competition for social entrepreneurs, wrapped up in HCM City on Tuesday with Cricket One being named the winner. Following the success of last season, Blue Venture Award received a strong response from the start-up community this year. There were more than 200 entries from start-ups in technology, energy, education, tourism, environment, agriculture and other fields. Some of their products and services have been successfully tested locally, some are still ideas being turned into reality, but all seek a common goal of serving the community and contributing to positive changes in the world. The five most outstanding candidates competed in the final round, and Cricket One, a social enterprise applying cricket farming technology in protein production, was named the winner. Cricket One uses cricket-farming technology to develop … [Read more...] about Protein production start-up wins competition for social entrepreneurs