Ho Chi Minh City has determined that tourism is among key industries contributing significantly to the city’s development and Russia is a key and potential tourist market, said the city People’s Committee deputy chairwoman Nguyen Thi Hong at a seminar in Moscow on September 16.
Russia has been one of ten nations and territories with the highest number of visitors to the city, she stated at the seminar hosted by the committee, the Vietnamese Embassy to Russia and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
The event, attended by nearly 200 businesses from the two nations, is a part of the 21st International Russian Travel Market Otdykh Leisure in Moscow and trade and tourism promotion events that HCMC began on September 15 in Russia.
According to Ms. Hong, HCMC saw 9.5 percent growth rate a year in the number of international visitors in the period of 2006-2014, accounting for 55 percent of the total number to Vietnam. Tourist revenue averaged 20 percent a year, holding 43 percent of the country’s total.
In 2014 alone, the city received 4.4 million international visitors, which is expected to reach 4.8 million this year.
HCMC is one of localities leading Vietnam in implementing cooperation activities with Russia including tourism.
Nearly 150,000 Russians arrived in the city last year, increasing 18 percent over the previous year and holding 52 percent of the number of Russian visitors to Vietnam.
Russian businesses paid attention to how to conveniently take their visitors to Vietnam at the seminar.
Deputy head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Quoc Hung affirmed that Vietnam always creates the best conditions to receive international visitors comprising Russians.
At the Otdykh 2015 expo, many Russian travel companies worked with Vietnamese partners to organize many boutiques to advertise Vietnamese landscapes and tourist products.
Ms. Tong Thi Thanh Le from Saigon Tourist Company reported over 100 Russian people and companies visited the company’s stall on the first day of the expo on September 15.
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