The fair drew nearly 2,000 travel agencies from 185 countries and territories across the world. Viet Nam’s booth introduced information on tourist attractions and activities of National Tourism Year 2017 in the northwestern region.

Representatives from the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and the national-flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, along with seven travel companies of Viet Nam were in attendance.

Musical performances and traditional dishes were on show at the booth. A press conference was also held to introduce Viet Nam’s tourism products and destinations.

Speaking at the press conference, Dinh Ngoc Duc, head of the Tourism Marketing Department of the VNAT, emphasised that the partnership of Viet Nam and Russia has developed over the years in various fields, including tourism. In 2015-2016, the number of Russian tourists to Viet Nam increased about 25.6 percent.

More than 118,000 Russian visitors travelled to Viet Nam in the first two months of 2017 alone, an increase of 192 percent year-on-year, making Russia the European country with the largest number of tourists to Viet Nam.

The MITT 2017 runs for three days from March 14. It has been held annually since 1994.