Attending the event were Chairman of VNAT Nguyen Trung Khanh; Mr. Daniel J. Kritenbrink, US Ambassador to Viet Nam; Mr. Ho An Phong, Vice Chairman of Quang Binh Provincial People's Committee; leaders of departments and units under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; leaders of Vietnam Tourism Association; leaders of local tourism departments and press agencies.

Launching project "Google Arts & Culture - Wonders of Vietnam”.

The project "Google Arts & Culture - Wonders of Vietnam" has been jointly implemented by the VNAT and Google, with the support of Da Nang, Quang Nam, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Binh and Oxalis Adventure, Photographer Tran Tuan Viet - who won many awards of National Geographic Magazine.

Speaking at the event, Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh highly appreciated the close coordination of Google in the promotion of Vietnam tourism. Especially, in the context of digital transformation for tourism development, since mid of 2020, Vietnam tourism industry has officially cooperated with Google to jointly implement post-Covid-19 action plan.

Google has launched training programs for the small and medium tourism business community in Viet Nam, and assisted with market analysis, promotion through Google platforms, calling content creators to share their travel videos on YouTube.

"Google Arts & Culture" is a wonderful platform to popularize cultures, allowing viewers to contemplate arts in new interesting ways. Vietnam tourism is very happy to be selected by Google to be the new destination of the project, introducing 35 online exhibitions with nearly 1,400 photos of tourist attractions, cultural heritage, history and culinary of the Central region "- Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh emphasized.

The Chairman believed that the project "Google Arts & Culture - Wonders of Vietnam" will help Vietnam destinations continue to shine and be known by international audience on Google platforms. On this occasion, he also asked Google to continue to cooperate with local tourism departments and museums to expand the project, introducing more destinations and cultural products of Viet Nam.

Mr. Daniel J. Kritenbrink, Ambassador of the United States to Viet Nam

Giving speech at event, Ambassador of the United States to Viet Nam, Mr. Daniel J. Kritenbrink highly appreciated the project "Google Arts & Culture - Wonders of Vietnam" that inspiring visitors to Vietnam with beautiful natural scenery, unique cultural and historical values and friendly, hospitable people.

Ambassador Daniel J. Kritenbrink also expressed his admiration for the outstanding heritage sites of Central Vietnam such as Son Doong Cave, Hoi An Ancient Town, Hue Citadel, beautiful beaches in Da Nang and many special cuisines. The Ambassador also believed that the cooperation project between Google and VNAT, localities will contribute positively to the warm cooperation between Viet Nam and the United States.

Mr. Ted Osius, Vice President for Public Policy and Government Relations for the Asia Pacific region, former US Ambassador to Viet Nam and Mr. Amit Sood - Senior Director of Google Arts and Culture delivered online speeches to congratulate the launching event.

Mr. Ted Osius said that since June 2020, Google has worked closely with VNAT to accelerate the tourism recovery process after the Covid-19 pandemic. The newly released Digital Economic Report 2020 of Google and Temasek cited that 76% of Vietnamese people would like to travel again as soon as possible - this is the highest figure in Southeast Asia.

With the project "Google Arts & Culture - Wonders of Vietnam", international visitors can explore famous destinations and wonders of Vietnam, thereby inspiring travel demand as soon as international tourism is restored.

Visitors can access and contemplate high-resolution photos at:

https://artsandculture.google.com/project/wonders-of-vietnam.

Tourism Information Technology Center