(TITC) - From 13 to 15 September at Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Center - SECC (Ho Chi Minh City), Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism in collaboration with People's Committee and Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City will hold the 8th International Tourism Expo Ho Chi Minh City 2012 (ITE-HCMC 2012).
This is a national tourism event held annually since 2005 to promote tourism of countries in Mekong Sub-region and create opportunities for domestic tourism businesses to exchange and sign business contract with partners in importance and potential tourism markets.
The target of ITE-HCMC 2012 is to increase scale of the expo by 40% over 2011 and attract 220 international buyers, 20 foreign press agencies and 300 sellers (both at home and abroad). There have been 15 countries and territories (Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Turkey, India, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Egypt, Laos, Myanmar, Taiwan, Viet Nam ) and more than 20 provinces and cities (Ca Mau, Dak Lak, Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong, Quang Ninh, An Giang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Hai Duong, Tay Ninh, Da Nang, Thua Thien - Hue, Quang Nam , Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Quang Ngai, Vinh Long, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Ha Giang, Hoa Binh, Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau) which registered to take part in the expo with 260 stalls.
One of main activities of ITE-HCMC 2012 is "International Buyers" program to foster and attract more than 200 buyers from target markets such as ASEAN, Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, North America, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. Attending the program, buyers will meet, exchange and establish business partnerships with domestic and international tourism businesses (sellers).
ITE-HCMC 2012 also has "Regional Buyers" program for travel agencies from 4 countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Viet Nam to strengthen and enhance tourism business opportunities between countries. In addition, the first conference of tourism ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Viet Nam (CLMV); tourism city mayors' conference and CLMV tourism senior officers' meeting will be held to implement tourism development cooperation program between the four countries under an unofficial general agreement between the tourism ministers of the four countries in 2011.
At this year's expo, Tourism Alliance Awards (TAA) continues to be held to recognize and honor excellence tourism businesses of the 4 countries "4CODE" (Four Countries, One Destination - collaboration between Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar). This is considered as a prestigious tourism award in the region.
Especially, in framework of the expo, many culture, art activities also will be organized such as opening ceremony of the expo, "Cambodia night", "Laos night", art performances of Malaysia...
To prepare for the expo, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism assigned Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism to develop and complete the tourism stimulus program with detailed terms and contents to announce at ITE-HCMC 2012.
ITE-HCMC 2012 is expected to welcome about 18,000 visitor arrivals.
Thu Giang