With a recent strong growth in international arrivals from Russia, Vietnam's tourism has picked this country as one of the three major source markets, together with South Korea and Japan, to focus promotion activities on.
Nguyen Van Tuan, deputy head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said the Russian market has continuously grown in two recent years, with arrivals growing up to 30% this month compared to a slight rise or a decline in arrivals from Europe and the U.S.
The high season for international tourists is still weeks away, but each week still has 13 flights bringing Russian tourists to coastal cities of Danang and Nha Trang.
"This market will receive a lot of promotion activities, and Russian partners will be invited to Vietnam," Tuan said.
Together with VNAT, some provinces and enterprises are also in preparation for marketing activities in Russia. Some provinces such as Binh Thuan, Thua Thien-Hue and Danang City will attend the international tourism fair Leisure Moscow 2012 taking place in Russia on September 19-22.
Meanwhile, Danang City, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam provinces will join hands to promote and introduce tourism potentials of the three localities to Russian partners and media agencies.
Currently, there is one charter flight from Russia to Danang each week, but the city wants to open the direct flight from Moscow to increase the number of tourists.
Over 100,000 Russian tourists visited Vietnam last year, and the number of Russian tourists in this year’s first eight months has also reached this level. Vietnam expects to welcome 300,000 Russian tourists in 2014.