It has also called on localities and businesses to join these activities, helping improve the efficiency of the work.

This year, the agency will continue to participate in annual international tourism fairs and tourism development programmes in many countries, including Thailand and Germany.

It will collaborate with the Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibition under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to promote the Vietnamese tourism trademark through exhibiting traditional lacquer paintings and products in the UK.

VNAT expects to welcome 10 delegations from key markets such as China, Japan, Russia, the US and the Republic of Korea to study local tourism.

The administration will also attend a string of tourism promotion activities nationwide, including the second Viet Nam International Tourism Fair in Hanoi in April. The fair is expected to attract 22 countries and territories who will showcase their products across 150 booths.

Also in 2014, the agency will implement many programmes to support the development of tourism products in the Mekong Delta region and along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It has also planned to organise professional training courses for tour guides and improve foreign languages for those in charge of tourism work.

Viet Nam ’s tourism sector expects to receive 8 million international visitors, serve 37.5 million domestic tourists and earn 230 billion VND (10.8 million USD) this year.

In the first of this year, Viet Nam welcomed over 2.3 million foreign visitors, a year-on-year rise of 29.3 percent, according to the General Statistic Office (GSO).

In 2013, the country received more than 7.5 million international tourists, a 10.6 percent rise over 2012, bringing 200 trillion VND (9.4 billion USD) to the state coffers.

Most international markets also saw tourist increases over the same time, including Russia (71.1 percent), China (33.5 percent), Thailand (19.3 percent), Indonesia (15.7 percent) and Malaysia (13.5 percent).