The tourism sector needs to work closely together with other sectors, including transport and education, to make full use of their infrastructure to spur tourism development.
Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho Anh Tuan made the suggestion at the recent 8th APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Macau, China.
Noting the strong development of the internet, social networks, and smart devices, Mr. Tuan suggested APEC member states support each other in using new information and communication technology concerning services, management and advertising, in the tourism sector.
They should consider building a website on tourism promotion which links to official tourism websites of each country and developing a joint forum on APEC tourism between tourists and travel management agencies, Mr. Tuan added.
Mr. Tuan emphasised that in recent times, despites difficulties and challenges caused by the world economic downturn, Viet Nam’s tourism sector has still obtained impressive growth. It is currently making every effort in pooling investment and development resources, removing barriers, and increasing connectivity between regions, in order to develop typical products.
Mr. Tuan affirmed Viet Nam wants to expand tourism cooperation with trusted partners, particularly APEC member countries, contributing to the grouping’s common prosperity.
Participants at the meeting discussed five main topics, including integration of Asia-Pacific tourism markets, facilitating transformation and growth of the tourism sector, promoting intelligent tourism with modern technology and interconnection of Asia Pacific travel, and encouraging low-carbon development and co-operation between tourism operators.
The APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting has been held biannually since 2000 to devise tourism development policy orientations for the grouping, creating a foundation for building and implementing cooperative projects.