Director General Nguyen Van Tuan warmly welcomed the visit of Ms. Sandra Howard Taylor to Viet Nam and appreciated Colombia’s unique culture imbued with South American regional identity. Due to long distance, Viet Nam and Colombia have not had much cooperative opportunity in tourism field. The Director General hoped to explore Colombia’s tourism potentials when he attends World Tourism Alliance’s General Assembly which will be held in Colombia in September, 2015.

At the meeting, Director General Nguyen Van Tuan introduced Viet Nam’s history, culture and natural resources and the achievements of Viet Nam tourism. He affirmed that tourism sector has been playing an important role in the economic and social development of Viet Nam.

Director General Nguyen Van Tuan believed that the meeting between VNAT and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia would be a new milestone of tourism cooperation relationship between Viet Nam and Colombia. In the coming time, the two sides will promote to sign agreements of tourism collaboration.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Sandra Howard Taylor expressed her pleasure for the warm reception of VNAT and highly valued Viet Nam’s longstanding culture and history. She suggested to discuss more about contents of cooperation in details with Viet Nam’s tourism sector after finishing the visit.

She also introduced the improvements of tourism environment in Colombia in recent years. Colombian Government has invested in infrastructure, airlines, preserving tourism resources and biodiversity with the aim of attracting more international tourists. In 2014, Colombia received approximately 4.1 million international arrivals.

In the framework of the visit to Viet Nam, the Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism will have further meetings in Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Thanh Tam