The conference had the attendances of Deputy Director General of VNAT Ha Van Sieu and representatives of departments and functional units under VNAT; representatives of EU project, Viet Nam Tourism Association, Vietnam Airlines; tourism enterprises and numerous international and domestic press.

At the press conference, Ms. Mary McKeon, leader of expert group of EU project introduced new policies and offerings of Viet Nam tourism. Accordingly, Viet Nam tourism was identified as a key economic sector. In 2015, Government of Viet Nam issued many important policies to facilitate immigration procedures and tourism environment improvement, whereby contributing to promoting tourism development in the new situation, notably the policy on visa exemption for citizens of U.K, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Belarus (from 1 July 2015). This important policy makes increasing the number of countries whose citizens are exempt visa to Viet Nam up to 22 countries (along with 9 ASEAN countries and 7 other countries including Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Japan and the Republic of Korea).

Owning many beautiful landscapes, unique cultural, historical, culinary values, and luxury resorts, in recent years, Viet Nam has emerged as a world-class destination, offering many new, diversified and true experiences for tourists. Viet Nam was voted as “One of top 20 destinations in 2014” by the Telegraph Magazine (U.K), “One of the top 10 destinations in the world” by the Wanderlust Magazine (U.K) and ranked 3^rd among top 10 destinations in 2015 by Forbes Magazine (U.S). Besides, many famous tourist sites in Viet Nam were also appreciated by the prestigious international tourism websites. Ha Long Bay ranked 2^nd among top 15 amazing rock formations in the world” by BBC Earth (U.S), Ha Noi ranked 4^th among top destinations chosen by tourists by TripAdvisors (U.S), Hoi An is voted “One of the 10 leading tourist cities in the world” by Wanderlust Magazine (U.K) ...

In 2015, in addition to world famous tourist sites like Ha Noi Capital, Ha Long Bay, Sa Pa Town, Complex of Hue Monuments, Hoi An Ancient Town, Ho Chi Minh City and beach resorts in Da Nang City, Nha Trang City (Khanh Hoa Province), Binh Thuan Province, many new tourist sites and services of Viet Nam have also attracted international tourists, typically discovering tour of Son Doong Cave (Quang Binh Province); experiencing the landscape and local life in Global Geo-park Dong Van Kart Plateau (Ha Giang Province); admiring World Natural Heritage – Ha Long Bay by seaplane; river tour in Mekong River Delta or enjoying the tropical marine tourism paradise in Phu Quoc Island (Kien Giang Province)…

In the framework of the press conference, representative of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Tourism introduced unique tourism products of Ho Chi Minh City - one of the most dynamic tourism cities in Viet Nam. Every year, the city attracts 70% of international tourist arrivals to Viet Nam thanks to good infrastructure, convenient transportation, plentiful tourism resources.

Also at the press conference, many new policies and services of Vietnam Airlines was also introduced. Vietnam Airlines is the first airline in Asia putting into operation two new aircraft types of Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and Airbus's A350-900; at the same time is the first airline exploiting the direct route between Southeast Asia and Europe by Boeing 787-9. The change in visa policy of Viet Nam is a great opportunity for tourists to experience the superior service of new aircraft generation of Vietnam Airlines, and also attract more tourists to Viet Nam.

Thu Giang

Photo: Diem Phi