Regional tourism ministers meet in HCM City
Tourism ministers from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar met at two important meetings in Ho Chi Minh City on September 7, as part of the 13th International Travel Expo in the city (ITE HCMC 2017).
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The 3th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) and 4th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) minister meetings both took place on the day. The ACMECS consists of CLMV countries and Thailand.
Addressing the function, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien stressed cooperation in the two mechanisms have promoted and connected tourist destinations across the region.
He highlighted the southern coastal corridor and East – West economic corridor which connect most countries in the region and the region with source markets.
Thien said he wants to joint regional ministers and delegates in looking for solutions to effectively implement the ACMECS and CLMV tourism action plans for 2016 – 2018, with a focus on promotion activities, connection, product development, engagement of private sector and local communities, and human resources.
He said the conference is an opportunities for regional ministers to work for better coordination in line with the Hanoi Declaration of the 7th ACMECS Summit and Joint Statement of the 8th CLMV Summit.
Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, took the occasion to introduce the southern economic hub’s potentials, saying it hosted 2.7 million foreigners in the first six months of 2017, an annual increase of 14%.
The city aims to make tourism a spearheaded sector by 2020, he noted.
In 2016, the five countries together welcomed 54.8 million international visitors, up 4.9% from 2015. The number of intra-region tourists amounted to 8.95 million.
