Hoi An to Host APEC Tourism Ministerss Forum

The ancient town of Hoi An, the World Heritage site in central Quang Nam province will host the 29th meeting of the APEC Tourism Working Group (TWG) and the 4th APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting (TMM) from October 12-19, according to the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism (VNAT).

 

At the TWG meeting, slated for October 12-14, delegates from APEC member economies will propose and launch the implementation of APEC tourism cooperation projects with the intention of making tourism become a key industry in the region.

 

The TMM, themed “Boosting APEC Tourism Cooperation for the Common Wealth,” will discuss a number of issues relating to APEC tourism cooperation, including guaranteeing safety for visitors, developing tourism policies, and upgrading tourism infrastructures, according to Pham Tu, deputy head of VNAT.

 

Speeding up exchanges of tourism information, protecting environment, and preserving cultural characters for sustainable tourism development will also be high on the agenda of the meeting.

 

Particularly, the meeting will approve "Hoi An statement about intensifying APEC tourism cooperation," offering Quang Nam province a chance to popularize its tourism image of "Two world heritage sites at one destination."

 

The APEC region is home to major tourism markets of Vietnam. Accordingly, outcomes of those meetings will constitute a bridge in enhancing bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and other APEC member economies, especially in tourism, Tu said.

 

“It would be a ‘golden’ chance for Vietnam to promote and advertise its tourism,” Vo Thi Thang, head of VNAT noted, adding that the country is expected to welcome around more than one thousand of high-ranking state leaders from East Asia and North America to Vietnam during the APEC’s events.

 

“We are gearing up preparations for the events. All works will be finished before they start,” Thang said.

 

The APEC group consists of 21 member economies including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

 

Currently, the number of arrivals from APEC member nations to Vietnam accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total figure of international tourists to Vietnam.