On 18th June, the Mekong Tourism Symposium took place in Da Nang with the participation of international tourism experts, representatives of national tourism agencies, tourism-based businesses and hotels of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). The event was part of the Mekong Tourism Forum 2015, themed “Unlocking the potential of Mekong tourism via innovative partnerships”, which was hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Viet Nam in the city from 15th to 18th June.
The Mekong Tourism Forum is the most important event in the framework of tourism cooperation among GMS nations. The annual forum aimed to boost connectivity and partnership for tourism development in the GMS. It was also a great opportunity for GMS member countries to share tourism development experiences and introduce distinctive tourism products to international stakeholders.
The GMS, which includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam and China’s Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, has been deemed full of tourism potential given cultural and natural richness with dozens of heritages recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). In 2014, the GMS welcomed approximately 54 million international arrivals, accounting for 20.5% of the total number of tourists to the Asia – Pacific Region, with a total revenue of more than 61 billion USD. It is forecasted that the GMS will receive over 70 million international tourists and earn nearly 90 billion USD in revenue by 2020.
To reach this target, the GMS needs to cooperate in building distinctive and diversified tourism products with high-quality services; strengthen tourism promotion and publicity; and make more investment in infrastructure to meet the increasing demands of tourists and create more opportunities for investors.
The Deputy Minister for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Le Khanh Hai, emphasised that tourism has become an increasingly important economic sector for Viet Nam in recent years. He added that a new cooperation mechanism increasing connectivity among tourism destinations of the GMS would allow its member countries to diversify their tourism products and satisfy tourists’ growing demand and increasingly diverse tastes.
Quynh Dan
Da Nang Hosts Mekong Tourism Forum 2015 Related image(s)
0 comments:
Post a Comment