The forum provided an opportunity for countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) to promote tourism, share experience in developing the sector, and introduce tourism services and products to international friends.
Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Khanh Hai stressed that the GMS, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and China’s Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, possess an abundance of natural resources with dozens of UNESCO-recognised natural and cultural heritages.
In Vietnam, thanks to support from the Government, active efforts made by businesses and the positive participation of the entire community, tourism has reaffirmed its position as an important economic sector, he said.
Vietnam attaches great importance to fostering tourism co-operation with GMS countries and international organisations, he emphasised.
He expressed his belief that with strong determination and close co-operation among national tourism agencies as well as support from international organisations and the active participation of enterprises and relevant parties, the GMS will quickly become an attractive and dynamic tourism market for investors.
He also took the occasion to announce that Da Nang city was chosen to host the 2016 Asia Beach Games.
Participants at the forum pointed out that from 2015 onwards, many difficulties will challenge tourism in the GMS due to consequences from climate change, natural disasters, disease, political conflicts in some regions, as well as enhanced competitiveness from other countries and regions.
Therefore, they stressed the need for tourism sectors in GMS countries to exert effort to overcome such obstacles, take advantage of support from strategic investors in order to develop new tourism products with higher quality and competiveness.
The forum, which was a key event held under the GMS co-operation framework, also included Mekong tourism conference, the 35th meeting of GMS Tourism Working Group, and conventions on tourism products, marketing and tourism investment.
Statistics from the World Tourism Organisation has shown that the number of international visitors to the GMS has continuously increased since 2002 with an average annual growth rate of about 12%.
In 2014 the region earned over US$ 61 billion in revenue, welcoming nearly 54 million foreign holidaymakers, up 8.2% as compared to 2013, accounting for about 20% of the total number of visitors to the Asia – Pacific.
The region is estimated to receive more than 70 million international holidaymakers and generate nearly US$90 billion in revenue by 2020.
