The consensus among travel executives, such as those in the US, is that the upcoming year doesn’t appear to be all that promising for international luxury travel to Vietnam, said representatives of VNAT.
This is primarily because travellers in the US and around the globe have strong reservations about safety and security while abroad, largely revolving around terrorism.
Still, despite the bleak outlook, in the short term we will focus on branding Vietnam and Hanoi as a tourism destination to further promote travel to our country, said Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Vinh Ai.
The doors of Vietnam are open to the world and we are cautiously optimistic about tourism over the coming year, Mr Ai said.
However, we are also taking a long-term outlook, he said, noting that at this year’s expo Vietnam Tourism is signing a memorandum of understanding with US Tourism and we are hoping it will pan out in future years.
Last year's expo was visited by 60,000 people and we are confident of a similar turnout this year.
