Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has recentlyapproved a project to organise the Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM), promotingit as an important international and national tourism event.

Thefair is designed to create opportunities for localities, organisations, andenterprises to popularise their tourism products and develop businessconnections. It will also enhance Vietnam’s tourism image, contributing towardsdeveloping tourism into a spearhead economy for the nation.

Underthe project, from 2020, the VITM will be held annually in April in Hanoi or HoChi Minh City, and its themes will be in line with market trends and demand oftourism development.

Theevent will feature at least 300 pavilions, with 25 percent of theminternational firms.

Thenumber of international tourist arrivals to Vietnam in the third quarter ofthis year increased 14.9 percent against the same period last year, accordingto the General Statistics Office (GSO).

However,the figure was still lower than those in the first and second quarters whichstood at 30.9 percent and 23.1 percent, respectively.

BetweenJanuary and September, Vietnam welcomed some 11.61 million foreignholiday-makers, a year-on-year rise of 22.9 percent, with visitors by air, roadand sea up 17.4 percent, 62.1 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Touristsfrom Asia rose 27.2 percent; Europe, 9.8 percent; America, 12.5 percent;Oceania, 6.3 percent; and Africa, 19.5 percent.

TheUS has remained one of Vietnam’s top five tourism markets with the number ofvacationers to the country exceeding 614,000 in 2017, up 11 percent against2016. As of August 2018, Vietnam had served 486,000 US holiday-makers, ayear-on-year increase of 14.5 percent.-VNA