Paris (VNA) – A series of activities, including a photography exhibition, a performanceof traditional musical instruments, an ao dai (traditional long dress) fashion show,and culinary introduction events, impressed visitors at a programme to promote Vietnam’stourism in Paris, France, on March 12.

Speaking at the event, Deputy General Director of the Vietnam NationalAdministration of Tourism Ha Van Sieu stressed that 2018 was a successful year forVietnam’s tourism sector.

Vietnam was honoured by the World Travel Awards as the leading touristdestination in Asia and best golf tourism destination in Asia, and hailed forits wide variety of tourism products and services, he said.

Vietnam is also known as a safe and attractive destination with many touristattractions and friendly, hospitable people, Sieu stressed.

Destinations like Ha Long Bay, Da Nang, Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, andHo Chi Minh City have attracted many tourists around the world, he said.

Thecountry is also a popular venue for many major international events. Recently,Vietnam was very proud to be selected as host of the second DPRK-US summit. Thecapital city of Hanoi will also notably be hosting and organising Formula 1racing in 2020.

The number of international tourists to Vietnam has sharply surged in recentyears. Last year, Vietnam served 15.5 million foreign visitors, nearly doublecompared to those of 2015, with 13 percent coming from European countries.

According to President of the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau PierreSchapira, with 15 weekly direct flights connecting Paris with Hanoi and Ho Chi MinhCity, France is a potential tourism market of Vietnam and a gateway for other Europeantravelers to visit Vietnam.

In 2018, nearly 300,000 French tourists visited Vietnam and about 100,000Vietnamese holidaymakers visited France.

Pierre believed that the bilateral cooperation in tourism between Vietnam andFrance will be promoted in the coming time.

At the event, a memorandum of understanding on cooperation was signed betweenthe Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Promotion Centre and the Vietravel Tourism andMarketing JSC’s French office, marking an important step for HCM City’s tourismsector to have a representative office in the European market.

The centre’s director, Le Truong Hien Hoa, said that the Vietravel office inFrance will serve as a provider of information and publications to introduce andpromote destinations, tours, and tourism products to European visitors, towardsattracting more foreign arrivals to Vietnam.

Participants at the event were introduced to opportunities to participate in the15th International Travel Expo-Ho Chi Minh City (ITE HCMC2019) which is slated for September 5-7.–VNA