International Travel Expo opens in HCM City

The 12th International Travel Expo HCM City (ITE HCMC) opened in the southern city in the night of September 7.

The three-day event has 280 booths set up by 32 international tourism agencies, 38 local firms and 31 cities and provinces across the country, Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Tourism, said.

There are airlines, hotels and resorts, and tour companies from 22 countries, including Cambodia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the EAE.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien said that the annual event aims to promote the images of Vietnam’s land and people as well as boost culture and tourism cooperation between Vietnam and foreign countries, especially those in Southeast Asia.

Every year, ITE HCMC brings together international and regional buyers to meet exhibitors for outbound and inbound businesses, Jack Wei, said general manager of Informa Exhibitions, the co-organiser of ITE HCMC.

“We are hosting over 300 buyers, more than 40 percent higher than last year. We have a 15 percent increase in the number of sellers this year,” he said.

At the event, the organising board granted the Mekong Tourism Alliance Awards 2016 to travel businesses which have made outstanding contributions to the development of tourism trademarks of the five Greater Mekong Sub-region countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam).

VNA