According to Ha Van Sieu, deputy general director of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the agency has built a Vietnamese tourism space at Viet Xo Cultural Palace to introduce the images of Vietnam to foreign reporters.

Foreign reporters at Viet Xo Cultural Palace

“We have been speeding up the decoration at the palace. Following instructions from the prime minister on tourism promotion, the VNAT has opened thousands of free tours for international reporters who come to Vietnam for the summit. Besides, thousands of free double-decker bus tickets will be offered for the reporters during the summit,” Binh noted.

The VNAT has called on travel firms to conduct short tours to visit Hanoi, Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh and Tam Coc Bich Dong in Ninh Binh Province. The tour providers can open an information stall at the international media centre at Viet Xo Cultural Palace.

The free tours will be carried out from February 27 to March 1.

To date, Saigontourist, Vietravel and TransViet have confirmed to join the tour programme.

Binh highlighted that the summit would be a good opportunity to promote Vietnam’s tourism, citing Singapore which organised the event in 2018 as an example. Thanks to the summit, the number of foreign visitors to Singapore increased by two million in the year.

Meanwhile, representatives from some tour operators have expressed their confidence in attracting the reporters for the tours.

After the summit, the VNAT will implement a tourism promotion campaign in several key markets, Binh said.