Promoting Vietnam-Thailand tourism cooperation

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding a cooperation program targeted at one million Thai and Vietnamese tourists by 2015 and increased cooperation for further development of the tourism industry of each country in the future.
Known as Land of Golden Pagodas, beautiful beaches and low cost travel, Thailand has become an attractive destination for foreign tourists. Tourism is considered as the most important service sector in the Thai economy, which creates stable jobs and a source of income for many other industries and the whole society. Tourism is also a powerful source of foreign exchange. Last year, Thailand received 19.23 million foreign visitors, up 20.65 percent compared with 2010. Revenue from tourism reached THB776 billion (about US$25.45 billion), an increase of 31 percent over that of 2010. In 2012, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched a promotional program titled Miracle Year aimed at attracting 20.5 million foreign visitors, including visitors from Vietnam. At the same time, the United Nations World Tourism Organization has recognized Thailand’s good development achievements in 2011 and ranked it 11th among the world’s leading countries in terms of tourism revenue (US$26.3 billion, an increase by US$6.2 billion compared with 2010).
Thailand and Vietnam have actively promoted tourism development cooperation. Six airlines firms operating in the air transport market between Thailand and Vietnam have continuously developed. Vietnam is one of the ASEAN countries with a growing number of tourists traveling to Thailand, and has become a potential tourism market of Thailand. Chutathip Chareonlarp, Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Representative Office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said, "We wish to promote tourism cooperation with Vietnam and we have implemented a lot of cooperation programs and achieved impressive results. Most of the tourism cooperation projects have been carried out by our TAT Representative Office in Ho Chi Minh City, focusing on marketing and PR activities to help us attract more Vietnamese tourists to Thailand. We also acted as a sponsor for some travel agencies and organizations to send Vietnamese people to Thailand."
Chutathip Chareonlarp put emphasis on the two countries’ determination to boost tourism cooperation. The two sides have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding a cooperation program that aims to reach one million Thai and Vietnamese tourists by 2015. This will promote the exchange of tourists between Vietnam and Thailand and bilateral cooperation in related activities such as exchange of experiences, mutual support for organizing events to promote tourism, marketing, sales promotion and human resource training. There was the first meeting in Bangkok after signing the MOU. The two countries have been able to share data and knowledge with each other and use the websites as a useful tool. This will help Thailand and Vietnam in sharing a wide range of tourist destinations and attract tourists from a third country. Through tour operators and travel agents, Thailand and Vietnam will jointly exploit the third tourism markets such as the US and Europe with support of TAT overseas offices.
The determination to promote tourism cooperation and development was re-confirmed at the second Vietnam-Thailand Intergovernmental Committee meeting where the two countries agreed to enhance comprehensive cooperation in the field of culture and tourism through specific cooperation programs. According to Panpimon Suwannapongse, Thai Consul-General in Ho Chi Minh City, there are favorable conditions for Vietnamese tourists to travel to Thailand. Without a visa, Vietnamese tourists can travel to Thailand for 30 days by air and 15 days by land. Nowadays, nearly 50 percent of Vietnamese tourists prefer to travel to Thailand by land. This means the two countries can effectively promote this tourism channel. Tour operators and travel agents play an important role. Through marketing activities, they will continue to provide information for tourists from both countries. Thailand is focusing on high-end tourism, especially tourism segments such as golfer and spa or honeymoon and wedding, to attract more Vietnamese tourists to Thailand, not only in Bangkok but also other places such as Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai.
With the recent effects that development cooperation programs had on the tourism industry of the two countries, Chutathip Chareonlarp emphasized that bilateral tourism cooperation will be further strengthened after the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is established by 2015. Vietnam has lots of resorts - this is a very important advantage for tourism development. However, in order to further develop tourism in a sustainable manner, along with upgrading tourism infrastructure and improving the quality of human resources in this field, Vietnam must pay more attention to environmental issues to increase its advantages so that it can attract more Thai tourists and foreign tourists in general. To promote sustainable development and international integration, Vietnam must develop tourism as a key economic sector.