Brussels tourism introduced in Viet Nam

On 12 May 2016, in Ha Noi, the Embassy of Belgium in Viet Nam organized a networking dinner to introduce tourism, trade and investment of Brussels to Vietnamese tourism enterprises and press agencies.
In attendance were Ambassador of Belgium to Viet Nam - Ms. Jehanne Roccas, Chief Executive Director of Brussels Invest & Export - Ms. Bénédicte Wilders and Director General of Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism - Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan.
Ms. Jehanne Roccas emphasized that the cooperation between Belgium and Viet Nam has flourished in all fields, especially investment, trade and tourism. This meeting aimed at sharing information and experiences in promoting tourism, investment and business of Brussels; offering opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to expand business in Brussels and Belgium.
According to Director General Nguyen Van Tuan, Viet Nam has more than 90 million people and the number of Vietnameses who can afford to travel Europe has been increasing. Belgium is one of the most popular European destinations for Vietnamese tourists. Europe and Belgium are identified as important source markets of Viet Nam tourism. Viet Nam is striving for facilitating visa procedure and establishing direct air route between Belgium and Viet Nam, strengthening promotional activities and providing information about Vietnamese destinations to Belgians in order to boost tourism development of two countries, said Mr. Tuan.
Ms. Bénédicte Wilders, Chief Executive Director of Brussels Invest & Export, informed that Belgium welcomed 7 million international overnight visitors in 2014 of which 50% were of leisure purpose and the remaining were of MICE purpose. Brussels has become the second conference city worldwide thanks to the presence of the European Union’s headquarter and many international organizations. Each year many congresses, conferences, fairs and trade shows are organized in Brussels. In addition, Belgium is famous for its unique values of history, culture and gastronomy (beer, chocolate…). Brussels also is a green capital, an ideal place for walking, cycling…
For tourism promotion, Brussels Invest & Export worked closely with the Brussels Tourism Agency (Visitbrussels) to organise every year a wide variety of tourism promotion events such as “Brussels Days”. In 2015, Brussels Invest & Export in Ha Noi organized a famtrip to Brussels with the participation of representatives from Viet Nam Tourism Association, 3 tourism enterprises and an airline company.
Hong Nhung.