Also attending were representatives of a number of units under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; representatives of the Thai Embassy in Vietnam and relevant agencies. Travel of Thailand.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Dusit Manapan thanked the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Deputy Minister Ho An Phong personally for the warm welcome given to the delegation.
Panoramic meeting
Mr. Dusit Manapan informed that the “6 countries, 1 destination” initiative aims to promote regional tourism between Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Malaysia, aiming for a common visa for the 6 countries. The “6 countries, 1 destination” initiative promises to strongly support the development of tourism among ASEAN countries, increase the number of visitors exchanged between countries in the bloc and attract international visitors from all continents. In particular, it helps to increase the experience for tourists by allowing them to visit many destinations.
The initiative, when put into practice, will focus on factors including simplifying entry/exit procedures, including visa support; introducing fast-track entry/exit lanes between the six countries; promoting business networks; and promoting the six-country region as a common destination.
According to Mr. Dusit Manapan, the content of this initiative lies in strengthening tourism cooperation between ASEAN countries; attracting tourists from potential markets such as the United States, Europe and South Asia… In order for the initiative to be implemented soon, Thailand will soon send an official document to Goverment countries to continue exchanging information on the initiative.
Deputy Minister Ho An Phong spoke at the working session
Regarding tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Thailand, Mr. Dusit Manapan assessed that the two countries have great potential to develop transport infrastructure to serve tourism development. In particular, it is necessary to expand road, waterway and air transport connections; creating favorable travel conditions for people of the two countries.
Agreeing with Mr. Dusit Manapan’s proposals, Deputy Minister Ho An Phong said that cooperation between ASEAN member countries in general and Vietnam-Thailand in recent times has taken place comprehensively in all fields, including culture, sports and tourism.
Regarding tourism development cooperation with Thailand, the Deputy Minister expressed his pleasure to know that the cooperation process between the two countries has been going well, achieving many important results. The two countries signed a Government-level tourism cooperation agreement in 1994 and it is still in effect today.
Thailand and Vietnam are among each other’s top 10 tourist markets. After the Covid-19 pandemic, tourist exchanges between the two countries have gradually recovered. In 2022, after reopening, Vietnam welcomed 202.246 Thai visitors (ranked 3rd among countries sending visitors to Vietnam). The number of Vietnamese visitors to Thailand reached 470.000 (ranked 6th among foreign tourists to Thailand).
In 2023, the number of Vietnamese tourists traveling to Thailand increased sharply, reaching nearly 1,03 million. In 2024, Vietnam welcomed about 400.000 Thai tourists.
Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand Dusit Manapan speaks at the meeting.
Regarding promotion, the two sides have coordinated to organize survey teams and market launch programs in the two countries. In 2022, Thailand will participate in the International Travel Fair ITE HCMC Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam participates in TTM+ Fair in Thailand.
Thailand will attend the Mekong Tourism Forum within the framework of the National Tourism Year 2022 held in Hoi An in October 10.2022. In September 9.2023, Thailand will participate in the International Tourism Fair ITE HCMC Ho Chi Minh City. In November 11.2024, Thailand will coordinate with Binh Dinh province to organize a conference to meet and connect businesses.
The two sides support each other in multilateral tourism forums such as ASEAN, UNWTO, APEC, Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), East-West Corridor, Southern Corridor (with Cambodia), Ayeyarwady – Chao Phraya – Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), ASEAN – Japan Center (AJC), ASEAN – Korea Center (AKC), ASEAN – China Center (ACC)…
Regarding the direction of cooperation in the coming time, Deputy Minister Ho An Phong suggested that both sides encourage tourism businesses to cooperate in developing products and connecting destinations of the two countries; consider cooperation to welcome FAM delegations from third countries, especially from source markets and key markets of the two countries such as the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
Deputy Minister Ho An Phong presents souvenir to Advisor to Foreign Minister Dusit Manapan
The national tourism agencies of the two countries continue to support each other in participating in tourism events held in the two countries and coordinate tourism promotion such as fairs, seminars, and promotional events to promote the number of visitors and increase investment and business cooperation.
Vietnam also hopes that Thailand will continue to support human resource training for Vietnam tourism through providing short-term and long-term scholarships; organizing training courses, linking training facilities, etc.
Along with that, the two countries continue to promote the sharing of information and experience in tourism development, consider solutions and directions to promote cooperation to welcome international tourists from third countries.
Regarding the proposals on visa policy, the Deputy Minister emphasized that Vietnam’s visa policy is currently very open to facilitate international tourists entering Vietnam.
Relevant agencies will continue to conduct market research to continue advising and proposing the expansion of the list of countries with unilateral visa exemptions. At the same time, negotiate to expand the list of countries with bilateral and multilateral visa exemptions with Vietnam on a reciprocal basis.
Delegates take souvenir photos at the meeting
Regarding tourism products, the Deputy Minister shared that Vietnam and Thailand are both countries with traditional cultures and strong identities. The two countries can research and cooperate to develop new tourism products to attract tourists in the region and world.
Regarding the development of transport infrastructure for tourism, Deputy Minister Ho An Phong said that Vietnam and Thailand have great potential in connecting waterway and air transport infrastructure. Regarding aviation, the Deputy Minister said that the two countries need to re-evaluate old flight routes; research and expand new flight routes to facilitate travel between the people of the two countries.
The Deputy Minister also hopes that the two countries will meet together to discuss solutions to balance the number of exchange visitors.
Regarding the “6 countries, 1 destination” initiative, the Deputy Minister affirmed: “The Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism highly appreciates Thailand’s proposal to promote self-driving tourism and intra-regional connectivity within ASEAN. The project is an inevitable trend for Vietnam – Thailand and ASEAN countries to develop sustainable tourism, contributing to the socio-economic growth of ASEAN and the countries. The project will also contribute to creating unique tourism products with close connections.”
Deputy Minister Ho An Phong also said that this is a big project. To implement it, countries need to have a careful assessment, especially about the difficulties to overcome.
The Deputy Minister and the Advisor to the Foreign Minister agreed that after the meeting, the two sides shared a lot of useful information, increased mutual understanding, and thereby promoted cultural cooperation. nutrition, tourism between Vietnam and Thailand in the future will reach a new height./.
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