Vietnam, Russia enhance tourism cooperation

Nguyen Hong Thanh, Vietnamese Economic and Commercial Consul, the head of the branch, said that the event attracted the participation of more than 30 delegates from Russia’s Moscow, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok cities, and Vietnam’s Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Khanh Hoa and Binh Thuan provinces.

It aimed to create an opportunity for the two sides to introduce, promote and find cooperative solutions to increase the two-way exchange of tourists, thereby helping to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and promote economic, trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and Russia.

Vietnam welcomed more than 646,500 Russian tourist arrivals in 2019. But the figure reduced to less than 70,000 last year, although it has opened its full door to international visitors since March 2023, and offered 45-day visa exemption for Russian citizens since August 15, 2023. The main reason was said to be due to the lack of direct flights connecting Russian cities to Vietnamese localities.

Evgenia Mikhailova, Director of the Irkutsk Tourism Department, expressed her hope that travelling between the two countries will be more convenient in 2024 to help increase the number of Russian visitors to Vietnam.