Roadshow Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City Tourism in Cambodia will connect tourism businesses between the two countries and attract tourists from the capital Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City in particular and tourists from the Cambodian market to Vietnam in general (Photo: Vtr)

The Roadshow Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City Tourism in Cambodia aims to promote tourism cooperation between the two countries in general and between Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh City in particular. Therefore, Cambodian businesses and people will better understand the types of tourism services of Ho Chi Minh City. At the same time the roadshow provides many opportunities for tourism cooperation between the two sides.

Giving his opening remark, H.E. Mr. Ngo Van Tuat, Minister Counselor of the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia said, both countries have unique cultures, historical heritage sites and world-famous natural and majestic beauty, recognized by UNESCO, such as Angkor Wat (Cambodia) or Ha Long Bay (Vietnam).

Tourism is one of the industries that receive huge attention from leaders from central to local levels of both countries. Therefore, this field has made great progress, contributing to the growth of the economy, creating many jobs for workers. On 6th May 2023, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam and the Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism for the period 2023-2028. These are important prerequisites for implementing cooperation in practice, stated H.E. Mr. Ngo Van Tuat.

Highly appreciated the organisation of the Roadshow, H.E. Mr. Prak Chandara, Under Secretary of State of the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism stressed, the programme provides many useful information, creating an attraction for tourists of both Cambodia and Vietnam, especially during the recovery period post the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with the success of the International Travel Expo - Ho Chi Minh City (ITR-HCMC) for the past 16 years onward, the Ministry of Tourism of the Kingdom of Cambodia will continue to attend, support and cooperate more at the 17th ITE-HCMC in September 2023.

Speaking at the Roadshow, Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism said, tourism businesses of Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular have organised many programmes to bring Vietnamese tourists to Cambodia. The Roadshow will contribute to creating new opportunities for both Vietnamese and Cambodian tourism businesses to gain greater insights into the potential for further cooperation, thereby capturing the travel demand and expanding linkages moving forward.

Accordingly, medical examination and treatment services of Ho Chi Minh City have made many improvements in quality, with a system of modern facilities, including 131 public and private hospitals. The medical staff and doctors are highly qualified and the costs for medical examination and treatment activities are at a reasonable level.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and the municipal Department of Health have been coordinating efforts to help tourism firms complete medical tourism product packages, Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu revealed.

In the framework of the Roadshow, representatives of about 15 tourism and medical businesses of Ho Chi Minh City and their Cambodian partners exchanged information, explored cooperation possibilities, and facilitated the people of the two countries to combine travel with health examination and treatment.

According to statistics, in Vietnam, before the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2019, the tourism industry contributed about 9% to GDP and created about 1.3 million jobs. Post the pandemic, Vietnam has promptly restored tourism and has achieved positive results. Total tourist receipts in 2022 reached about USD20.9 billion.

Meanwhile, in Cambodia, tourism is a spearhead economic sector and one of the four important pillars of the economy. Before the pandemic outbreak, on average, Cambodia's tourism industry contributed more than 12% to GDP each year. In 2022, there were more than 2.37 million international visitor arrivals to Cambodia. This year, the Government aims to welcome more than 4 million international visitor arrivals.

In 2022, there are about 200,000 Cambodian visitor arrivals to Vietnam, ranking the 4th among international tourist source markets to Vietnam. In the first 5 months of 2023, Vietnam also welcomed more than 167,000 tourist arrivals from Cambodia, accounting for 3.63% of the total number of international visitors to Vietnam.

On the other hand, Vietnam is one of the largest markets sending tourists to Cambodia. In 2022, more than 466 thousand visitor arrivals, accounting for 21.7% of the total number of visitors to Cambodia, ranking the 2nd in the list of international tourist markets to this country. In the first 3 months of 2023, Vietnamese visitors to Cambodia reached over 200,000 arrivals.

Tourism Information Technology Center