Around 20 reporters from 13 of the world’s leading tourism magazines are coming to Vietnam on August 5 to survey and write about Vietnamese tourism, announced the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Tourism journalists from National Geographic, Travel & Leisure, CNN Traveller, Voyage, Photographer, Lifestyle Travel Asia, Business Traveller and The Improper will travel across Vietnam, from HCM City to Nha Trang, Da Nang, Hanoi and Quang Ninh.

They will spend more time in outstanding destinations of Vietnam, such as Nha Trang, Da Nang, Hoi An in the central region and Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

They will also learn about cultural activities, daily life, traditional cuisines, and typical handicraft villages of Vietnam.

Besides inviting foreign tourism journalists to Vietnam, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) will advertise the country’s heritages in UNESCO’s World Heritage Magazine, the sole magazine on world heritages.

The Impressive Vietnam campaign will be advertised in JESTAR magazine of Jetstar Airways in September 2009. With over one million readers, this magazine is available on all flights of Jetstar Australia to Australian cities, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Hawaii and Vietnam.

A page about Vietnamese tourism is now in the JESTA Asia magazine of Jetstar Asia Airlines. This page introduces the Impressive Vietnam programmes on all Jetstar flights to Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

VNAT will also market Vietnamese tourism in the UK ABTA Members Handbook in 2010. This is a manual for UK travel agents, and will reach more than 55,000 tourism policymakers, tourism experts and travel agents.

Another page about Vietnam’s tourism will be printed in the ABTA Magazine, which will be presented at big tourism fairs and exhibitions in the world.

To promote its image in the US, VNAT published an advertisement in the worldwide Destination Guide and a publication of the American Society of Travel Agents.

Promotion in China

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to launch new campaigns to introduce Vietnam’s beauty and potential to boost tourism growth and improve Vietnam’s image in the world. One of the key programmes is the Beijing Roadshow.

This will be a key programme to hit the Chinese market, the largest market for Vietnam. China is also a highly potential market with a population of over one billion people, whose incomes are rising.

During the Beijing Roadshow, Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh will pay an official visit to China and attend an Asian ministerial meeting in China.

A seminar, a meeting between officials of the Vietnamese Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry, Vietnamese tourism firms and Chinese tourism officials will be held in Beijing during Tuan’s visit.

The Ministry plans to invite big Chinese newspapers and TV channels to introduce Vietnam and Vietnamese tourism to Chinese people.

VNAT will widely promote the “Impressive Vietnam” campaign in China and invite Chinese partners to participate in a tourism fair and seminar on tourism in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in October 2009 in HCM City.

In China, Vietnam will be introduced as a destination for the winter tourism season, especially for Chinese golfers. In the winter, Chinese golfers often go to Southeast Asian countries to relax and play golf because China has snow in this season. This is an opportunity for Vietnam to attract high-class tourists.

VietNamNet/VH