Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) 2024 will be held from April 11 to 14 at the ICE International Exhibition Center (Hanoi Friendship Cultural Palace), 91 Tran Hung Dao Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi.

The fair, with the theme "Vietnam Tourism - Green Transition for Sustainable Development", is hoped to attract more than 450 booths and about 80,000 visitors, including 3,500 Vietnamese and international enterprises.

Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) Vu The Binh talks to The Hanoi Times about the market's new features.

The Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Industry Association gives a speech at the press conference of VITM on March 20. Photo: VITA

VITM is the largest tourism event of the year. What's new for the year?

VITM Hanoi 2024 will take place when the government and industry are determined to fully restore tourism.

In this context, the activities of the Vietnam Tourism Association are in line with this determination, including VITM Hanoi 2024. Thus, the event will focus on solutions to increase the number of visitors and ensure tourism growth.

Currently, all economies in the world are focusing on green transformation. Three years ago, the theme of VITM Hanoi was "Green Tourism". This year we have chosen the theme "Vietnam Tourism - Green Transition for Sustainable Development". The transformation includes building green products, green services, green tourism trails, and other activities to make Vietnam's tourism products more attractive and innovative.

Another novelty is the large number of booths at the fair, the VITM atmosphere before the Covid-19 outbreak. At present, there are 51 provinces and cities nationwide. 16 countries/territories have registered to open booths. This shows that we are back to a busy atmosphere, which shows that Vietnamese tourism is trying to be on the rise in order to be able to return to its position as a strong tourism industry in the region.

The Vietnam Tourist Association's target for international tourist arrivals is 20 million, why is it so confident to reach this objective?

What gives us confidence is that from 2022, then 2023, there has been more and more enthusiasm from companies. By 2024, we believe that with the determination of businesses and some favorable conditions, we can achieve this goal.

Our visa policy is very innovative. We are increasing the visa-free stay to 45 days and the electronic visa to 90 days. Therefore, with such a strong and open policy, we believe that there are a lot of opportunities for the tourism industry.

Domestic tourism is currently much lower than last year, but both inbound and outbound tourism have been growing rapidly. The fact that the number of domestic tourists has decreased in the past two months makes us understand that we need to work harder. Tourism professionals must understand the difficulties and find ways to overcome the obstacles so that we can achieve our set goals.

During VITM 2024, airlines will offer 10,000 low-cost tickets. Photo: Ngo Minh/The Hanoi Times

Would green tourism be on the agenda of this year's VITM?

VITM focuses on commercial activities, buying and selling, business exchanges, and introducing tourism products while discussing development orientation. On April 12, we will open a forum entitled "Vietnam Tourism - Green Transition for Sustainable Development" to seek solutions for the green transformation of Vietnamese tourism. Enterprises nationwide and experts from related agencies will discuss what green transformation in tourism is and which agencies should be involved.

There are hotels that say no to plastic waste and restaurants that say no to waste, not just plastic waste. This means that there are shining examples of green tourism development. This fair will have many meetings and seminars to discuss these issues.

We hope that the concept of green transformation will be widely adopted by tourism enterprises. Together with digital transformation, it can become two wings of the tourism industry and help Vietnam's green economy take off in the near future.

What kind of numbers do you expect to see at this year's VITM Hanoi?

Currently, more than 600 companies have registered to have booths at the fair. We are confident that there will be about 3,000 tourism companies in attendance across the country. And the number of visitors could be as high as 80,000. It's not as many as in 2019, before the pandemic. But in the current context, it will definitely be a big number. We are confident that the fair will be a great success, especially since the atmosphere of preparation among the companies participating in the fair has been very exciting until today.

Visitors have a chance to buy cheap tours, right?

With promotional tours, discounted air tickets, cheap hotel rooms and One Commune - One Product (OCOP) products from localities across Vietnam, visitors to the event can enjoy interesting experiences. However, we do not promote cheap tourism. We focus on a good quality tourist experience.

VITM Hanoi aims to contribute to the transformation of Vietnam's tourism into a green industry and to enhance Vietnam's image in the international arena. It is not only a tourism fair but also a platform for exchange, cooperation and sustainable development of Vietnam's tourism industry.

Thanks for your time.