Italy wants to boost tourist flows with Vietnam, while Vietnamese tourism is considered a "rising star" in Italy, according to Alessandra Priante, Director of the Italian National Tourism Board (ENIT).

She made the comments when meeting with Director General of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Trung Khanh in Milan, Italy, on June 27, during a roadshow aimed at promoting Vietnamese tourism in Italy.

An overview of the event. Photos: Tourism Information Technology Center

During the meeting, the two sides reaffirmed the need to strengthen tourism cooperation between the two countries in the coming period. They called on the governments of the two countries to consider signing a new bilateral tourism cooperation agreement and establishing a direct flight route from Vietnam to Italy to expand mutual economic and tourism ties.

The two sides also pledged to strengthen connectivity, support information exchange and jointly launch tourism activities between the two countries in the coming period.

Speaking at the roadshow, Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Duong Hai Hung said that Italy is Vietnam's third largest trade market in Europe.

The Ambassador affirmed that the intensification of tourism exchanges is an important part of the cooperation between the two nations. He noted that there have been many activities and programs recently aimed at promoting Italian culture and tourism in Vietnam and vice versa.

Italy is a traditional and leading European source market for Vietnamese tourism. In 2023, Vietnam welcomed around 57,000 Italian visitors, or more than 80% of the pre-Covid-19 level, according to VNAT.

Nguyen Trung Khanh of VNAT said that the Vietnam Tourism Roadshow in Italy was a great opportunity for tourism businesses in both countries to share updated information, advance business cooperation and tourism exchanges, and prepare for a new and more robust development period.

He added that convenient direct flights, simple entry and exit procedures, attractive destinations and tourism products, and the warm hospitality of the Vietnamese people are ideal conditions for fostering tourism cooperation between the two countries.

At the event, Italian travel agencies expressed keen interest in Vietnam's tourism policies and incentives.  

Business to business meeting between Italian and Vietnamese companies.

Giordano Nobile, President of the Italian Federation of Travel Agents and Tourism (Fiavet) in the Lombardy region, said they have been running programs in Vietnam, so this event is an important opportunity for them to have direct contact and exchange with Vietnamese authorities and companies.

"We will focus on further deepening our cooperation with tourism partners as well as the Vietnamese Embassy to send more and more of our travellers to your beautiful and attractive destinations," he told the Vietnam News Agency.

President of Turismi.Ai, Eduardo Comlombo, told the Vietnam News Agency: "We are really interested in developing international relations, including with Vietnamese partners. Through this event, we can exchange and find excellent experiences and products to expand cooperation and apply them to promote sustainable tourism and smart destinations."

Meanwhile, Luca Carminati, Director of Green Marketing, sees this as a great opportunity for companies from both countries to explore each other's markets.

"For us, today's wonderful event has brought new information and helped us discover many attractive aspects of Vietnam. Through this initiative, with the growing public interest, I believe the activities of Italian travel agencies in Vietnam as well as Vietnamese partners in Italy will continue to develop strongly," he told the Vietnam News Agency.

Le Y Linh, Director of the Vietravel office in France, who took part in the business-to-business meeting, said that the company wanted to reach out to the professional community and tourism companies in Italy, as the market is very important for them.

The Vietnam Tourism Fair in Italy is one of several events planned to promote travel to Europe, with others taking place in France and Germany.