Participating ministers at the event (Photo: VNA)Quang Ninh (VNA) – The 18th ASEAN 3 Tourism Ministers Meeting tookplace in Ha Long city, the northeastern province of Quang Ninh on January 18 aspart of the activities of the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2019 (ATF 2019).
In hisopening speech, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thienstressed the importance of tourism cooperation between ASEAN and its threepartner countries namely China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK).
In 2018, about 30 million Chinese people visited ASEAN countries, an increaseof 30 percent compared to the previous year, while China welcomed 22 millionvisitors from ASEAN, up 105 percent.
Japan and the RoK are also two major tourist markets of ASEAN, with 3 millionASEAN arrivals to Japan last year, up 16 percent, and over 5 million Japanesecitizens visiting ASEAN nations, up 5 percent.
Meanwhile, 2.5 million ASEAN tourists landed in the RoK and 8 million Koreanscame to ASEAN countries.
However, visitors from the three partner countries to ASEAN remain modestcompared to their economic scales and numbers of outbound tourists, Thiennoted.
He expressed his hope that the 18th ASEAN 3 Tourism MinistersMeeting would discuss measures to foster the exchange of tourists between thetwo sides as well as strengthen collaboration in areas of common concern, contributingto boosting cultural exchanges and consolidating the friendship, cooperation andprosperity of ASEAN as well as the three Northeast Asian nations.
At the event, the ASEAN Deputy Secretary-General informed tourism-relatedresults reached at the 21st ASEAN 3 Summit held in Singapore onNovember 15, 2018 and ASEAN 1 Summits.
A Vietnamese representative also briefed the ASEAN 3 tourism cooperation sincethe 17th ASEAN 3 Tourism Ministers Meeting.-VNA
VNA
