Participants at the seminar introducedsome of the strengths in tourism of each country, including eco-tourismand religious tourism in Myanmar , and beach resorts in Vietnam .They also discussed ways to diversify tours, lower prices, increaseservice quality and lure more visitors.
Thedelegates also discussed ways of overcoming difficulties relating tovisas, language, electronic payments and credit cards, and theestablishment of tourism entities in Myanmar .
Myanmar 's Minister of Hotels and Tourism Soe Naing said that countrywas willing to co-operate with Vietnam to remove barriers for mutualbenefit and support tourism enterprises.
VietnamAirlines launched its first direct flight from Hanoi to Yangon inMarch. The new service, using a Fokker 70 aircraft, includes fourflights a week, expected to increase to five per week later this year,when a HCM City-Yangon route would also begin service.
U Phyoe Wai Yar Zar, vice chairman of the Myanmar Marketing Committee,predicted the new routes would boost Myanmar 's tourist arrivals.
"It will also increase connectivity with the memberstates of ASEAN and potentially boost arrivals from third countries," hesaid.
Tony Pham Ha, the owner and chief executiveof Hanoi-based Luxury Travel, said his company had already received anumber of bookings for package tours to Myanmar .
"Luxury Travel is one of the first companies in Vietnam to promotetours to Myanmar and develop niche tourism products for bothVietnamese and Western travelers who want to discover this mystical landfrom Hanoi ," Ha said.
"We are also working withtour operators and travel agents from Myanmar to promote Vietnam," he added. "We would like them to do a familiarisation trip to see thehighlights of our country – the cities, beaches and world heritagesites, such as Ha Long Bay."
According to theMyanmar tourism authority, the country attracted nearly 1,900Vietnamese travellers in 2009, up from more than 1,000 in 2008./.