(To Quoc) - On the morning of February 28, in Hanoi, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong had a working session with Mr. Thomas Gass, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Switzerland to Vietnam on promoting tourism cooperation between the two countries.
Expressing his delight at the positive development of the bilateral relationship in recent times, especially after Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working trip to Switzerland last January, Deputy Minister Ho An Phong said that Vietnam and Switzerland have a lot of room and potential for cooperation in the fields of culture, sports and tourism, creating a premise to promote the development of the relationship between the two countries.
In its tourism development plan, Vietnam always considers Switzerland as one of the important markets to focus on development.
Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong worked with Mr. Thomas Gass, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Switzerland to Vietnam.
According to Deputy Minister Ho An Phong, Vietnam and Switzerland have many similarities in natural landscapes and tourism development conditions, but each country has its own unique and attractive characteristics.
Vietnam and Switzerland also have a cooperative relationship in tourism. Switzerland is a country with early and pioneering tourism development, which is an opportunity for Vietnam to learn from its development experience. In fact, Vietnam has many experts and good managers trained in Switzerland.
Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong speaks
Based on the potential and advantages, the Deputy Minister said that Vietnam hopes Switzerland will cooperate and support Vietnam in developing sustainable tourism, developing tourism products, and training high-quality human resources.
The Deputy Minister also hoped that the two countries would cooperate in promoting tourism to each other, positioning themselves as leading tourist destinations in the world. At the same time, both sides would create the most favorable conditions for people and tourists to travel easily, promoting tourism development.
Deputy Minister Ho An Phong also informed that in 2024, Vietnam tourism will welcome 17.6 million international visitors and serve over 110 million domestic visitors. The tourism growth rate is considered by ASEAN countries to be leading the region.
With its increasingly important role and position in ASEAN, Vietnam is ready to become a bridge for countries around the world to expand and develop relations with ASEAN countries through Vietnam.
Highly appreciating the role of Ambassador Thomas Gass in the development of relations between the two countries as well as the cultural, sports and tourism relationship between the two countries, Deputy Minister Ho An Phong hopes that in the coming time, the two sides will further promote cooperation to promote increasingly effective and substantive cooperation.
Promoting cooperation in sustainable tourism development between Vietnam and Switzerland.
Thanking Deputy Minister Ho An Phong for taking the time to meet and work with him, Ambassador Thomas Gass affirmed that the friendly and cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Switzerland has had good developments in recent times.
Ambassador Thomas Gass said that since 2018, Switzerland has had many cooperative activities with Vietnam to promote sustainable tourism development, laying the foundation for the development of tourism relations between the two countries.
Emphasizing that sustainable tourism is one of the important contents in tourism development cooperation, Ambassador Thomas Gass expressed his hope that Vietnam and Switzerland can together gather partners from both the State and private sectors to join hands to build sustainable destinations.
Regarding high-quality human resource training, Ambassador Thomas Gass affirmed that Switzerland is ready to cooperate in training high-quality human resources for tourism. Proud of the hotel and restaurant system with a Swiss management team, Ambassador Thomas Gass hopes that in the near future, the high-class hotel and restaurant system not only in Vietnam but also in Switzerland will be able to be operated and managed by Vietnamese personnel.
Ambassador Thomas Gass speaks
Regarding visa issues, Ambassador Thomas Gass expressed his delight at Vietnam's new, more open visa policies, especially the Vietnamese Government's issuance of Resolution No. 11/NQ-CP dated January 15, 2025 on visa exemption under the Tourism Development Stimulus Program in 2025 for citizens of Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. At the same time, in the coming time, the two countries can build more favorable visa policies, creating conditions for tourism to develop strongly between the two countries.
Ambassador Thomas Gass emphasized that Swiss tourists have many special features. Swiss tourists come to Vietnam not only to visit and take photos but also to be very interested in the issue of sustainable tourism development.
According to the Ambassador, each tourist in each country has different characteristics and travel habits, so each group of tourists must have specific tourism products to attract them. Swiss tourists have the habit of planning their travel early with a series of discovery journeys, and with 20% of Swiss people having 2 passports, people will choose the most suitable tourism products for themselves.
Ambassador Thomas Gass hopes that in the coming time, Vietnam and Switzerland will have more specific exchange activities, so that Vietnam can increasingly attract more potential visitors from Switzerland.
Delegates take souvenir photos.
Thanking Ambassador Thomas Gass for his comments, Deputy Minister Ho An Phong affirmed that Vietnam will create the best conditions to promote tourism development between the two countries in the coming time./.
Source: https://toquocweb.dev.cnnd.vn/thuc-day-hop-tac-phat-trien-du-lich-ben-vung-giua-viet-nam-va-thuy-si-20250228110748634.htm
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