《TAIPEI TIMES》 Taiwan, Vietnam seek to draw 2 million tourists

BACK TO NORMAL: The number of travelers from Taiwan to Vietnam and vice versa so far this year is on track to match pre-COVID-19 levels in 2019

/ Staff writer, with CNA

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Taiwan and Vietnam aim to attract 2 million tourists between the countries next year under an agreement signed earlier this week, the Tourism Administration said yesterday.

The nations on Monday held their 10th tourism meeting in Vietnam’s Thanh Hoa Province, where representatives signed a memorandum of understanding on seven points of cooperation, the tourism agency said in a news release.

Under the agreement, the two sides would cooperate on tourism promotion, talent cultivation, culinary exchanges and travel safety management, as well as links between travel destinations, it said.

They also committed to improving personnel training, supporting thematic tours, enhancing safety and bolstering ties among travel associations from Taiwan and Vietnam, it added.

No timetable was given for when the two sides hoped to reach the 2 million target, but it would be nearly 60 percent higher than the 2019 figure of 1.26 million, as travel rebounds from pre-COVID-19 levels.

About 332,000 people traveled to Taiwan from Vietnam in the first 10 months of this year, about 97 percent of the number of visitors during the same period in 2019, the Tourism Administration said.

Meanwhile, 679,087 people from Taiwan traveled to Vietnam, about 98 percent of the level for the same period in 2019, it said.

For the whole of 2019, 405,396 people from Vietnam traveled to Taiwan, while 853,257 travelers from Taiwan visited Vietnam, it added.

It was unclear how many of those visitors came to Taiwan for leisure travel.

Whether in 2019 or this year, only about 36 percent of visitors to Taiwan listed “leisure” as the purpose of their visit, Tourism Administration data showed, as many Vietnamese who come to Taiwan are migrant workers.

At the meeting, Taiwan Visitors Association chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan （葉菊蘭） and Vietnam Tourism Association chairman Vu The Binh signed the memorandum of understanding to boost cooperation on tourism, under which the annual Taipei International Travel Fair would cooperate with the Vietnam International Travel Mart trade show on multiple events, to bolster partnerships between the nations’ private and public sectors, the news release said.

Taiwan and Vietnam have taken turns hosting the annual meeting since 2012, in a bid to introduce and connect Taiwanese tourism companies and localities with Vietnamese tourism authorities and agencies.

The countries are to hold their next meeting in November next year in Taichung, the Tourism Administration said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES