Developing green and sustainable tourism on the grounds of preserving and exploiting traditional cultural values, in association with environmental protection, is the trend of the era.

Delegates cut the ribbon to open the VITM Hanoi 2023.

The remark was made by Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung, at the opening ceremony of the Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM), themed “Cultural tourism”, on April 13 in Hanoi.

This year’s event features 450 pavilions.

This year’s event features 450 pavilions from 51 provinces and cities nationwide, and 15 foreign countries and territories.

The four-day event is expected to attract over 60,000 visitors and representatives from 3,000 businesses, that are interested in seeking cooperation opportunities and partners.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said, tourism is considered a “smokeless industry”, making an important contribution to the economic development, not only in Vietnam but also in many countries around the world.

He said that tourism is also a bridge to connect tradition with modernity, and peoples and cultures around the world.

Hung went on to say that tourism development contributes to generating revenue for the preservation and promotion of cultural values. Meanwhile, preserved cultural heritages and resources will create a unique feature that is attractive to tourists.

The minister said he hoped localities will join hands with travel enterprises to develop products in the direction of “each locality must have a unique tourism product”, and set up tours and tourism routes to optimise tourism potential and suit the tastes of visitors.

A highlight of the fair will be a forum on Vietnamese cultural tourism development with the participation of local and international delegates.

A seminar on reducing plastic waste in the tourism industry will be also arranged within the event's framework, focusing on measures to promote sustainable tourism development associated with environmental protection.

Vietnam received more than 2.7 million foreign visitors and 28 million domestic tourists in the first quarter of this year.

The country aims to welcome about 8 million foreign tourist arrivals from a total of 110 million, and earn about 650 trillion VND (USD27.5 billion) from tourism in 2023, acco

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