Regional cities in tourism deal

Phnom Penh, Vientiane and HCMC on Thursday signed an agreement on tourism cooperation through promoting and connecting tourism products, boosting regional tourism, developing human resources and exchanging students.
The agreement was signed at the summit on tourism of Mekong Subregion cities held in HCMC on Thursday.
The three sides have agreed on selecting the International Travel Expo HCMC as an event connecting tourism promotion programs for a single destination encompassing the three cities, and there will be at least one program to promote bilateral or multilateral tourism organized each year.
Besides, a student exchange program between the three countries may be organized next year. At the summit, HCMC has proposed creating the website mekongsubregiononedestination to promote the tourism image, and the cities will jointly run promotion events in Northeast Asian countries and China.
According to HCMC chairman Le Hoang Quan, this is the first time the three cities have discussed and made a pledge on tourism cooperation which serves as a foundation for extending cooperation into other spheres. The cities are also trying to improve the quality of services, facilitate the passenger transport to develop the regional tourism and attract international tourists.
The transport between HCMC and Phnom Penh has been quite easy for tourists with around 40 buses and many flights daily. However, the transport from HCMC to Vientiane is not that easy, and cities need to work on this issue, said Quan.
Luckily, “the transport ministers of Vietnam and Laos are studying and may open the HCMC-Vientiane air service next year,” he said.
This summit will be made an annual event for the three cities, and representatives from other cities in the Mekong Sub-region will be invited to join.