Ba Ria – Vung Tau (VNA) – A seminar to promote tourism cooperationbetween the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau with a number of localities nationwide took place in the locality on December 24.

Ba Ria – Vung Tau signed cooperation agreements on tourism development with localitiesin the Southeast region, including Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc,Binh Thuan, Dong Nai and Tay Ninh, and others such as Hanoi, Dak Lak and CanTho, with the aim to further promote tourism linkages, especially amiddifficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to DeputyDirector of the provincial Department of Tourism Tran Thi Thu Hien, with itspotential and advantages for tourism development, Ba Ria – Vung Tau has become a favoritedestination for tourists.

Many high-qualitytourism projects have been invested in the locality, contributingto increasing the tourism sector’s revenue and the number of tourists to the province.

In 2016 – 2020, Ba Ria– Vung Tau welcomed over 62 million visitors, representing an average increase of10.47 percent a year. The locality raked in 67.5 trillion VND in revenue fromtourism activities in the last five years.

Tourism is identifiedas one of the four important pillars for the province's socio-economicdevelopment.

Participants shared experience in promoting tourism development, saying thatthe local authorities should work out specific plans to call for more investmentto strategic tourism projects, towards creating impetus for the locality’s tourismsector.

Representatives fromtravel agencies expressed their hope that tourism cooperation programmes in theregion will be deployed widely, thus developing regional products to attractmore visitors.

In 2020, the partiesjoining the above-mentioned agreements have focused on building coordinationmechanisms and action plans to implement the contents of the agreements, diversifyingregional tourism products and training human resources.

Ba Ria - Vung Tau isone of nine key economic provinces and cities of the Southeast region. Thelocality boasts a comprehensive transport infrastructure with seaports, airportand a network of rivers and roads convenient for tourism development.

With beautiful naturallandscapes and rich potential of the sea and forests, Ba Ria - Vung Tau haslong been considered as one of the attractive marine tourism centres ofVietnam./.