Accompanying the Minister were Mr. Doan Thanh Song - Ambassador of Vietnam to Spain, Director of the Department of International Cooperation Nguyen Phuong Hoa, Director of the Institute of Culture, Arts, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong. On the side of UN Tourism, there were Mr. Beka Jakeli - Head of External Relations Department, Ms. Sandra Carvao - Head of Market, Policy and Competition Information Department and officials from the Asia-Pacific Tourism Bureau.
At the meeting, Mr. Beka Jakeli respectfully welcomed the Vietnamese delegation, affirming that Minister Nguyen Van Hung's visit is of historical significance, and shared that the leaders of UN Tourism highly appreciated Vietnam's role and contribution to the world's most important multilateral mechanism on tourism.
Since joining UNWTO (now UN Tourism) in 1981, Vietnam has always demonstrated its responsibility as an active member, regularly hosting important international events. In particular, in December 2024, Vietnam successfully held the 2nd World Best Tourism Villages Network Annual Meeting and the 1st International Conference on Rural Tourism. The event helps shape the orientation for rural tourism development globally, promoting the connection between tourism and agriculture, creating jobs and sustainable livelihoods for the community, towards the sustainable development goals of the United Nations.
Speaking at the meeting, Minister Nguyen Van Hung affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to strengthening cooperation with UN Tourism. He emphasized the view that cooperation should be implemented according to the motto "The more coordinated, the more understanding each other is, the more practical and the more effective".
The Minister thanked UN Tourism for closely coordinating with Vietnam to successfully organize the International Conference on Rural Tourism in Quang Nam at the end of 2024, thereby promoting the resonance in the policy of developing tourism associated with agriculture, rural areas and farmers. He expressed his desire to build a Vietnamese rural tourism brand associated with the trend of green tourism, responsible tourism, contributing to the sustainable development of the country and the international community.
Minister Nguyen Van Hung also shared Vietnam's experience at the World Conference on Cultural Policy and Sustainable Development. In particular, the model of tourism - cultural linkage at Trang An Heritage (Ninh Binh) has been highly appreciated by international friends, many countries wish to refer to and apply.
He affirmed that Vietnam's tourism industry has overcome unprecedented difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic, achieved impressive growth and set a target of welcoming 22-23 million international visitors in 2025, becoming a bright spot in the country's economic development.
In the orientation of cooperation in the coming time, Vietnam and UN Tourism agreed to expand cooperation in areas such as medical tourism, health care, tourism planning associated with administrative boundary arrangement. At the same time, promote on digital platforms, take advantage of scientific and technological achievements, and coordinate in researching and amending the Law on Tourism.
