The tourism forum will discuss ways to achieve a 2004 master plan to form a closer economic partnership between Asia  Europe Meeting (ASEM) member countries.

More than 120 delegates including senior tourism officials, tour operators, travel agencies and tourism experts  from Asia  and Europe are expected to attend.

Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh and leaders from ASEM as well as the World  Tourism Organization will be present for the opening session.

The forum is being organized by the Foreign Affairs and Culture, Sports and Tourism ministries along with the HCMC Tourism Department.

Established in 1996 as a forum to foster political, economic and cultural cooperation, ASEM includes 27 European and 14 Asian countries.

In related news, Minister Anh recently said Vietnam’s tourism may not reach its target of hosting  4.8-5 million international arrivals this year. Anh said rising fuel costs, inflation, and ineffective marketing were constraining the local tourism industry, as Vietnam  should reinforce overseas promotional programs and outreach via international media  to attract more foreign tourists.

The Vietnam  National Administration  of Tourism (VNAT) has announced plans to visit Japan and Russia this month to promote Vietnamese  tourism after completing a similar trip to Spain.

VNAT said Vietnam  welcomed 339,000 international tourists last month, bringing the total number of foreign arrivals for the first eighth months of this year to more than three million, a 6.9 percent year-on-year increase.

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