Int’l travel fair seen larger than last year

14:45' 15/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Local and foreign exhibitors have registered for 100 booths at International Travel Expo HCMC 2007, or ITE2007, which will take place from October 5 to 7 at Phu Tho Indoor Stadium. ITE 2007 will promote a common tourism image of the three Indochina countries under the "three countries, one destination" theme. These exhibitors will come from foreign tourism authorities such as South Korea, Singapore, Laos and Cambodia, local tourism authorities, airlines, hotels, resorts, travel operators and others. Registration is open until late next month. "We expect the fair to have 150 booths, up 50 booths from the previous event," said Ta Nam Binh, deputy head of the HCMC Department of Tourism. The annual fair, organized by the department and Binet Exhibitions Bte Ltd of Singapore, will also feature buyer-seller meetings, conferences, familiarization trips and many other activities. This year the department, in collaboration with tourism authorities of Laos and Cambodia, will introduce and promote tourist destinations in the three countries to international tourists. "We see HCMC as a hub for inbound tourism of the three countries," Binh said. The organizers have strong ties with international airlines that have services to the city to promote the event, and invite international buyers to the fair, he added. The airlines such as Qatar Airlines, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Jetstar Asia and Vietnam Airlines will offer free air tickets, or some other services for buyers. "We are working with nine airlines, and they have invited around 100 buyers from 19 countries to the fair," he said. Binh said that the organizing committee had planned to spend around VND2.8-3bil on the fair, around VND2bil of it from companies and airlines, and the remainder the department's budget. HCMC is the biggest tourism hub of the country with the number of international tourist arrivals accounting for 55% of the country's total. In January-May this year, nearly 1.08mil international tourists came to the city, compared to 1.8mil of the country. The city's tourism services brought revenue of nearly VND8.46tril in the period, and the tourism department expects to get VND19.5tril in all of this year. (Source: SGT)