Signing ceremony of "Action programme in the field of tourism" between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam and the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia (Photo: MOCST)

The signing of the "Action Programme in the field of tourism" comes from the initiative of Minister Nguyen Van Hung and Minister Ahmed A. Al-Khateeb at a bilateral meeting between the two ministries at the end of August in Vietnam. With the goal of promoting tourism cooperation between the two countries in a practical, positive and effective manner commensurate with available potential and in accordance with Saudi Arabia's position in the Middle East region, the "Action Programme in the field of tourism" proposes measures such as increasing the exchange and sharing of information, experience, statistics on the Halal market, tourist demands, and developing and training tourism human resources; organising joint tourism promotion events; seeking tourism investment opportunities between the two countries.

As one of the largest countries in the Middle East region, following the launch of the programme of Saudi Vision 2030 in 2016, which aims to reduce dependence on oil and increase economic, social and cultural diversity, Saudi Arabia has set a goal of attracting more than 100 million tourist arrivals by 2030, making tourism the country's second largest source of revenue - second only to oil.

At the meeting, sharing about the development of Vietnam tourism, MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung stated, Vietnam has a rich tradition and culture with various cultural and historical relics honoured by UNESCO, many charming landscapes… The Government of Vietnam has set the goal to turn tourism into one of the country's key economic sectors.

In February 2023, the Prime Minister of Vietnam issued a Decision approving the Project " Promoting international cooperation to develop Vietnam's Halal industry until 2030". This is the first project to set out major national orientations to open up the potential Halal market, which considers tourism as one of the priority areas with Saudi Arabia as one of the priority partners and key markets. Recently, the Government of Vietnam issued the Resolution on 14th August 2023 on the application of electronic visas for citizens of all countries and territories entering Vietnam.

Post the pandemic, Vietnam tourism is making strong recovery steps. In the first 9 months of 2023, the number of international visitors to Vietnam has reached nearly 9 million arrivals. Vietnam has also won several prestigious international awards for tourism.

Regarding the implementation of the newly signed Action Programme, MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung emphasised, Vietnam always wants to strengthen international cooperation to develop the Halal tourism value chain to suit the tastes of tourists from the Muslim community, while promoting Vietnamese tourism in Halal markets such as Saudi Arabia.

Immediately after the meeting with Minister Ahmed A. Al-Khateeb in Vietnam, the MOCST worked with major Vietnamese travel and tourism corporations such as Vingroup, Sungroup, Hanoitourist, Saigontourist to research and plan the development of tourism products aimed for Saudi Arabian tourists, said MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung.

MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung further inquired Saudi Arabia to support Vietnam in learning about tourist tastes and the Halal market, building standards and regulations on Halal tourism… through technology transfer, introducing famous Saudi brands to invest and operate in Vietnam in the field of accommodation facilities, tourism investment… According to MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung, MOCST is always ready to act as a focal point to connect Saudi Arabian investors and businesses with investment portfolios in the tourism sector in Vietnamese localities; coordinates with relevant agencies to support the organisation of inspection teams for Saudi businesses and investors at a number of famous and potential tourist destinations and landscapes in Vietnam.

After the signing ceremony, the Vietnamese delegation led by Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung had a bilateral meeting with Princess Haifa bint Mohammed Al-Saud, Deputy Minister of Tourism Saudi Arabic.

MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung having a bilateral meeting with Princess Haifa bint Mohammed Al-Saud, Deputy Minister of Tourism Saudi Arabic (Photo: MOCST)

Delegates taking souvenir photo (Photo: TITC)

Princess Haifa bint Mohammed Al-Saud, Deputy Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia highly appreciates the proposals of Minister Nguyen Van Hung and affirmed that Vietnam and Saudi Arabia have the same intention and are determined to promote tourism cooperation between the two countries. Currently, Saudi Arabia is considering issuing electronic visas for tourists from Vietnam and in the near future, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Tourism will work with domestic tourism and travel businesses to research and develop product packages suitable to the tastes of Vietnamese tourists. The Princess also said that with the desire to promote tourism exchanges with Vietnam via air in the near future, Saudi Arabia hopes to soon establish direct flights between the two countries.

Vietnam and Saudi Arabia signed an Air Transport Agreement in 2019 to facilitate the establishment of flight routes between and outside the territories of the two countries. According to Mr. Dang Ngoc Hoa - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Airlines, in the near future, Vietnam Airlines and Saudi Arabia's Saudi Airlines will operate flights with the same code, thereby moving towards opening direct flights between the two countries. Vice Chairman of the Vietjet Aviation Company Nguyen Thanh Hung said, with a market of more than 34 million people in Saudi Arabia and 100 million people in Vietnam, the potential for tourism and air transport between the two countries is huge; even opening up opportunities to access both ASEAN and Asian markets.

Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Duaile, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, stressed, relations between Saudi Arabia and Vietnam are increasingly developing in many fields, including investment. Regarding visas for people of the two countries, Saudi Arabia has sent Vietnamese authorities a Draft Agreement on visa exemption for holders of diplomatic and official passports. He believes that, after being signed, the agreement will create premises for the two countries to consider the possibility of bilateral visa exemption for tourists from both sides.

Tourism Information Technology Center