Some 820 representatives from airports, travel firms, and 71 airlines from around the world have registered to join the Routes Asia Development Forum 2022 (Routes Asia 2022), scheduled for June 4-9 in Da Nang, Vietnam, organizers have said.

The 16th annual event will be co-hosted by UK-based Informa Routes, the Da Nang administration, and Ho Chi Minh City-based Duy Anh Trading JSC - IPP Travel Retail, the Da Nang Portal reported.

As Vietnam and other regional countries have gradually restored their aviation activities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, more delegates will register to join the coming event, Thomas Atkinson, senior business development manager of Informa Routes, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper at a press conference held by Da Nang authorities on Saturday.  

The six-day forum will mark the restart of air services and tourism in Asia as a whole after about two years of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, Atkinson stressed.

He also commented that Da Nang has the potential to become an integral part of global manufacturing and supply chains, as well as an economic, innovation, transport, financial, and cultural hub in the next decade.

Da Nang was announced as the official host city of this 16th forum at the 15th World Routes in Milan, Italy in October 2021.

Phillip Nguyen, deputy general director of IPP Travel Retail and general director of Duy Anh Trading JSC, said his firm is honored to be a part of this event that contributes to connecting Da Nang back to the world, the Da Nang Portal cited him as saying. 

The forum is a great opportunity for the recovery and development of the city's aviation and tourism industry, helping attract more investment and international tourists to the central coastal city, said Truong Thi Hong Hanh, director of the municipal Department of Tourism.

“As the host of the event, we are committed to creating all favorable conditions for Routes Asia 2022 to make it truly a good place for business communities to meet and cooperate for the development of aviation and tourism in the Asia-Pacific region,” Hanh affirmed.

By hosting the event, Da Nang continues to affirm its position as one of the leading destinations in Asia, as well as an aviation and tourism hub in Vietnam and the region, she underlined.

Within the forum’s framework, an Asian tourism and aviation exhibition will be organized, attracting 110 airlines and 200 airports from Asia, Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Vietnam, according to the Da Nang Portal.

By July 2019, Da Nang had weekly operated 48 international air routes with 462 flights per week, and 11 domestic routes with 665 flights, but the pandemic disrupted or suspended most of them after hitting Vietnam in early 2020, the Department of Tourism said.

Vietnam had closed its borders since March 2020 before restoring multiple international air routes from January in a pilot program aimed at reviving the tourist industry.

Since February 15, 2022, the country has removed all restrictions on international air passenger transport, and the full reopening of tourism came a month later.

The first international commercial passenger flight since the COVID-19 outbreak arrived in Da Nang on March 27, with nearly 160 passengers from Singapore.

The same day also saw the first outbound flight since the pandemic depart from Da Nang, carrying 150 travelers to Thailand’s Bangkok.     

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