Singapore inks deal with Vietnamese firm to promote tourism
Tuesday, July 18, 2023, 15:17 GMT+7
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Ho Chi Minh City-based travel company BenThanh Tourist to develop tourism products in a bid to attract more Vietnamese tourists to Singapore.
BenThanh Tourist CEO Nguyen Ngoc Hoai Nguyen told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Monday that the two sides would improve products for both independent and group tourists to Singapore.
“Singapore is a key market in Southeast Asia [for BenThanh Tourist] and a favorite destination of Vietnamese travelers," Nguyen said.
“The strategic cooperation with STB will help us develop new tourism products, especially experiential products, to attract customers."
Vietnamese visitors have recently made up a large proportion of attendees at events in Singapore.
As a case in point, the number of Vietnamese fans buying tickets to a show by American singer Taylor Swift in Singapore scheduled for March next year currently ranks eighth on travel and leisure e-commerce platform Klook.
Vietnam was among the top seven countries with the highest numbers of tourists to Singapore in 2022 and has become an important source market of the city-state after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Huynh Phan Phuong Hoang, deputy CEO of Vietravel, which also signed a memorandum of understanding with STB, said the company is improving tours to Singapore to lure 20,000 Vietnamese tourists to the island country from next month.
Many tourism products in Singapore are attractive to Vietnamese visitors.
With the support of STB, Vietnamese tourists will have new travel experiences, Hoang added.
Vietnamese tourists visiting Singapore through these companies can receive gifts and shopping and catering vouchers.
STB set a target to welcome 12-14 million foreign tourist arrivals and generate US$14-16 billion in tourism revenue in 2023.
It served some 60,000 Vietnamese tourists in 2019, when COVID-19 had yet to hit the two countries.
In the year to June 23, Singapore welcomed 227,300 Vietnamese tourists, or 185 percent of the figure in the same period last year, Voice of Vietnam reported.
On the other hand, Singapore is always among the 10 largest source markets of Vietnam's tourism.
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