At their talks in Cairo on Monday, Vietnamese and Egyptian tourist officials were determined to strengthen bilateral cooperation based on the Memorandum of Understanding on Tourism Cooperation signed between the two countries in 2006. 

The determination was reached at a meeting on May 27 between Head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Van Tuan and Chairman of the Egyptian Tourist Authority Naser Hamdy.

At the meeting, Tuan and his Egyptian counterpart discussed possible measures to remove troubles facing travel companies in both countries.

The VNAT leader put emphasis on the need for more information exchange between the two countries to promote their respective tourism potential.

Tuan suggested that the Egyptian tourism sector should coordinate with Egypt Air in launching direct flights to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City soon after the establishment of the airline’s representative office in Vietnam.

He also told his Egyptian guest that the number of international arrivals to Vietnam last year amounted to 7 million visitors, a three-fold rise over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the average number of Vietnamese people travelling abroad each year during the past ten years reached about 4 million, he added.

In reply, Naser Hamdy said Egypt received 9 million foreign holiday-makers last year. In the first three months of this year, the number of foreign visitors to Egypt increased by 14 percent year-on-year, Hamdy added. 

Hamdy also promised efforts to promote the image of Vietnam and Vietnamese people in his country.

During Tuan’s stay in Egypt, he had several working sessions with representatives of Egypt Air and a number of Egyptian tourism companies to seek new cooperative opportunities in tourism between the two countries.