ITE HCMC 2017 Sets for Further Tourism Growth as Vietnam’s Key Economic Sector. The event, themed ‘Your Gateway to Tourism in Asia’, continues to be one of the most important and established international travel events in Vietnam and the region, further promoting Vietnam’s tourism and enhancing the development of the tourism industry regionally and globally. HO CHI MINH CITY, Wednesday, August 30, 2017 – The International Travel Expo, Ho Chi Minh City (ITE HCMC) 2017, returns for the 13th time as the largest and most established annual international travel trade event in the Mekong sub-region. ITE HCMC 2017 continues to grow from strength to strength on the scale of the expo and the quality of participants, delivering the hospitality of Vietnam’s destinations and Ho Chi Minh City.
Endorsed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism, Vietnam, and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, the 13th ITE HCMC will be held from September 7 to 9 at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre (SECC), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Organised by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT); Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism; Informa Exhibitions Pte Ltd; and the Vietnam Trade Fair & Advertising Joint Stock (VINEXAD), ITE HCMC 2017, themed ‘Your Gateway to Tourism in Asia’, provides a platform for the international and local travel businesses to keep up with the travel trends, get updated on tourism products and services, establish connections with new business partners, further boosting the tourism potential of the country and the ASEAN region.
Mr Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, and Chairman of the Organising Committee, says: “ITE HCMC 2017, themed ‘Your Gateway to Tourism in Asia’, is celebrated with the 50th Anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN is a highly integrated and dynamic political – economic organisation, enhancing connectivity and cooperation among the country members in all sectors, and tourism is one of the most important areas of cooperation.”
According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the tourism in the ASEAN region has achieved positive and overall encouraging results, with the Travel & Tourism sector contributing to the region’s economy higher than other regions in the world (including Europe and the Americas). As a member of ASEAN, Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh City in particular has reaffirmed its commitment to being a valued member, contributing to establishing and maintaining a sociocultural ASEAN Community with different agreements aiming to increase economic cooperation, diversification of tourism products, strengthening ties to promote the inbound and outbound tourism, and striving to promote ASEAN as a unified travel destination,” Mr Vu continues.
Delivering products that enhance the tourism competitiveness of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City is at the heart of ITE HCMC this year. With that in mind, the ITE HCMC Organising Committee has dedicated to improving the quality and content of event, bringing new and exciting activities for the participants, some of which including exclusive buyer-seller online pre-appointment system, a destination visitor survey programme, specialised international seminars, Travel Fun Fair Day, special travel discounts and promotions, and other cultural musical performances, catering not only for the international and regional buyers, sellers, travel trade experts and media partners but also the public. These wide range of activities are customised to keep the event attendees updated with the current news and trends of the Travel & Tourism industry; and all are part of the plan to boost the tourism to spearhead the economy of the country based on the Resolution No. 08-NQ / TW.
INCREASED ACTIVE PARTICIPATION FROM INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL MARKETS – AN EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL MARKETING CHANNEL
With a plan to create more opportunities for international and local businesses to promote their tourism products and bring the businesses together, the ITE HCMC 2017 Organising Committee has invested to expand the total area of exhibitions of scale, with an increase of 15 per cent as compared to 2016, for the 300 exhibition booths. The expo attracts a wide range of international and local travel companies from 25 countries.
This year sees the strong continued participation of international promotion agencies such as the Indian Tourism; Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO); Korea Tourism Organization (KTO); Kyushu Tourism Promotion Organization (KTPO); Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Lao PDR; Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia; Penang Global Tourism (PGT); Taiwan Tourism; Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB); Tourism Authority of Thailand; Tourism Promotion Organization for Asia Pacific Cities (TPO); Turkish Embassy Tourism and Information Office; the Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA); and the Wuhan Tourism Development & Investment Group Swan International Travel Service (China).
ITE HCMC this year also attracts a number of international tourism enterprises seeking business and cooperation opportunities in the Vietnamese market such as the Tour Diamond Company – Myanmar, Prince Hotel – Japan, Traveltek Travel Company – Australia, Plumeria Resort – Maldives, Kansai Airports – Japan, Aeroflot Russia Airlines – Russia, Resorts World Sentosa – Singapore, Daegu – Korea, and Japan Excellent Health Organization – Japan.
Not only the international tourism promotion agencies and businesses will participate in this year’s event, ITE HCMC 2017 also attracts hundreds of travel companies, large resort hotels, as well as small and medium enterprises from Ho Chi Minh City and other 30 provinces and cities in the country.
“ITE HCMC continues to be the premier travel exhibition event, with each event seeing more attendees than ever before, and ITE HCMC 2017 is no exception,” said Mr Jack Wei, General Manager of Informa Exhibitions (Asia) and Co-Organiser of ITE HCMC. “The 13th event marks not only a new milestone in the exhibition’s reach and impact on promoting the tourism of Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam, but is also a testament to the work we as a global community are doing together.”
HIGH PRIORITY ON THE ANNUAL HOSTED BUYERS & MEDIA PROGRAMME
Across the region, ITE HCMC also serves as an international travel hub where professionals network and conduct businesses. The annual Hosted Buyers and Hosted Media Programmes are the two areas of the most importance at ITE HCMC, again highlighting and reaffirming ITE HCMC as the prime international trade travel event for regional and international businesses. Page 4 of 7 ITE HCMC 2017 has attracted professionals and representatives from more than 700 international travel companies. The Organising Committee and Advisory Board of the Hosted Buyers Programme have invited up to 300 international buyers from 40 countries and territories, especially from the key markets of Vietnam such as the U.S., the U.K., France, Italy, Germany, China, Japan, ASEAN, India, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and some other new markets such as Iran, Iraq, South Africa, and Nepal.
Alongside the Hosted Buyer Programme, the event will also host 40 international media from prominent travel, lifestyle, tourism, and broadcast platforms, as well as award-winning travel bloggers and digital influencers with a strong following on social media from the U.K., France, the Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Thailand, Taiwan, the U.S., Korea, China, Australia, the U.A.E, Turkey, Singapore, Norway, Japan and the Philippines.
ITE HCMC 2017 Organising Committee continues to invest and upgrade the ITE Online Pre-scheduled System to help buyers and sellers meet and network more effectively and professionally; the system is able to assist users in actively seeking partners’ information and directly making online appointments between the buyers and sellers.
The hosted buyers and media will be engaged in the Destination Visitor Survey Programme to different major travel destinations in Ho Chi Minh City such as Can Gio, Mekong – Delta – Can Tho, Da Lat – Ninh Thuan, Phan Thiet – Binh Thuan, Phu Yen and Ha Long. The hosted buyers and media will also attend the exclusive Tourism Promotion Exhibition Programme and Seminars on Introducing Key and Potential Travel Destinations in 2017, and on Developing MICE Tourism in Ho Chi Minh City, presented by leading international speakers. These customised programmes are designed to provide a unique networking and insights exchanging platform for domestic and international businesses.
MULTIPLE NETWORKING ACTIVITIES AT ITE HCMC 2017
ITE HCMC 2017 will host different important and prominent activities to promote the cooperation and socio-economic development of the region, including: The 3rd ACMECS Tourism Ministerial Conference will take place on September 7, 2017, organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism, Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee. The Conference aims to evaluate and assess the cooperation results in the tourism industry among ACMECS countries, and set specific cooperative directions in the coming years. The Conference will be attended by the Tourism Ministers of the ACMECS countries.
The Seminar on Developing MICE Tourism in Ho Chi Minh City (for buyers and international media), delivered by international experts, will present the unique strengths and sustainable development solutions for MICE tourism in Ho Chi Minh City.
The Seminars on Solutions to Attract More Chinese and Malaysian Tourists to Ho Chi Minh City will set the important foundation for assessing the potential Chinese and Malaysian markets. The seminars are also dedicated to fostering and honing business skills for the tourism businesses that are focusing on these markets to turn Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City into an attractive travel destination.
The Vietnam – Italy Tourism Forum will discuss the key solutions to promote tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Italy in the coming years.
This year, ITE HCMC proudly presents new ITE Awards to recognise the outstanding exhibiting participants and partners for their exemplary and long term support and contributions, including three award categories – ITE Best Booth Design Award, ITE Exhibitor Recognition Award, and ITE Partner Recognition Award.
TRAVEL FUN FAIR DAY FOR PUBLIC VISITORS
ITE HCMC 2017 is a comprehensive platform that will not only provide exclusive business opportunities for travel trade professionals but also bring the tourism destinations nearer to all visitors. The public can also look forward to different activities on the Travel Fun Fair Day on September 9, which will be open for all. Celebrated with the Grand Sales Month in September 2017, ITE HCM is the one-stop solution that the public is looking for, with special travel promotions and packages on domestic and international destinations, lucky draws on hotel stays, fine dining; performances, and stage games from our sponsors and partners.
EVENT DETAILS & PRE-REGISTRATION
Dates & Time:
September 7 (Trade Visitors): 8am – 5pm
September 8 (Trade Visitors): 9am – 5pm
September 9 (Public & Visitors): 9am – 5pm
Venue:
Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre (SECC)
Pre-registration is now open, and trade & public visitors are strongly encouraged to pre-register at www.itehcmc.com before the event to skip the long queues at the door.
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