Head of the International Cooperation Department, Nguyen Phuong Hoa, meets with Peng Shituan, the Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam on March 8
Speaking to local media, head of the ministry's International Cooperation Department, Nguyen Phuong Hoa, said that she had met with Peng Shituan, the Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam on March 8. At the meeting, the Chinese official said that China would include Vietnam in a list of countries that can receive outbound tours from China, starting from March 15.
Hoa said during the meeting, Peng noted that tourism co-operation before the Covid-19 pandemic had been positive. He stressed that China wanted to continue tourism co-operation with Vietnam.
China previously released an initial list of 20 countries on February 6 that were able to receive group tours from China under a pilot programme including seven in Southeast Asia - Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism then sent a diplomatic note proposing the neighbouring country should allow their citizens to visit Vietnam.
"Tourism used to be a key sector in our co-operation," the ministry wrote in their diplomatic note. "Before the Covid-19 pandemic occurred, Chinese tourists used to account for the largest number of foreign visitors to Vietnam, and Vietnam was among the top five countries that sent the biggest number of tourists to China. This is win-win co-operation."
Chinese tourists in Vietnam
In 2019, the year before the onset of the pandemic, Vietnam received 5.80 million Chinese visitors, making up nearly a third of all foreign arrivals to the country.