Aviation-tourism cooperation is a vital path for the two sectors’ development, benefiting the country, said Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Van Tuan.

Speaking at a seminar on cooperation for aviation-tourism development held in Hanoi on April 22, Tuan said that between 70-80% of passengers travelling by air do so for tourism purposes and up to 80% of foreign tourists come to Vietnam by air.

Vietnam boasts a large tourism potential and diversified products and its tourism market has the potential to compete against other major regional tourism markets, said Deputy Head of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) Lai Xuan Thanh.

The aviation sector plays an important role in the task of serving national tourism development, stressed Thanh.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran Chien Thang said that both the aviation and the tourism sectors need to be brought into play in promoting Vietnam’s image abroad.

Both sectors should collaborate in providing information on tourism destinations and products for tourists before planes land, he said.

Vietnam now has around 20 airports for regular civil flights. Apart from the Vietnam national flag carrier, there are more than 20 foreign airlines operating in the country. The nation also boasts more than 800 international and thousands of domestic travel agents.

Vietnam’s aviation sector is opening new air routes and modernising its fleet to increase its competitiveness. These are advantages for both sectors in terms of cooperation for development, said the seminar.

This year, both administrations plan to jointly offer promotional and discount programmes to attract foreign tourists through a goods discount campaign at major retail outlets in Hanoi, the central city of Danang and HCMC. This is part of the “Vietnam – your destination” stimulus programme slated for August-September 2010.