SIA hosts Travel Agents on a visit to Vietnam

Singapore Airlines Colombo recently hosted their 10 Top Travel Agents to a Business cum Familiarization trip to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon) in Vietnam. In a bid to create a new and exciting destination to the Sri Lankan traveler, the agents were taken to view first-hand what Ho Chi Minh City had to offer. The business part of the trip was a trade interaction session with Inbound Tour Operators in Ho Chi Minh City.
The Agents signed up as buyers for the two-day 5th International Travel Expo (ITE) that was held at the Phu Tho Exhibition Center. The first day saw the agent’s registering for the ITE and making appointments with sellers. In the afternoon, a briefing session followed with many Vietnamese sellers and members of the Vietnam Tourism Authorities making presentations and highlighting the beauty and attractions of the country.

It was emphasized the not only was it easy to sell Vietnam but buyers were asked to look into the possibility of selling “Three Countries – One Destination” i.e. Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Later that evening a grand gala welcome dinner for the Buyers and participants, hosted by the Tourism Authority of Vietnam, was held.

The following day, the ITE was ceremoniously declared opened to the trade at the Indoor stadium which had many colourful booths from many countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, India, Thailand, Malaysia and even the “Singapore Flyer” was represented) and the agents spent the rest of the day meeting with the sellers and getting an insight into what they could offer the visitors. Furthermore the Agents were pleasantly surprised to receive at the ITE, a copy of the ‘DULICH’, a Vietnamese Tourism Trade Magazine with a large group photo of the entire Sri Lanka contingent arriving at Saigon Airport. The meetings continued into the following day as well. After a farewell lunch, the Familiarization part of the tour began.

The Agents were taken on a half-day city tour to the now-unused Reunification Palace (the place where the American war in Vietnam officially ended), a factory that specializes in making paintings and very delicate laquerware from mother-of-pearl shells and powdered egg shells and a visit to the first museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine, a traditional medical house.

A day of leisure followed where the agents indulged in hunting for souvenirs in the local market and the following day they set off very early for a 2-day “Mekong Delta” tour which took the form of a two and a half hour drive to MyTho city (pronounced “mee tho”).

At MyTho, the Agents were taken on a motorized boat ride to villages located along the Mekong River to observe the villagers going about their daily work, visiting a coconut sweet factory, listened to traditional Vietnamese music while sipping honey tea and munched on the wide variety of fresh tropical fruit available in the locality and finally paddled in a canoe through the mangroves to reach the location where the finals of the next Miss World 2010 Contest was to be held.

The hotel is still under construction and is planned to open in August 2010 in time for the pageant in October. After a typically Vietnamese lunch, the journey resumed with a bus journey to the city of Can Tho (pronounced “can thur”) and after crossing the Mekong River yet again by ferry, the Agents arrived at the luxurious Ninh Kieu 2 hotel, their stopover for the night.

After a very early wakeup call the next day, the Agents left by boat again to visit the Cai Rang Floating Market to watch the trading activity going on among hoards of small boats dexterously weaving their way among the many larger boats in the water after which the Agents, very reluctantly, had to leave for the Airport to catch the flight home.

General Manager SIA Sri Lanka, Chia Chow Hwee said, “I hope that the first-hand insight into Vietnam and specifically Hi Chi Minh, gained by the participating agents, will help them to sell the destination better to their clients. Singapore Airlines with up to 25 flights a week to Vietnam covering Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi is well placed to support increased trade and tourism links between Sri Lanka and Vietnam.”

The agents agreed that they all enjoyed the tour and thanked SIA for organizing the Familiarization trip despite it being a very bad year for world tourism as the trip had opened many selling opportunities for them.

Source:dailymirror.lk

Vietnamese economy poses no threat to Thailand

The Vietnamese economy poses no immediate threat to Thailand, which has healthy investments in that country, says the Thai ambassador in Hanoi.

Pisanu Chanvitan says Thailand's economy is still far more advanced than Vietnam's.

However, the ambassador told Thai Rath newspaper, Vietnam has certain advantages including political stability, thanks to its one-party rule and cheap labour.

Last year, Vietnam's economy grew 3%.

Mr Pisanu said that medical advances in Vietnam lag far behind Thailand. For difficult cases, well-to-do patients still travel to Thailand for treatment because Vietnam's health care expertise is lacking.

Nor was Thailand's status as the world's top rice exporter under threat from Vietnam.

Mr Pisanu said Vietnam exported about 5 million tonnes of rice last year while Thailand exported 8-9 million tonnes.

Thai rice is more expensive because of its higher quality especially the world famous Hom Mali, while Vietnam exports cheaper varieties.

Vietnam can face typhoons several times a year, causing extensive damage to rice fields.

Vietnam's rice cultivation area is similar to Thailand's, but Vietnam has a growing population. As its population grows, Vietnam will probably export less rice.

Vietnam's rulers like to talk about their plans for the economy, but sometimes these projects can be many years off.

Vietnam said it would put in a high-speed train, similar to the bullet train in Japan, running from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.

The news excited Thai readers but most did not realise that work on the railway won't start until 2036, or nearly 30 years into the future.

In 1990, Vietnam began to open the country to foreign direct investment, creating special industrial zones and expanding the economic zone in Ho Chi Minh City.

Thailand is ranked 9th among foreign investors in Vietnam. Investment is concentrated in agri-business, cement, real estate, and motorcycle parts.

Mr Pisanu said Thailand exported more than 10,000 tonnes of fruit to Vietnam last year, including longan, mangosteen, durian and mango.

Food processing including canned fish is another bright prospect for Thai exporters. Several Thai canneries have set up operations in Vietnam and are doing good business.

Engineer is a

'political victim'

Sivarak Chutipong, 31, the Thai engineer arrested in Cambodia on a spying charge, is being used as a pawn in the diplomatic dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, argues a Matichon newspaper writer.

Sivarak worked for Cambodia Air Traffic Services, a subsidiary of Thailand's Samart Telecom.

He was arrested last week on a spying charge, after he allegedly transmitted the flight schedule of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodia's premier Hun Sen to Thailand.

The newspaper argues the engineer was a victim of the conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia concerning Hun Sen's appointment of Thaksin as economic adviser.

If Sivarak is found guilty by a Cambodian court, he could be jailed for 7-10 years and/or fined 50,000-250,000 baht.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said Thaksin's flight schedule was not secret information and Thailand already knew Thaksin's likely flight movements.

Suthep argued that Cambodian authorities may have misunderstood the intention of the government, which never intended to inflict any harm.

Yet the Matichon writer was not satisfied with explanations offered by the Thai Foreign Ministry and Samart Telecom in defence of Sivarak.

The government, the writer said, should protect Sivarak's honour and tell international observers that Cambodia's allegations are trumped up.

Miscellany

Cambodia has expelled all Thai staff from Cambodia Air Traffic Services after a Thai engineer on staff was charged with spying.

Phnom Penh has filed national security charges of stealing classified information against engineer Sivarak Chutipong.

Cambodia has now ordered all Thai nationals working for CATS to leave the company and prohibited them from re-entering until the legal proceedings against Mr Sivarak are completed, Samart Corporation Plc president Watchai Wilailuck said.

CATS, a fully owned subsidiary of Bangkok-based Samart, holds a concession to run air traffic control services in Cambodia.

The firm employs nine Thai officials at Cambodian airport, in management or senior engineering positions. About 200 other staff are Cambodians.

Mr Watchai was told Cambodian authorities would send their own people to run the company.

"We need to follow Cambodia's order and are asking the Thai government to negotiate with Cambodia.

'We have nothing to do with their diplomatic dispute, but it is affecting our business," Mr Watchai said.

Thailand and Cambodia are signatories to an investment protection agreement, to protect each other's private businesses.

Source:bangkokpost.com