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ASIAN CULTURAL & TRAVEL
NEW
AmericanTours plans Vietnam
office
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City lacks art programs for int'l tourists
American Tours International LLC (ATI)
pinning hopes on a strong increase in
outbound tours from Vietnam to the U.S.
plans to open a representative office in
Vietnam.
Noel Irwin Hentschel, chairwoman and
chief executive officer of AmericanTours
International LLC; told the Daffy via
email on Monday that the company was
considering the representative office to
work closer with local tour operators
and other partners.
ATI is preparing manpower and promotion
activities to attract visitors from
Vietnam.
"We plan to conduct training seminars in
Hanoi and HCMC late this year to educate
tour operators and travel agents about
the most popular U.S. cities," she said.
Hentschel joined a 22-member delegation
led by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos
Gutierrez in a four-day visit to Vietnam
in November last year. She met local
tour operators and tourism officials to
sound out cooperation prospects.
She said that since that trip, her
company had begun receiving many
requests from Vietnamese tour operators
to arrange America tours for Vietnamese
tourists, and that tours for Vietnamese
tourists were actually organized from
last December to last month and more
would be coming some time this year.
Groups of seven to 70 people, including
both leisure and business travelers,
have taken the most popular itinerary
encompassing Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Las Vegas, New York and Washington D.C.
"The comments we received from the
visitors have been very positive. We
will be conducting familiarization trips
for tour operators from Vietnam to
understand the U.S. market better," she
said.
ATI has created a Vietnam unit called
AIT-VIETNAMERICA in the company's ATI-ASIAMERICA
department, she said. It is recruiting
and training Vietnamese sfaff in Los
Angeles and New York.
"This year we are training more
Vietnamese-speaking tour guides to
ensure the best possible service for
this emerging market to America," she
said.
According to HCMC's tour operators, more
and more Vietnamese tourists are
inclined to visit the U.S. These
companies offer regular tours to meet
the rising demand, and some of them even
organize weekly tours.
HCMC's department of tourism said in a
report that a total of 21,336 Vietnam
office Vietnamese visited foreign
countries in January via the Tan Son
Nhat International Airport, with 1,075
of them traveling to the U.S.
Previously the U.S. was not among the
top ten destinations for Vietnamese
tourists but January saw America
climbing to the eighth position.
* A plan to enrich entertainment
programs for foreign tourists and thus
lengthen their stay in HCMC has been
delayed over the past three years and
when it gets rolling remains unknown.
Nguyen The Thanh, deputy director of the
city's Culture and Information
Department, told the Daily that her
department had submitted to the city
government a new plan to upgrade the Kim
Chau Theatre into an entertainment venue
for international tourists.
"We've asked the city government to
allow private investment in the
theater," she said, adding the lack of
finance was the main reason for the
delay.
The original plan for upgrading the
theatre was worth VND10bil but the
department has several times revised the
budget due to higher construction
material prices.
She declined to give further details
about the revised plan for private
participation in the project.
In late 2005, the departments of tourism
and culture-information kick-started a
plan to upgrade the Kim Chau theatre at
17-19 Nguyen Thai Binh, District 1 into
a place for art performances to
entertain international tourists.
After the trial of some traditional art
performances at the theatre, the city
government assigned the Culture and
Information Department to carry out the
plan.
Source : SGT
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