Cities along Mekong to form tourism cooperation alliance

The Work Meeting for Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities Cooperation Alliance was held in Kunming on November 17, as a sideline of the 2017 China International Travel Mart.

Organized by Yunnan Tourism Development Commission and sponsored by Yunnan Foreign Affairs Office, the meeting aims to share ideas on founding a secretariat for the alliance.

Chen Shun, vice-governor of Yunnan Province, said every year over 100 million Chinese travel abroad and by forming tourist city alliance China hopes encourages more people travel in Lancang-Mekong countries.

Chen added setting up the he alliance secretariat can provide more convenience for international tourists through faster visa service and better coordinated travel policies, so as to offer tourists a more pleasant journey. 

U Yee Mon, standing secretary of Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, said tourism cooperation among the Mekong cities can create job opportunities and enhance the awareness of respecting each other's cultural traditions.

He believes tourism cooperation also conducive to regional peace and common development. “Sharing a river, countries along the Mekong should jointly create a better future.”

Focusing on sustainable development in tourism, Myanmar is changing its tourism from isolation to coordination, said Yee Mon. He welcomes more Chinese tourists to Myanmar.

Pongpanu Svetarundra, official with the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports, said he is pleased to hear that China is now ready to take the lead in promoting tourism cooperation

Thailand receives more than 10 million Chinese tourists. Pongpanu thinks China can play a significant role in coordinating and communicating tourist policies among governments, adding more tourism investment and tourist infrastructure is needed in this area.

  

“Our six countries are a big family.” Ha Van Sieu, deputy-director of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said tourism is very important to this region, which has a diverse cultures and rich tourism resources.

Citing China-ASEAN success in tourism cooperation, Ha Van Sieu noted that Vietnam fully supports China’s initiative of forming the Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities Cooperation Alliance. And Vietnam will be active in and responsible for the cooperative alliance and make it benefit the people.

Long Pros, consul with the Consulate General of Cambodia in Kunming, said tourism cooperation and investment are very important to all countries along the Mekong. Khom Douangchantha, a department deputy-director with the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, also shared his idea.

Yu Fan, director of Yunnan Tourism Development Commission, said his commission will work hard to materialize the alliance secretariat as soon as possible, living up to the ideas and wishes of the meeting speakers.

Reporting by Eric Wang, Chu Donghua