Vietnam tour operator to open U.S. center
HANOI - Saigontourist, Vietnam's biggest tour operator,
is planning to open a $5 million trade and tourism promotion center
in San Francisco, a company executive said Monday.
The firm's American partners have selected several locations in the
city, and the company's management will visit there soon to make
a final decision, said Nguyen Tuan Quang of Saigontourist's
marketing department.
Quang said the company has secured $1.5 million in preferential
loans from Ho Chi Minh City authorities.
Plans call for a five-story building to showcase Vietnamese food,
products and services, he said. The ground floor would feature a
Vietnamese restaurant, while other space would be rented out to
companies to promote their services to Americans, he said.
The project would be the company's largest investment overseas,
Quang said. Saigontourist has representative offices in
Washington, D.C., as well as in Germany and Japan.
Last year, Vietnam received 2.6 million foreign visitors. Though its
tourism industry got a heavy hit from the war in Iraq and SARS,
Vietnamese officials are hoping to get 2 million visitors by year's
end. Since June, tourist figures have begun showing a slight
recovery.
The Associated Press - August 04, 2003.
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