~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

Year :      [2003]      [2002]      [2001]      [2000]      [1999]      [1998]      [1997]

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.