On the morning of July 19, 2024, the Conference of the Standing Committee and the Working Group of the Steering Committee for the Tourism Development Cooperation Group of the 8 Expanded Northwest Provinces and Ho Chi Minh City 2024, chaired by Phu Tho Province (the 2024 Cooperation Group Leader), took place in Dien Bien Phu City. The conference was attended by leaders from the Departments of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, and the Departments of Tourism of the 8 Expanded Northwest Provinces (ENWP) and Ho Chi Minh City; as well as leaders from the Tourism Associations of the provinces and cities. The Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of Hoa Binh Province was represented by Mr. Bui Xuan Truong, Deputy Director of the Department.

Overview of the conference in Dien Bien Phu City

At the conference, the delegates listened to reports on the implementation, progress, and evaluation of the tourism development cooperation activities for the first six months of the year, and the core tasks for the last six months of 2024. They also discussed and supplemented plans to be submitted to the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities for the unified implementation of tourism development cooperation activities for the 8 ENWP and Ho Chi Minh City in 2025. The report at the conference showed that in the first six months of 2024, the Cooperation Group successfully organized 21 out of 44 activities as planned for 2024, with most activities being carried out according to the content and timeline. In the first six months of 2024, the Expanded Northwest Provinces and Ho Chi Minh City welcomed over 39.5 million tourists, an increase of 8.6% compared to the same period in 2023, with total tourism revenue exceeding 124 trillion VND, an increase of over 15% compared to the same period in 2023. Ho Chi Minh City continued to lead the country in the indicators of the tourism activities statistics. Promotional activities on the website dulichtaybac.vn, the fanpage “Sắc màu Tây Bắc - Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh,” and on mass media and social networking sites continued to be strengthened.

Leaders of the Departments of the 8 ENWP and Ho Chi Minh City

With the attention and direction of the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities through the issuance of implementation plans, appropriate budget allocation according to the actual conditions of the provinces, and the direction to organize and participate in joint activities effectively and on schedule, and thanks to the proactive and positive recommendations for effective implementation measures by the Tourism Development Cooperation Group of the 8 ENWP and Ho Chi Minh City, there has been growth in tourism. This has gradually restored and developed tourism activities, especially by strengthening the development of new products and improving the quality of services for products that are the regional brand of the 8 ENWP.​At the conclusion of the conference, the leaders of the Departments of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the Departments of Tourism of the 8 ENWP, and the Department of Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City agreed on the content of the conference. They also proceeded to prepare the relevant documents to organize and participate in the planned events.

The tourism development cooperation program between the 8 ENWP and Ho Chi Minh City was signed in November 2020, including the provinces of Ha Giang, Dien Bien, Hoa Binh, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Phu Tho, Son La, Yen Bai, and Ho Chi Minh City. The cooperation includes state management work, information exchange, organization of communication activities, promotion and advertising, and the development of regional tourism products. The localities have strengthened the promotion of the group’s tourism cooperation activities on digital platforms, selected distinctive tourism products to introduce to tourism enterprises, and regularly exchanged experiences in developing tourism products suitable for each locality and market demand. Notably, many successful survey programs of linked tour products from Ho Chi Minh City to the Northwest region have been organized with themes such as “Returning to the Ancestral Land - The Origin of the Nation,” “The Epic of the Northwest,” and “The Fragrance and Colors of the Highlands.” These activities have attracted the participation of corporations, enterprises, organizations, and individuals engaged in tourism business in the 8 ENWP and Ho Chi Minh City. The achieved results affirm that the tourism development cooperation between the 8 Expanded Northwest Provinces and Ho Chi Minh City is a correct and effective direction.