Many Vietnamese companies and Chinese partners exchanged information at the event organized at the five-star Rex Hotel by CNTA and the tourism agencies and travel firms of Guangzi, Guangdong and Guangzhou provinces.

China is one of the three most frequented outbound destinations for local tourists from HCMC. The number of Vietnamese people to travel to China from the city is rising by 20% per year, the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said.

The department estimates that around 60,000 people from the city will travel to China this year compared with 42,000 last year.

Meanwhile, arrivals from China to HCMC are also increasing by 25% annually, making China the sixth biggest source market for HCMC’s tourism, said La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the city’s tourism department.

In this year to date, HCMC has welcomed 193,000 Chinese visitors. The department expects to receive around 250,000 Chinese visitors this year, compared with 140,000 last year.

Therefore, the road show on Wednesday captured strong interest from the business circle, with around 100 representatives from 60 local travel firms joining the tourism promotion event. They came not only to get updates on new services and products for local travelers but also to seek ways to woo more Chinese tourist to the country.

“We have no Chinese partners because the main market of our company is Europe, but China is the world’s leading tourism market so we want to learn more about the market for future business,” said Bui Viet Thuy Tien, managing director of Asian Trails Co., Ltd.

She said that the fast-growing economy of the neighboring country would result in a big number of high-end travelers and the company wanted to woo such visitors.

HCMC’s tourism on Wednesday also inked cooperation agreements with Guangzhou, Guangzi, and Yunnan of China.

“Our department and Guangzi tourism agency this morning agreed to new cooperation activities to promote the tourism’s image between the two destinations. We want to boost the number of travelers between the two sides,” Khanh of the tourism department said.

The China National Tourism Administration on Monday also had organized a similar program in Hanoi, and signed an agreement with Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to tighten cooperation activities from training, joint marketing to development of new tourism products.