A presentation on Greece and Argo Travel Group was organized for the second time on Aug. 7 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest city, by Travel Media Applications, in collaboration with the Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA).
The first presentation took place last month in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, which was attended by 48 tour operators of outbound tourism, but there were complaints that the Greek government rejects two-thirds of the visa requests for tourists.
Attendees emphasized the difficulty of obtaining visas for customers. The Greek Embassy based in Hanoi often requires a personal interview for prospective travelers even if they are based in Ho Chi Minh City which is around an hour flight from Hanoi.
Phan Quoc-Dai, Deputy director of outbound corporate sales department Saigontourist Travel Service Co. Ltd., reported that lately the Greek Embassy has repeatedly rejected customers’ requests and statistically only one in three applications is accepted.
At the second presentation, a number of 75 outbound tourist offices based in Ho Chi Minh City responded, which showed particular interest in Greek tourism product.
VISTA President Vu The Binh, who flew from Hanoi especially for the event, stressed that “Greece is for us a very popular destination. We want to learn even more about Greece and suggest new places to Vietnamese tourists. Our partnership with the TMA has very strong foundations for the development of outbound tourism from Vietnam. The TMA has taken on international sales of VITM, Vietnam’s exhibition for outbound tourism, held every April in Hanoi where we hope that Greece will participate.”
In the presentation, Stratis Voursoukis, Director of Asia-Pacific Travel Media Applications and Argo Travel Group, said that, “There is a great interest for outbound travel to Greece. However, Vietnamese travel agents need to be updated about the tourism product of the country. We as TMA and Argo Travel make great effort to promote our country in Southeast Asia in response to the growing demand for trips.”
Theodore Koumelis, founder of Travel Media Applications, said that, “The Southeast Asia region has great economic development and growth of outbound tourism which Greece should take into consideration. The Argo Travel with longtime experience in incoming tourism listens to the needs of the Asian market and offers the appropriate tourism product.”
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
