The Ho Chi Minh City 2011 International Travel Exposition will include Myanmar in its regional tour link, together with the old faces of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, organisers said.

La Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said on June 24 that this year’s event was themed “Four nations - one destination”, after six years of focusing on merely three Indochinese markets.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho Anh Tuan said the expanded regional tour connection was in line with the goal set by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for joint action in promoting tourism among member nations and speeding up integration of the industry by 2015.

Tuan added that organisers would gear to a broader theme “ASEAN - one destination” for the expo, the largest hospitality industry event in Vietnam, in years to come.

The organising board said the expo, which was to take place from September 14-17, had so far filled up 70 percent of its pavilions. Participants will come from a large range of markets, from India to Taiwan, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, in addition to travel agents from the four host nations./.