A workshop on how to further enhance connection among eight northwestern provinces to tap their tourism potential and strength took place in Phu Tho province on April 25.

During the event, domestic and foreign experts, managers and representatives from travel agencies said an agreement signed in 2008 among the provinces has brought about positive outcomes, seen in the rising number of tourists and tourism-related revenues every year.

Statistics show the region, which comprises Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Ha Giang, Phu Tho, Hoa Binh, Dien Bien, Son La and Lai Chau provinces, welcomed 14.3 million holiday-makers in 2014, including 988,000 foreign arrivals, earning a total revenue of over 7,8 trillion VND (362.8 million USD), a year-on-year increase of 22.5 percent.

However, participants said the region still lags behind other regions in the country due to limited and unprofessional promotion efforts and weak linkage with other tourist destinations.

Trinh Thi My Nghe, Deputy General Director of ITC Tourism Company stressed that while all provinces in the region have great tourism potential such as unique ethnic culture and customs, ancient relics and beautiful landscape, local tourism fail to attract great number of tourists due to a lack of original and distinctive products and unplanned and small-scale investment in tourism.

Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Quoc Hung said his agency will focus on building specific products for each locality, enacting appropriate policies and legal frameworks, intensifying promotion activities, training human resources serving in the field, in a bid to spur the development of the sector in the coming time.-VNA