Ottawa (VNA) – Nem ran (crispy spring rolls), which has been listed among the top 10 best dishes by CNN Travel, has been introduced to foreign friends during the ASEAN Happy Hour programme as part of the Ottawa Travel and Vacation Show in Canada.

Together with the traditional dish, the Vietnamese Embassy in Canada gave visitors an insight of thousand-year-old Hanoi city, the beauty of the UNESCO-recognised World Heritage Sites of Ha Long Bay and Phong Nha-Ke Bang.

This year, the Vietnamese booth became a highlight of the event, drawing a large number of visitors.  

Along with Vietnamese cuisine, the ASEAN Happy Hour, held by the ASEAN Committee in Ottawa, also highlighted unique dishes of Brunei, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand.

The Ottawa Travel and Vacation Show, took place on March 30 and 31, had more than 200 booths organized by more than 50 countries around the world.

2018 was a successful year for Canada’s tourism sector with 21.13 million tourists visiting the country in the year. Tourism created 745,300 jobs in Canada, and contributed about 102.5 billion CAD (76.78 billion USD) to the country’s economy.

Meanwhile, Vietnam ranked third in the top 10 countries with the fastest growth in the number of foreign tourists in 2018. However, the number of Canadian tourists to Vietnam has stayed modest at over 138,200 in 2017 and 104,057 in the eight first months of 2018.

According to Jay Johnson, Sales and Marketing Director of Come&Go Vietnam, Vietnam and Canada boast high potential for cooperation in tourism. Canadian people consider Vietnam as a safe destination to visit, he said.

The Vietnam-Canada relationship has been growing, while the 250,000-strong Vietnamese community in the country is an important force helping foster the friendship between the two countries, he noted. Johnson predicted that the number of Canadian tourists to Vietnam will rise in the future.-VNA