By Web Desk TWA ______ The close partnership between Vietnamese and Chinese travel operators, together with well-aligned tourism promotion strategies, has resulted in the full recovery of tourist numbers between the two countries, showing promising growth potential. According to the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT), in the first seven months of this year, 2.1 million Chinese visitors arrived in Vietnam, a surge of about 200% year on year, making China the second largest tourist market of Vietnam after the Republic of Korea. VNAT Vice Director Ha Van Sieu affirmed that after the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism cooperation between Vietnam and China has expanded considerably. He attributed the result to the sound friendship and cooperation between the two countries and effective tourism promotion implemented by the two countries. The official revealed that the VNAT will send two tourism promotion delegations to China to join the China International Travel Mart (CITM) and the China-ASEAN Tourism Expo. At the same time, China has continuously issued attractive entry-exit policies, while improving tourism service quality, diversifying payment methods and continuously organising events to introduce its popular tourist attractions such as Zhangjiajie, which lured 42,200 Vietnamese visitors in the first half of this year. At a conference to introduce tourist destinations of China’s Nanning province, participants noted that in the first six months of this year, the Chinese locality welcomed 300 Vietnamese tourist groups with more than 19,000 visitors. Over the years, China has been one of the leading tourist markets of Vietnam, making up about 30% of the total international visitors to the country. So far this year, tourism routes between Vietnam and China have been bustling. In June, a route for charter flights from Hai Phong city of Vietnam to Lijiang in China was launched, followed by the launching of the Hanoi-Haikou, and Hanoi-Chongqing air routes. These new routes have helped travel firms of the two sides further exploit sources of tourists from each other’s country. The booming in the number of visitors between Vietnam and Chinese is also thank to the close coordination among travel firms of the two countries, especially in exploiting destinations that can be reached by road or short flights. Pham Tien Dung, Vice Chairman of the UNESCO Hanoi Travel Club (HUTC), held that the recovery of tourist source from China will bring about chances for Vietnamese tourism to take off this year. However, he stressed the need for Vietnamese destinations to target higher segment of visitors with more spending. Agreeing with Dung, Nguyen Tien Dat, CEO of AZA Travel, said that sea and island tours in Vietnam have always been attractive to Chinese tourists, especially safe places with reasonable costs. He held that the tourism sector should focus on luring tourists from large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai who often spend a large amount of money for their trips. It is forecast that the number of elderly travelers in China will exceed 100 million in 2025, opening up a market of 139.3 billion USD per year. In 2040, the elderly will make up 50% of the country’s total tourism market in 2040, according to China National Committee on Ageing. This fact prompts Vietnam to design policies to lure this group of visitors, said experts. They asserted that in order to reposition Vietnam as a luxurious destination instead of a low-cost destination, it is necessary to create unique products to encourage tourists to stay longer and spend more, and improve the infrastructure quality to meet their demands.