The fair drew nearly 2,000 travel agencies from 185 countries and territories across the world. Vietnam’s booth introduced information on tourist attractions and activities of National Tourism Year 2017 in the northwestern region.

Representatives from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and the national-flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, along with seven travel companies of Vietnam were in attendance.

Vietnam's booth at the tourism fair.

Musical performances and traditional dishes were on show at the booth. A press conference was also held to introduce Vietnam’s tourism products and destinations.

Speaking at the press conference, Dinh Ngoc Duc, head of the Tourism Marketing Department of the VNAT, emphasised that the partnership of Vietnam and Russia has developed over the years in various fields, including tourism. In 2015-2016, the number of Russian tourists to Vietnam increased about 25.6 percent.

More than 118,000 Russian visitors travelled to Vietnam in the first two months of 2017 alone, an increase of 192% year-on-year, making Russia the European country with the largest number of tourists to Vietnam.

The MITT 2017 runs for three days from March 14. It has been held annually since 1994.