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| A homestay in Son La province (Photo: VNA) |
Two homestay groups in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long and the northwest province of Lao Cai received the ASEAN Homestay Award.
Meanwhile, four units won the ASEAN Community Tourism Award, namely the Quan Ba Community Tourism Service Cooperative in Ha Giang province, Sin Suoi Ho community tourism village in Lai Chau province, Tan Thanh fishing village in Quang Nam province, and Thai Hai Reserve Area of Ecological Houses-on-Stilts Village in Thai Nguyen province.
The ASEAN Public Toilet Award was awarded to the toilets in Saigon Skydeck of Bitexco Financial Tower, Southern Women's Museum and Ben Xua Tourist Area in Ho Chi Minh City.
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| A view of Thala Spa of Best Western Premier Sonasea Phu Quoc Hotel in Kien Giang province (Photo: VNA) |
The winners of ASEAN Spa Service Awards were Cham Spa & Massage in the central city of Da Nang, Sen Tai Thu Vincom Mega Mall Smart City in Hanoi, Sol Spa of Minera Resort Hotel in the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Chi Spa of Silk Path Grand Resort & Spa Sapa - Lao Cai province, and Thala Spa of Best Western Premier Sonasea Phu Quoc Hotel in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.
The ASEAN Tourism Awards is an annual event to honour localities and units with high-quality tourism products and services, contributing to boosting the sustainable development of tourism destinations in ASEAN.
The 2023 ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF), themed "ASEAN: A Journey to Wonderful Destinations," took place in Yogyakarta, Indonesia from February 2 – 5. It is the largest annual event held alternately among the ASEAN member nations, contributing to promoting the region as an attractive tourist destination globally.
ATF 2024 will take place in Vientiane, Laos on January 15 – 20, 2024.
Vietnam-Laos trade records impressive growth in 2022
Two-way trade revenue between Vietnam and Laos in 2022 grew 24% from the previous year to reach some 1.7 billion USD, beyond expectations of their leaders at the 44th meeting of the Vietnam – Laos Inter-Governmental Committee on Bilateral Cooperation earlier last year, reported Vietnam News Agency.
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| Illustrative image (Source: VNA) |
Vietnam exported 656.4 million USD worth of goods to the neighbouring country in 2022, up 10.4%, mainly oil and gas, fertilizers, steel, machinery and accessories, and means of transport.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s imports were valued at 1.04 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of 34.6%, with main items including wood and wood products, fertilizers, rubber and corn.
According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Laos, the two countries’ industry and trade sectors coordinated in organising a range of trade promotion activities during the year, including a business forum in April, a conference on trade connectivity in farm produce, food and consumer goods in May, a trade fair in Vientiane in August, and a trade forum in November, among others.
In December alone, the two-way trade stood at 211 million USD, up 60% from the previous month.
Agro-forestry-fishery exports reach 3.7 bln USD in January
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| Agro-forestry-fishery exports reach 3.7 bln USD in January (Photo: VNA) |
Vietnam’s export of agro-forestry-aquatic products reeled in over 3.7 billion USD in January, down 23% against the same period last year, Vietnam News Agency quoted figures of the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development.
Exports of key farm produce reached more than 1.7 billion USD, down nearly 13%, while the export of seafood, and timber and wood products was estimated to decrease 31% and 30% to 600 million USD and 1.1 billion USD, respectively.
The ministry said the fall in export value in the month due to lack of orders and long holidays.
Vietnam’s export of agro-forestry-aquatic products hit a record revenue of over 53.22 billion USD in 2022, up 9.3%, including nearly 11 billion USD from aquatic products.
Vietnam is third largest seafood supplier to RoK
In 2022, Vietnam is the third largest seafood supplier to the Republic of Korea (RoK). The country’s seafood market share in Korea's total imports was stable at 10.2%.
According to statistics of the Korea Customs Service, in 2022, the country spent 6.47 billion USD importing 1,595 million tons of seafood from 109 markets, up 3.9% in volume and 12.7% in value compared to 2021.
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| Vietnam is third largest seafood supplier to RoK |
In 2022, RoK strongly increased seafood imports from Russia and Vietnam, while reducing seafood imports from Norway, the United States, and Peru.
Vietnam is the third largest seafood supplier to the RoK in 2022, with 161,900 tons, worth 915.8 million USD, up 3.6% in volume and 15.3% in value compared to 2021.
In the first half of 2023, the RoK’s seafood imports are forecast to slow down following the trend in the last quarter of 2022, due to economic difficulties.
However, the trend of seafood consumption in the RoK has changed according to the trend of reducing consumer’s spending, which is an opportunity for Vietnamese seafood firms to promote export of seafood products with reasonable prices.
In the context of the global economic downturn, exports - the main engine of the Korean economy - will decrease and private consumption will also slow down due to high interest rates. This will impact Korea’s seafood import demand in 2023./.