Hon Chong island in Nha Trang City, southern province of Khanh Hoa. — Photo dulichvietnam.com.vn

HA NOI — An online meeting to discuss the development of a safe and friendly tourism industry has been ongoing at the Vietnamese government website.

The participants of the meeting are discussing how the service quality can be improved and tourism be made environment friendly.

Service quality and a friendly environment are the two key factors for attracting foreign tourists.

The number of international tourists arriving in Viet Nam in the first six months of the year decreased 10 per cent year on year.

The government's policy is to boost tourism growth. Recently, it granted one-year visa exemption to visitors from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain, as well as Italy, and a five-year exemption to Belarusians.

The participants of the online meeting are representatives of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism, the northern province of Nam Dinh, Viettravel tourism company and JBT-TNT tourism company.

The discussions can be viewed at chinhphu.vn and media.chinhphu.vn. — VNS