The summit, themed "Having Vietnam tourism take flight," aims to promote sustainable development of the country's tourism sector and make it more competitive; bolster tourism investment and attract tourists from strategic markets; and push for implementing the joint aviation market initiative or "ASEAN Open Skies" by 2020, when Vietnam assumes chairmanship of the regional bloc.

The event will also touch on key topics, including how to make tourism promotion more effective in attracting visitors; enhance visitors’ experience in preparing and planning their trip; improve destination travel experiences for tourists; and use "ASEAN Open Skies" to boost trips to the Mekong Delta sub-region in Southeast Asia.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien, leaders of the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Planning and Investment, Natural Resources and Environment, and Transport are among high-level officials who will attend the summit.

It is expected to attract about 2,000 participants, including provincial authorities, leaders of regional and Vietnamese aviation carriers, representative of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), tourism industry bigwigs as well as foreign and Vietnamese investors.

Several memoranda of understanding and partnership deals will be signed during the event, which will also commemorate the opening of Vietnam's tourism promotion offices in the U.K. and Australia.

The Vietnam Travel and Tourism Summit 2019 will be organized by the Department for Private Sector Development Studies under the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), and VnExpress.

The summit last year attracted 1,500 participants with five deals worth $2 billion being signed between international and domestic firms.

Tourism contributed 8.39 percent to Vietnam’s GDP in 2018. The government seeks to make the industry an economic spearhead.

In the first nine months of this year, 12.9 million foreigners traveled to Vietnam, an increase of 10.8 percent year-on-year.

With visa waivers for several countries in Asia and Europe, the government expects to see around 20 million foreign visitors in 2020 and earn $35 billion in annual revenues, equivalent to 10 percent of GDP, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).