Published:  00:00 Friday - February 06, 2009

Vietnamese tourism authorities and travel agencies will head for Melbourne, Australia to promote a national programme that seeks to have more foreigners choose the country as a travel destination.

Ho Chi Minh City will lead the tourism promotion mission to Australia with a Vietnam roadshow in Melbourne on Feb. 16, a day ahead of the opening of the 17^th Asia Pacific Incentive and Meeting Expo, known as AIME 2009.

The programme, scheduled to last until September, will have travel companies working with airlines and hotels to offer discounts of 30-50 percent for package tours in Vietnam. Nineteen hotels and 14 travel agencies in HCM City have joined the programme launched early this year by the Vietnam National Administration for Tourism.