Vietnam tourists to US, Ho Chi Minh City's tour operators are interested in developing outbound tours for Vietnamese tourists to visit America, and are seeking cooperation with U.S. partners to develop this market segment, according to a meeting here on Wednesday.

At the meeting with Noel Irwin Hentschel, chairwoman and chief executive officer of AmericanTours International LLC, nearly 20 representatives of tour operators in the city asked about arranging outbound tours for Vietnamese to the U.S.

Hentschel is a member of the 22-strong business delegation headed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M.Gutierrez on a four-day visit to Vietnam beginning this Monday.

Most of the tour operators said that many Vietnamese are interested in going stateside for travel purpose, visiting their relatives, and for study. But these tour operators have found it difficult to help guests to obtain visas to enter the U.S.

Visa procedures are the big barrier restricting the number of local tourists to the U.S. If the American partner can help them to make it easier, the number will increase quickly, said the representative of a leading travel firm in the city.

"We need to get more support from U.S. partners to get visas for tourists," the representative of Vietravel said.

All companies that joined the meeting including Fiditourist, Vietnam tourism, Carnival, and Ben Thanh Tourist are running outbound tours to the U.S. They not only asked about AmericanTours' policy in business cooperation but also asked about the tour guide quality, services, and online bookings among others.

Lai Huu Phuong, director of Ben Thanh Tourist Travel Service Center, said that some American partners are hiring Vietnamese Americans as tour guides for Vietnamese tourists.

But sometimes, the qualifications of such tour guides are not good enough to cater to his guests.

Hentschel said her company runs training programs regularly to ensure that AmericanTours' guides can serve tourists in the best manner.

For online bookings, the company is expanding this service in Asia including Vietnam, she said, adding AmericanTours also offers a web-to-web booking site.

Hentschel said that her company caters to nearly one million visitors annually from over 70 countries.

(Source: SGT)