Foreign friends enjoy Vietnamese traditional disk of Nem ran (crispy spring rolls) (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam’s crispy spring roll, which has been listed among CNN Travel’s top 10 best dishes, was introduced during the show’s ASEAN Happy Hour program. Along with the roll, the Vietnamese Embassy in Canada gave visitors glimpses of the thousand-year-old city of Hanoi and the UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Sites of Ha Long Bay and Phong Nha-Ke Bang. In addition to Vietnamese cuisine, the ASEAN Happy Hour, held by the ASEAN Committee in Ottawa, also introduced dishes of Brunei, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand.

Vietnam had the third fastest growth in the number of foreign tourists in 2018. However, the number of Canadians visiting Vietnam was only a modest 138,000 in 2017 and 104,000 in the first eight months of 2018. Mrs. Halina Player, the organizer of the Travel & Vacation Show, said the trend in tourism is exploring new cultures and places.

According to Jay Johnson, Sales and Marketing Director of Come&Go Vietnam, Vietnam and Canada have a strong potential for cooperation in tourism. Canadian people think of Vietnam as a safe destination to visit, he said. The Vietnam-Canada relationship has been growing, and the 250,000-strong Vietnamese community in Canada is helping foster friendship between the two countries, he noted. Johnson predicted that the number of Canadian visitors to Vietnam will rise.