Hanoi (VNA) –🔴 Vietnam has still affirmed its attractiveness despite a range of difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The country has won multiple prizes at the prestigious World Travel Awards (WTA) 2020, being named one of Asia's leading heritage, cultural and culinary destination. It has surpassed other candidates from Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Thailand. This year is the second consecutive year Vietnam has been honoured in the big three categories. Among other categories, Vietnam has also been named Asia's Best Golf Destination 2020 after beating other reputable nominees such as China, the RoK, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. This is also the fourth consecutive year that the country received this prestigious international award. The InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort in the central city of Da Nang was rewarded with titles Asia’s Leading Luxury Resort 2020, Asia’s Leading Green Resort 2020 and Asia’s Most Romantic Resort 2020. Meanwhile, InterContinental Phu Quoc Long Beach Resort was voted as the Asia’s Leading Luxury Family Resort 2020. According to the WTA, the enchanting mix of French Indochina haute couture in a mountain setting led Hotel de la Coupole, MGallery Sapa to be voted as the Asia’s Leading Design Hotel. In the newcomer categories, Vietnam's Premier Village Hạ Long Bay Resort was named Asia’s Leading New Resort 2020. In the aviation sector, an unprecedented fleet upgrade has helped Vietnam Airlines lift the title of Asia’s Leading Airline – Economy Class, Asia's Leading Airline - Premium Economy Class 2020 and Asia's Leading Cultural Airline 2020. Bamboo Airways was honoured with the title of Asia's Leading Regional Airline 2020. Van Don International Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh received two titles of Asia's Leading Airport Lounge 2020 and Asia's Leading Regional Airport 2020. In the category of tour operators, Vietravel received the title of Asia's Leading Tour Operator 2020. The awards were issued by WTA following a year-long search for the world’s top travel, tourism and hospitality brands. Reported as the "travel industry's equivalent of the Oscars" by The Wall Street Journal, the WTA first launched in 1993 to acknowledge excellence in the travel and tourism industry, was based on the results of votes cast by the public and travel professionals from across the globe. Nominees gaining the most votes in different categories will be named the winners. For this year, Asia's winners were announced at the World Travel Awards (WTA) Asia Gala Ceremony 2020 in London, UK, last week. The world-class winners of 27th WTA will be issued on November 27. A range of activities have been carried out to promote and recover Vietnam’s tourism sector once the COVID-19 pandemic is fully controlled. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has shaken hands with CNN International to launch a short video entitled “Why not Vietnam?”, recommending tourists choose the country as the destination of their next holiday. The 30-second video introduces major tourist products and sites and concludes with “When you’re ready to travel again, why not Vietnam?” According to VNAT, the video highlights Vietnam’s charm and describes it as a safe and attractive destination for 2021. The video is being aired on CNN Asia for six weeks starting from October 15 and can also be found at the Vietnamese tourism website www.vietnam.travel and other social network accounts of the country’s tourism sector. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also launched the second domestic tourism promotion programme in September, focusing on optimising information technology to improve the visitor experience by introducing the “Du lich Viet Nam an toan” (Safe travel in Vietnam) mobile app. The app helps tourists remain updated on the level of safety in their current location, while providing a digital map containing information on safety and tourism services./.