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I highly recommend Vietnam as a travel destination. It’s relatively easy to get around and well set up for backpackers. It’s cheap, fun, and will surely be Thailand’s rival for tourism dollars in the future.
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U.S. and Vietnam Agree on Direct Air Travel
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HANOI, Vietnam, Oct. 9 (AP) — Vietnam and the United States agreed on Thursday to allow direct passenger and cargo flights between the two countries for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War.
The agreement was initialed in Hanoi by Thamvu Hien, deputy director of Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Administration, and Laura Faux-Gable, deputy director of the Office of Aviation Negotiations at the State Department.
Vietnam’s relations with the United States have broadened since a trade agreement went into effect in December 2001. The pact significantly increased trade between the two countries, but negotiators had been unable to reach an agreement on air travel.
At present, American carriers must have sharing agreements with other airlines that operate there, and passengers flying between the two countries have to change planes in some country that flies to Vietnam.
No details were available on when direct commerical air service between the two countries would begin.
"The two countries have been waiting for this agreement for a long time," said Le Dang Doanh, an economist and adviser to Vietnam’s minister of planning and investment.
"This is a new step forward in bilateral relations." he said. "With the agreement, Vietnam has the opportunity to fly to the United States, a huge market, but it also has to face fierce competition" from American carriers.
Vietnam has said the American market accounts for 10 percent of its aviation business, and that would likely increase with direct flights.
More than a million ethnic Vietnamese live in the United States, many of whom fled Vietnam after the defeat of the American-backed government of South Vietnam in 1975. Many overseas Vietnamese have begun traveling back to their homeland.
Negotiations on an aviation agreement broke down three years ago but resumed earlier this year. Details about the talks have not been released, but Vietnamese news reports have said that a major sticking point involved regulations for passengers or cargo to change flights during stopovers at major airport hubs.
The American delegation at the talks, in addition to government officials, included representatives of several large American carriers and San Francisco International Airport.