The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) is administered out of the offices of the Department of Tourism of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, based in Bangkok, and was established with funding from the six governments of Cambodia, China,Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand, which represent the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). A common goal of both of public and private sectors in all countries is to create sustainable tourism profit. This is achieved optimally by increasing inbound tourism yield, by developing quality products that tourists are willing to buy, and inciting longer stays with enhanced motivation to revisit. Thus, GMS’s strategy is to “develop and promote the Mekong Region as a single tourism destination. In 2013 the GMS welcomed 51.7 million international tourist arrivals, representing a 3% share of the global market.

The Mekong Tourism Forum provides a cooperative platform for public and private sector stakeholders in the tourism industry to discuss the development, marketing and promotion of travel to, from and within the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), and monitor sustainable and responsible tourism growth. The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) has revived the forum in 2010 taking place in Siem Reap, Cambodia, with the theme of “New Roads, New Opportunities”. Followed by MTF2011  “Destination Mekong: The Making of a Star” in Pakse, Laos,  MTF2012 in Chiang Rai, Thailand with the theme of “20/20 Vision: Building on Two Decades of GMS Cooperation”, MTF2013 in Guilin, China with the theme ““The Rise of the Chinese traveller: Optimizing the impacts for the GMS”, and MTF2014 in Mandalay, Myanmar with the theme “Tourism investment for the protection of Heritage and Culture”.

Hosted by the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and Da Nang City at the Hotel Novotel Premier Han River, the three-decade old event is now free of charge for all tourism professionals, and features The Mekong Tourism Marketing Workshop, produced in collaboration with UNWTO,PATA, ATTA, GSTC, and Bangkok-based Thammasat University on Monday June 15; the Mekong Tourism Social Media Boot-Camp produced by Digital Innovation Asia on Tuesday June 16; the Mekong Tourism Investment Summit, produced in cooperation with HVS, Horwath HTL, and C9 Hotelworks, followed by the screening of a movie called Gringo Trails on Wednesday June 17; and the main Mekong Tourism Symposium on Thursday June 18, emceed by Travel Editor and TV host of CBS News Peter Greenberg. MTF2015 ends with a range of exciting post tours on June 19th to explore the region.