Vietnam and Colombia will work together to promote coffee-based tourism | Photo credit: Elias Sorey via Unsplash

Vietnam and Colombia have announced an initiative to work closely on promoting coffee-based tourism. 
 

Speaking at a webinar entitled ‘Coffee-based tourism: from development to promotion’, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, outlined plans to develop community-based tourism revolving around coffee experiences.  
 

A proposed series of webinars will feature participation from tourism policy managers, associations, businesses and international tourism agencies from across Vietnam and Colombia. 
 

Both countries have seen tourism revenues fall sharply during the pandemic and will be hoping to capitalise on heightened consumer awareness on coffee origin and production processes through ‘mutual understanding of the tourism industry’ and ‘bilateral cooperative relations'. 
 

World Coffee Portal research shows consumers worldwide increasingly believe origin is important when choosing their coffee beverage. Sixty four percent of Chinese consumers surveyed in 2020 indicated origin is important, followed by 57% in France, 48% in the USA and 27% in the UK.  
 

Speaking at the webinar, Ms. Le Hoang Diep Thao, Founder and CEO of TNI King Coffee, highlighted Vietnam’s unique coffee culture and global standing as the world's second largest coffee producer as a significant tourism attraction.  
 

Meanwhile, the Colombian delegation highlighted the important history of coffee production in the country and its role in making the South American nation a ‘must-see destination’ for travellers.

Vietnamese coffee roaster and café business TNI King Coffee trades as Vietnam’s largest coffee exporter. In 2020, the brand’s international presence expanded from 60 countries to more than 120 countries and territories. 
  

Columbia is the world’s second largest producer of Arabica coffee and reached an output of 13.9 million 60kg bags of coffee last year.  
 

Around 550,000 Colombian families make their living growing coffee. The Andean country is the third-largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil and Vietnam.