Singapore expects to welcome 200,000 Vietnamese holidaymakers in 2007, a year-on-year increase of 20 percent, according to Chang Chee Pey, Managing Director of the Singaporean Tourism Board in Southeast Asia.

The low-cost airline of Singapore, Jetstar Asia, on March 25 began a new route linking Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City with one-way ticket being offered at US$39. It is the sixth Singaporean airlines conducting direct flights to Vietnam, giving tourists of both countries more choices.

The move will help promote trade and tourism activities between the two cities in general and the two countries in particular, according to economic experts.

Vietnam earned more than US$1.5 billion from exports to Singapore in 2006 and the figure is expected to increase to US$1.8 billion this year, and US$2.7 billion by 2010.