HANOI, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The ASEAN Tourism Investment Forum opens Wednesday in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City under the theme of challenges and opportunities of ASEAN tourism investment, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The forum drew around 250 government officials and representatives from domestic and international companies and organizations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.

The forum highlights three topics including ASEAN tourism investment framework, opportunities and advantages for tourism investment in ASEAN countries, and potential areas for tourism investment in those countries.

The forum provided a chance for representatives to exchange views on difficulties when investors carry out tourism investment process in ASEAN countries. Thus representatives held discussions on seeking measures to resolve these problems and boosting cooperation, said the report.

Hoang Tuan Anh, Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism said at the forum that tourism has played an important role in promoting socio-economic development in ASEAN countries in the past years.

Vietnamese government is creating favorable conditions to encourage domestic and international companies to increase investment in tourism, said Anh.

Somsak Pipoppinyo, ASEAN Secretariat representative at the forum, spoke highly of the accomplishments of tourism sector of ASEAN members in the past few years. It helps promote growth in tourism industry to advertise image and attraction of ASEAN to international community, said Pipoppinyo.