City honours participants in HCM City's Tet festival

HCM CITY — The Saigontourist Holding Company yesterday organised a closing ceremony for Nguyen Hue Flower Street which opened during the Tet (Lunar New Year) Festival.

The city People's Committee commended the active participation of 48 organisations and 78 individuals in the 2011 Tet Festival.

An estimated of 1 million people visited Nguyen Hue Flower Street during Tet.

The main sponsor for this section, Kinh Do Company, contributed VND500 million (US$25,000) to the Sponsoring Association for Poor Patients.

The organiser also collected VND68 million ($3,400) of coins from the Wishing Pond that were sent to the association.

Hue kicks off eight-day New Year festival

HCM CITY — Thua Thien-Hue Province authorities on Thursday kicked off an eight-day annual festival celebrating the New Year at Huyen Tran Temple in Hue City.

The temple worships both Princess Huyen Tran, who is considered the founder of Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Tri and Quang Nam provinces, and her father, King Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308).

The first event of the festival was a prayer and ritual ceremony conducted by Buddhist monks to pray for peace and prosperity in the new year. Leaders and residents of Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Tri lit incense sticks during the ceremony.

The festivities include lanterns, traditional prayers for good luck, folklore performances, handicraft exhibitions and a vegetarian food festival.

The festival ends on February 17.

Hoi An students to learn Japanese in pilot plan

QUANG NAM — The central province of Quang Nam on Thursday started a pilot programme to teach Japanese language at the primary and junior-high school levels.

The lessons are being taught in one third-grade class at Luong The Vinh primary school and two sixth-grade classes at Kim Dong junior high school in Hoi An.

The programme's organisers are Hoi An City People's Committee and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Human Resources Institute (HRI) Viet Nam.

Japanese teachers from HRI Viet Nam are in charge of helping the students get acquainted with Japanese language and culture through interactive activities.

Nakamura Kouji, a teacher at Kim Dong School, said: "I started to discover a big world outside Japan when I first made contact with foreigners."

"I hope that Vietnamese students like the subject and realise it is a way for them to know more about the country, people and culture of Japan," Nakamura added.

Since the 17th century, Hoi An has a longstanding history of commercial exchanges with Japan. Many relics of Japan can be found in Hoi An. — VNS

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Tourism flourishes during Tet holiday

Tourists visit the Royal Palace at Hue Citadel in Thua Thien-Hue Province. ­­—VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hung

HCM CITY — More local and foreign tourists have taken inbound and outbound tours during the Tet (Lunar New Year) 2011 holiday compared to previous years.

The number of foreign visitors arriving in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue reached 50,000, mostly from Europe, Japan and Thailand, an increase of about 20,000 over previous years.

Local officials said that numerous cultural festivals held in Hue during Tet had attracted a large number of visitors. They said the festival was a harbinger for many other cultural events to be held in the province this year in order to welcome the National Tourism Year set to be celebrated in 2012.

All historical relics in Hue remained open to visitors free of charge from February 3-5 (Jan 1 – 3 on the lunar calendar).

Da Lat welcomed roughly 75,000 tourists during this Tet holiday, with most hotels and guesthouses in the Central Highland city reporting 80 per cent occupancy.

In Ha Noi, about 1,000 passengers on 109 international flights arrived at the Noi Bai International Airport from February 3 – 5, mostly European tourists and Viet kieu (Vietnamese overseas) from many countries, according to the airport's Customs Department.

Besides, about 8,000 passengers on 82 flights departed from the airport to other countries during the holiday.

The first international flight carrying 184 tourist passengers from Hong Kong arrived at the Da Nang International Airport on the second day of Tet.

They came on a 5-day tour offering relaxing stays at high-end resorts and hotels, as well as visits to many tourist sites like the Son Tra Peninsula, Ngu Hanh Son Mountain and many world heritage sites in Hue and Hoi An Town.

The Sebourn Pride carrying 200 passengers from the UK, France, Germany, and the US also arrived at the Tien Sa Port in Da Nang on the second day of Tet.

Meanwhile, thousands of tourists flocked to Kim Lien historical site in the eponymous commune, Nam Dan District, in the central province of Nghe An, which is late President Ho Chi Minh's home village.

The site's management board mobilised more staff to offer better services during Tet because of the increase in number of visitors during the festive season.

The site, which has normal working hours of 7:30am till 5pm, was opened even earlier until late in the night to serve a large number of visitors on the first and second days of Tet, the board said.

Travel firms do well

The surge in Tet festival tourism saw HCM City-based Viettravel company serve 18,000 – 20,000 customers, a soar of 40 per cent over the same period last year.

Viettravel mobilised an unprecedented 300 tourist guides to serve customers during this Tet holiday.

Meanwhile, Saigontourist Company in HCM City attracted 10,000 customers to join 130 domestic tours, an increase of 40 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Saigontourist also welcomed and served 9,000 foreign tourists on this occasion. — VNS

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Cruise ship brings 3,000 visitors

Three international cruise ships brought more than 3,000 visitors and crew to HCM City last weekend.

US vessels Nautica, which came with 7,000 passengers, and SeaBourn Pride, which had 100, anchored at Sai Gon Port last Saturday. The visitors went around HCM City and to the Mekong province of Tien Giang. The Nautica later visited Chan May Port in Thua Thien-Hue and Ha Long Bay before leaving for Hong Kong. The SeaBourn Pride anchored in Da Nang and Ha Long Bay before also leaving for Hong Kong today.

The Italian-flagged Costal Classica dropped anchor at Lotus Port in HCM City and its 2,500 passengers visited HCM City and My Tho. It later went to Da Nang, Hue, and Ha Long before leaving on Wednesday.

Plan to attract Japanese investment

Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam provinces and Da Nang plan to set up a joint representative office in Japan as part of a programme to attract Japanese tourists to Viet Nam.

Travel firms, Vietnam Airlines, and a Japanese organisation have pledged support, and the office is expected to open later this year.

"We want to open it soon since Japan is among our important markets," said Tran Quoc Thanh, deputy director of Thua Thien-Hue Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Regional countries to produce 3D tour

Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar will jointly produce a documentary titled Four Countries – One Destination to promote their tourism industry.

It will make use of 3D filming to depict the countries' history, culture, and daily life.

It will focus on exotic destinations like the Temple of Literature, Thang Long royal citadel, and handicraft villages in Ha Noi, the Mekong River, the ancient capital of Luang Prabang, and Thap Luang in Laos, Angkor Wat, the ancient capital of Angkor Thom, and Sea Lake in Cambodia, and the Shwe Dagon pagoda, ancient capital of Mandalay, and Bagas city in Myanmar.

First helicopter tour takes off

An MI 172 helicopter took off from Da Nang Airport last week with 24 tourists on board to popular sites like Son Tra Beach, Mount Ngu Hanh Son, Cua Dai Beach, and Cham Island.

It was the first helicopter tour conducted by the Northern Air Services Co and the Vitours. In the beginning, besides the Russian-made MI 172, a French EC 155B1 will also be used for the tours.

There will be a flight each before and after Tet, with each tourist paying nearly VND6 million (US$300).

Phan Thiet offers Tet festivities

Phan Thiet will hold a series of cultural and sports events from January 30 to February 8 to mark the Lunar New Year in early February.

There will be music performances, sports, folk games, and lion dances in most of the city's 16 wards.

The Bien Xanh theatre group will hold music galas in the communes of Tien Thanh, Phong Nam, and Thien Nghiep.

Tien Loi - Tien Thanh Tourist Park will have a fireworks display on New Year's Eve on February 2.

A boat race will be held on the Ca Ty River on the February 4 and the Mui Ne Sand Hill Run will be held two days later.

Furama Resort to hold Tet market

The five-star Furama Resort Da Nang will organise a Tet market for tourists from January 27 to 30, offering guests the experience and colour of a Vietnamese country market and craft village.

They can witness people making banh chung (square glutinous cake with green bean and pork), fortune tellers in traditional costumes in action, and ong do (calligraphers) drawing "parallel sentences" and creating Dong Ho folk paintings. — VNS

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Conference promotes Hue tourism

White light: Young women in ao dai ready to release flower lanterns into the Huong River at Hue Festival 2010. — VNS Photo Nhat Anh

HA NOI — A conference on tourism promotion for the central province of Thua Thien-Hue has been held in Ha Noi to introduce tourism services and cultural programmes to the province this year.

The Hue Traditional Crafts Festival, to be celebrated from April 29 to May 3, will be the key event for tourists this year and will build on the achievements of previous festivals. It will specialise in the arts of bonsai and gastronomy with the theme of Vietnamese gastronomy in the tranquillity of Hue's gardens.

Festival goers will be immersed in the conspicuous cultural ambience through Viet Nam's divine culinary and bonsai arts. Cuisines from distinct geographical regions across the country will be featured: the culinary specialities of the south, the delicate cuisine of Hue with its royal meals, vegetarian food and popular dishes to be served in the city's splendid gardens, and the authentic tastes from the north.

Visitors will also have chance to meet prominent culinary researchers and experts, talented bonsai artists, antiques collectors and other artists in the country in the variety of fascinating artistic programmes and community activities.

For the national year of tourism in 2012, hosted by Thua Thien-Hue Province, the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will launch many tourism programmes.

For example, the department will organise tours to discover the treasures of Hue and help tourists understand the legacy of the Nguyen dynasty by experiencing the culture and visiting pagodas.

Let's Experience Hue will introduce tourists to Hue festivals, crafts villages and royal life. Tours take visitors on various routes through the provinces and allow them to discover the heritage of the city. For those who want to relax, there will be walking tours that take visitors to forests, to rest by Lang Co Beach and to discover ancient houses.

"Thua Thien-Hue is an attractive destination for tourists as tourism is the key industry of the province," said Phan Tien Dung, director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

"Last year, Hue received 1.5 million visitors, 700,000 of which were foreigners."

At the conference, a co-operation memorandum was signed between Ha Noi's Culture, Sports and Tourism Department and its counterparts from Thua Thien-Hue Province and HCM City.

A similar conference for the same purpose will take place in HCM City on January 19. — VNS

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