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Vietnam Open Tour News & EventsTUESDAY 15 DECEMBER, 2009 |
 Highlands tourism week celebrates elephants
A tourism and culture week themed “Legend of the Central Highlands Elephant” will be held in Buon Ma Thuot City in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak from December 16-20. Activities will also be held in the city’s districts of Krong and Buon Don (Don Village). The event aims to honor elephants, the most important animal to the Highlands people. The organization board said there will be around 20 elephants taking part in a race, swimming competition and more. Visitors will also have the chance to try local techniques of taming elephants and hunting with them. The event will feature a series of cultural activities including a fire festival, street fair, wood carving contest, food and trade fair, and folk games and music. A photo exhibition called ‘Central Highlands in the past and in the present’ will also be on display and the Ede ethnic minority group will hold a religious ceremony on a river. The inauguration of the ‘Green Central Highlands Tourism’ program is set to be launched during the week along with a performance by an Asian theater group. The tourism and culture week is an opportunity for the province to introduce its achievements, tourism potential, and socio-economic development. Officials aim for the event to help the province become the Highlands economic and cultural hub as well as celebrate the 105th anniversary of the establishment of Buon Ma Thuot City. VNN/SGGP Games promote tours to Laos Nguyen Hoang Thinh from the National Economics University in Ha Noi is heading a group of 20 friends and family members on a trip to Laos to support Vietnamese athletes taking part in the SEA Games.
That Luang attracts tourists in Vientiane. Thinh said it would be a very rare opportunity for so many Vietnamese to join together to support the national football teams and other athletes competing at the Games. "My 60-year-old mother and her friends are very excited at the prospect of attending the games in Laos’s capital Vientiane as well as touring some of tourism sites such as Luang Prabang, Xiengkhouang and Savanakhet." Overseas Vietnamese Nguyen Van Thanh, who is from the northern province of Nam Dinh and works as a trader at Savanakhet Market, said his souvenirs had been selling very well during the first two days of the Games. Apart from souvenirs made of stone from Viet Nam’s ancient town of Hoi An, Thanh also sells shoes, t-shirts and cosmetics. There is a bustling atmosphere in the market of overseas Vietnamese who sell various goods, particularly national flags, hats and many other items to serve supporters, especially those who are fans of the national football squad. Tran Thi Tam also from Nam Dinh said she and her daughter have been doing business in Laos for almost five years. "We bring the souvenirs to every corner of Laos. We rent a shop near the Lao National Stadium to sell our goods, almost of them imported from Viet Nam to sell to tourists in an effort to introduce Vietnamese culture to the world." But the busiest stalls offer traditional foods, fast food and drinks supplied by locals and overseas Vietnamese living in Laos. Thongrataylo, a small business supplier at the Savanakhet Market, said she has invested as much as millions of kips (Lao currency) to buy hand-made traditional Lao clothes and costumes to sell as souvenirs to tourists. A fellow journalist, who was assigned to report on the Games, said he had already brought a brocade skirt priced at 500 kips as a gift for his wife. "I hope my wife will be very pleased with the hand-made skirt, I’ve never seen anything like it before," said the reporter. Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, from Thai Binh said he rushed to Laos last Saturday to enjoy the football match between Viet Nam and Malaysia in which Viet Nam won by two goals. The five-day tour cost about VND2.7 million or US$135. "I’m very happy to celebrate the national football team’s triumph in Laos with traditional foods. It is rather peppery but very tasty and delicious and suits Vietnamese taste," Tuan told Viet Nam News. Travel agencies have reported a scramble to book tours to Laos by football fans hoping to watch Viet Nam play in the semi-finals of the SEA Games that is going on in the neighbouring country. They said it began after Viet Nam beat Malaysia in a qualifying match last weekend. The most popular tours are by bus with most travel firms offering similar rates. Saigontourist’s four- or five-day tours range from $239 to $299 without match tickets. A ticket for the semi-final and final mean an additional $40 and $50, respectively. The Ha Noi-based Vietravel booked trips for 700 customers this week and HCM City’s Saigontourist, 600. Over 100 people bought Vientiane tours from Fiditour on December 10. "The number of bookings may be higher next week because many people predict Viet Nam will reach the final on December 17," Nguyen Thanh Luu, the director of Saigontourist’s office in Da Nang, said. Vietnam Airlines spokesman Le Hoang Dung said demand for tickets to Laos is increasing. "Vietnam Airlines will fly bigger aircraft to Laos. We’re thinking of operating more daily flights to Laos this week," he said. "The 150-seat Airbus A-320 will be replaced by the 184-seat A-321." Many football fans are also travelling to Laos under their own steam. Le Duc Trung, acting president of the Viet Nam Football Supporters Association, said: "Over 100 other football fans and I will leave Ha Noi for Vientiane on December 10. "Hundreds of football supporters from the central and southern regions will leave for Laos on the same day. "We’ll take with us a giant Vietnamese flag that will be more than 200sq.m. The flag will fly high at the stadiums where Viet Nam will play." Many young people also plan to travel to Vientiane by coaches from Ha Noi. "Leaving Ha Noi at 7pm, I can arrive in Vientiane at around 3pm the next day," Tran Quoc Dat, a young football fan, said. Dat said he would go to Laos with a group of nine young people. "The number of tickets sold from Ha Noi to Vientiane has more than doubled after Viet Nam beat Malaysia," sources at the Ha Noi coach said. A ticket costs VND300,000 to 400,000. For football fans, travelling to Laos is easy and cheap but many are worried about getting tickets for the matches. "Travel companies buy tickets for their customers. But when we travel on our own, we’re not sure if we can get tickets for the semi-final or final because most Vientiane stadiums are small," Ngoc Dinh, another young fan, said. Nguyen Van Phung, a businessman who has been travelling for over 10 years between Laos and Viet Nam, said he and his friends would drive to Laos through the Cau Treo border checkpoint. "Our tour will include sightseeing as well as the football. "Vientiane has a shortage of hotel rooms. But visitors can rent rooms at locals’ houses," he said. According to unofficial figures from the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism, some 17,000 Vietnamese will visit Laos during the on-going 25th SEA Games which run until December 18. VietNamNet/Viet Nam News Smooth sailing
After five days of shop-tillyou-drop in Ho Chi Minh City, a splendid place for such activity, we were sorely in need of another short holiday to recover from this one. “Why don’t you travel to My Tho this weekend?” a Saigon friend of mine, suggested. She described the perfect antidote to our days in HCMC: “It’s a peaceful, riverside town hidden in lush orchards.” A day trip to Tien Giang Province sounded like a great idea to us – me, this northern girl, and two friends of mine from Los Angeles. On the road to this town, there was a curious sense of homecoming for me as my father used to work here as an engineer during the subsidy period. My Tho is around 72 kilometers south of HCMC. Since the 17th century, the fertile land in the north of the Tien River has been reclaimed and developed by generations of inhabitants into an area lush and green with rice fields and orchards, and trade has thrived for centuries along its river banks. As the road became broader and many small canals, green rice fields and orchards came into view, I knew we would be in My Tho before long. In the town, we started to stroll aimlessly through peaceful lanes with no names, inhaling the fragrances of garden fruits carried by the breeze. Then we entered a small lane leading to one of the tributaries of the legendary Mekong River. It was noon and we could see the sun shining brightly and proudly on the magnificent river with many colorful boats sailing up and down. Both banks of the river were bordered by water coconut groves and orchards. It was so peaceful it seemed that it was only yesterday I was walking with my father on the green banks of the river to the wooden wharf looking at pretty goby fishes swimming by. “It’s so beautiful! I have seen this river in a film on old Indochina and I hope one day we can travel along this river up to Cambodia,” said my friend Robert Sheen. Accepting our tour guide’s suggestion, we took a boat on the Mekong River and later moved to one steered by a woman in a conical leaf hat, through the red canals were shaded by water coconut trees. It was not difficult to blend into the surroundings with our silence broken only by the slapping sounds the boat made as it moved through the water. “The water here is red because of the alluvial soil which creates fertile islands like Thoi Son, which we are going to visit now,” said Muoi, our tour guide. On the island, sitting in the shade of the orchard, tasting its fruits plucked fresh off the trees, listening to don ca tai tu (amateur southern Vietnamese Opera) – it was exactly the experience we wanted. Then we walked around some gardens, listening to the crunch of dry leaves under our feet and watching, but not envying, the hard working tiny bees flying from one tree to another to make honey and pollinate flowers. As the sky got darker, we had to travel back to HCMC. I was a bit jealous as I saw other relaxed tourists coming into the town. But I knew I would come back to My Tho to discover the place afresh, every time. Tours to Thoi Son Island – My Tho can be booked at:
PEACE TOUR CO. THESINHTOURIST HOAN HAO TOURIST CO.
VN tourism promoted overseas Viet Nam’s tourism sector concludes its 2009 tourism promotion campaign with prog-rammes in Taiwan and France, according to the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT). The eight-day promotion programme is taking place in the three Taiwanese cities of Taipei, Taizhong and Kaohsiung. During the programme, which will end on December 18, the VNAT representatives will meet with some 200 tourism businesses. A similar programme will take place in Paris, France, from December 12-19, focusing on introducing the French public to the cultural identities, delicious dishes and famous destinations of Viet Nam. The VNAT will work with around 300 French travel companies to seek co-operation opportunities. "France and Taiwan are considered the Vietnamese tourism sector’s two largest markets. However, due to the impact of the global economic crisis, in the first 11 months this year, the number of arrivals from France and Taiwan has dropped by 3.7 per cent and 12.4 per cent, respectively, compared to the same period last year. The sector expects that with the help of these promotion programmes, the number of French and Taiwanese tourists visiting Viet Nam would increase next year. Under the strategic plan for tourism development, Viet Nam would attract from 7 to 8 million international tourists and 35 million local visitors each year by 2015 and 11-12 million international and 45-48 million local tourists by 2020. In the plan, the tourism industry expects to reach a turnover of U$10-11 billion by 2015, $18-19 billion by 2020, and about $38 billion by 2030. To reach these goals, VNAT director Nguyen Van Tuan emphasised the importance of building up and enhancing a trademark for the country’s hospitality sector, focusing on promotion activities, improving the capacities of the sector’s personnel resources as well as further diversifying tourism products. VNN/VNS Hue to host series of tourist festivals
A variety of performances and activities will be held at the Royal Palace, one of the many must-see vestiges in Hue City. Twenty-five festivals and other programmes will be carried out over the next year under the theme Hue - The City of Festivals, Heritage and Tourism to promote tourism in the central province of Thua Thien – Hue and remotely celebrate the great 1,000-year anniversary of Thang Long – Ha Noi. The festivals’ programmes are expected to mobilise all resources to improve the quality and growth of tourism and to make tourism a key economic sector in the province. Tourism will help Thua Thien - Hue Province become one of the cultural and tourism centres of the country, and Hue city will become the biggest festival city in Viet Nam, according to the vice director of Thua Thien - Hue Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Le Huu Minh. The festivals will run the gamut between the traditional and the modern. A ceremony announcing Thua Thien - Hue Province Tourism 2010 early next year in Hue city, the province’s centre, will start off other activities. It will introduce and popularise the city’s characteristics. Unique artistic performances, carnivals, a road show and a Hue traditional cuisine festival will build the image of the city as a must-see destination in Viet Nam. The old festivals, featuring traditional culture and religion, will be held in the whole of the province, such as Thu Le Village’s Wrestling Festival in Quang Dien District, the Cau Ngu (Fish Worshipping) Festival in Phu Loc District, the Sinh Village’s Wrestling Festival in Phu Vang District and a festival commemorating King Quang Trung (1753-92) in Hue city, as well as Buddha’s birthday. This year, the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will reappear and bring classic reference, royal activities and historical events to festivals, such as a demonstration of naval forces under the Nguyen Dynasty along the Huong (Perfume) River, a kermis in the countryside, an imperial nighttime musical performance, a traditional wedding, a rite for the heaven and earth and festivals in the Royal Palace. The Hue Festival 2010, which will take place June 5 - 13, with a theme of Cultural Heritage - International Integration and Development, will highlight the tourism activities of Thua Thien - Hue Province. This year, the festival will be joined by troupes from five continents. Forty troupes from 25 nations have already registered to join in the activities, and among them, the French troupe is still the main partner, just as in previous Hue festivals, according to Huynh Tien Dat, vice director of the Hue Festival Centre. "This year, the festival’s scale will be enlarged to remote areas in the city, not only in the centre as was the case in the past," he said. "Many more countries will join the festival, bringing their most unique performances in various artistic genres." The vice director of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Nguyen Manh Cuong, greatly appreciated efforts of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and local tourist agents in promoting tourism for the province. He also promised that the VNAT would give professional support to bring success to the programmes. VNN/VNS
Cam Ranh airport goes international Cam Ranh Airport in the central province of Khanh Hoa becomes an international airport on Saturday with the landing of Silk Airlines’ first flight.
The 750ha facility, situated 35km from Nha Trang City, has the country’s longest runway that can handle aircraft like Boeing 767, 777 and Airbus 321, 300-600 and a new VND200 billion (US$10 million) terminal with a capacity of 800 passengers per hour. "Three Russian carriers – S7 Airlines, Vladivostok Avia and Transaero Airlines – plan to fly into the airport from next February," said Le Van Nghia, an agent for the three passenger airlines. Local authorities and the Central Region Aviation Corporation have asked travel agencies to recommend international carriers to begin flying into Cam Ranh. The largest number of visitors to coastal resorts like Nha Trang, Mui Ne and Phu Quoc Island are from the Commonwealth of Independent States, especially Russia. Cam Ranh Airport received 50,000 passengers in 2007 and an estimated 70,000 this year. Hotels in the province, including Vinpearl Resort&Spa, Novotel Nha Trang Hotel, Yasaka Sai Gon – Nha Trang, and Khanh Hoa Tourism Company offered 50-100 per cent discounts for passengers first arriving on international flights to Cam Ranh. Authorities plan to build another runway at the airport by 2020, increasing its annual capacity to 5.5 million passengers and 100,000 tonnes of cargo. VNN/VNS News for Monday 14 December, 2009
View all news for Monday 14 December, 2009 on one page Recent News
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