05 - 01 - 2008
Tourism set for big year
(04-01-2008)
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| Can Tho City’s Cai Rang floating market will be in the spotlight during a Mekong Delta tourism festival in October. — VNA/VNS Photo Trang Duong |
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| The mandarin slide: A royal festival performed by nearly 300 people in Festival Hue 2006. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Ha |
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| Hello lovely! Contestants at the Miss Viet Nam Global contest perform in a Miss Tourism round at Ponagar Tower, Nha Trang City. — VNA/VNS Photo Anh Tuan |
In the new year, Viet Nam tourism has planned various events and impressive activities to popularise Vietnamese culture. The following are some of the notable events listed by the National Administration of Tourism.
2008: A year of promoting travel to fruit gardens across the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta.
The event will be organised in Can Tho City with an opening ceremony reflecting traditional folk festivals. Other festive activities will be organised in the Mekong Delta provinces throughout the year. Can Tho City hopes to receive 2 million tourists this year.
- The Pilgrimage to the Roots programme (Feb-Nov).
This is the fourth year the northern provinces of Phu Tho, Yen Bai and Lao Cai have co-organised the event. This year, the three provinces hope to receive 4.5 million tourists, 350,000 of whom are expected to be foreigners, and to bring in VND500 billion.
- Hue’s Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development Festival
The festival is scheduled for June 2008. The centre of the festival will be the ancient atmosphere of the forbidden city, especially the An Dinh Palace. To date, 22 art troupes from 16 countries have registered to join in the art programme at the festival.
- International Firecracker Festival at Da Nang city
The festival will take place along the banks of Han River. The city will also organise various cultural, art, and sport activities including the Sea Tourism Festival and Meeting at Ba Na Resort. The organising board of the firecracker competition will award a sum of US$100,000 for the first, second and third-place prizes. The organising board intends to invite China, Japan, South Korea and Australia to join the festival, which will be organised here annually.
- The Miss Tourism 2008 contest will be held for the first time in HCM City in May 2008:
The winner will be the official representative of Viet Nam to join the International Miss World Tourism 2008 pageant.
- Miss Universe 2008 will take place in Nha Trang city, in the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa, in July.
Around 170 TV channels will come to cover the event. This is a golden chance for Viet Nam to advertise tourism.
- Further encouragement of people to vote for Ha Long Bay to be a world wonder.
There will be more activities to promote voting for Ha Long among internet users, domestic and foreign tourists. The nomination process has been carried out online at www.natural7wonders.com since July 7, 2007. The organisers will select the 21 places with the most votes for the final voting round. The final result will be announced on August 8, 2008. — VNS