Vietnam Airlines helps stranded passengers return home

Vietnam Airlines said, in the late afternoon Thursday, that the authorities of Bangkok-based Suvarnabhumi Airport announced that the airport would be closed until 6pm on November 29. Arpproximately 330 passengers of Vietnam Airlines are now stuck in Bangkok, including 162 Vietnamese nationals.

Stranded passenger at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok (photo: AP)

Vietnam Airlines will have to cancel its flights from Hanoi to HCM City on November 28 and 29. The airline said it would increase flights and provide bigger planes to bring stranded passengers in Bangkok to Vietnam through three gateways, namely Vientiane (Laos), Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. It will allow passengers to change air routes without collecting any other fees.
Today, November 28, Vietnam Airlines will use an Airbus A321 to conduct three flights, including VN 840 from Vientiane to Hanoi at 6.10pm, VN 822 from Siem Reap to HCM City at 5.30pm, and VN 800 from Phnom Penh to HCM City at 9pm (local time).
Passengers can use road vehicles to move to Vientiane and Siem Reap to catch flights to Vietnam or contact the Vietnam Airlines office in Bangkok through hotlines: 662 6554137/38/39/40 or +6....
The office’s chief, Do Nguyen Khoi, will help passengers to contact travel agents or road transport companies. If necessary, Vietnam Airlines will arrange more flights to Vientiane, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh to help passengers.
In case passengers arrive in Vientiane, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, but are not able to catch a flight on that day, Vietnam Airlines will subsidize part of the accommodation and food expenses, at the level of $30 per person.
If passengers need assistance in these cities, they can call +856 205526374 in Vientiane, +85512357866 in Siem Reap, and +855 12809694 in Phnom Penh.
Vietnam Airlines is also in collaboration with the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok and its representative office in Thailand to provide information regarding flight timetables and immigration procedures for passengers. According to the Thailand news agency (TNA), on the night of November 25, civil aviation authorities in Bangkok closed Suvarnabhumi Airport after hundreds of anti-government protesters broke through police lines and flowed into the busy terminal, disrupting airport operations, in an attempt to prevent Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from returning home from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Peru. The current conditions at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport are still strained, and have forced Vietnam Airlines to cancel four flights from the country to Thailand since November 26 to ensure the safety and security of its flights and passengers.
(Source: Tien Phong)

Vietnam struggles to hit tourism target

A decline in the number of foreign arrivals in Vietnam during recent months due to the global financial crisis will seriously hinder the tourism industry in achieving its set target of 5 million foreign visitors this year. ( A guide introduces Hoa Lu Ancient City in Ninh Binh Province to tourists.)

According to the tourism sector, the number of foreign visitors dropped alarmingly in June and this downtrend has continued since then. By the end of October, the tourism sector had catered for a total of 3.6 million visitors during 2008, an increase of 3.5 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, it had recorded a growth rate of more than 15 percent during the first half of the year. A sharp drop in the number of visitors from high-income countries, such as China , the Republic of Korea , Japan , the US and Canada , has caused great concern within the tourist industry. As visitors from those markets account for 40 percent of the total number of foreign arrivals, the Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VNAT)’s Travel Department has referred to the current situation as “quite serious”. The concomitant fall in hotel room occupancy is also worrisome. Many luxury hotels reported room occupancy rates of only 55 percent in the past ten months, 10-15 percent lower than the rate recorded during the same period last year. “If this situation continues, it will be impossible for Vietnam to welcome 5 million foreign visitors, the target it has set for this year,” said VNAT deputy director Nguyen Manh Cuong. Although the global financial crisis and economic recession are regarded the main culprits for the decline, there were additional factors behind drop in overseas visitors, including natural disasters, floods, weak infrastructure, and the low quality of guides and services provided by the hospitality sector, Cuong said. Struggling in the current climate, both state-owned and private travel companies, including Hanoitourist, Saigontourist, Vietmark and Lotussia Travel, are striving to offer new products while also adopting new marketing strategies to attract new tourists. They have also been advised to explore new markets. To help give impetus to the industry, the Government has agreed to provide 30 billion VND for a range of promotional activities. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has approved a plan to advertise images of Vietnam on the BBC and is planning to build on this approach by promoting the country’s natural beauty via other worldwide television channels. The UN Tourism Organisation predicted that the global tourism industry would remain static during 2009 before rebounding in 2020 with 1.6 billion tourist arrivals.
(Source: VNA)

Foreign tourist arrivals by sea surge in October

Foreign tourist arrivals to Vietnam by sea reached 127,481 in the first ten months of this year, a decrease of 32.4 percent year on year. However, the number saw an 8 percent increase in October against the previous month.

In October, Vietnam greeted nearly 6,000 foreign tourists by sea. However, in the first ten months of this year, the number of foreign tourist arrivals to Vietnam by sea was only 67.6 percent of the same period last year. Vietnam’s tourism market is now facing structural weaknesses which are hampering growth, such as lacking cruise ship terminals, a lack of tourism products and non-professional promotion and campaigns for Vietnam’s maritime tourism in the international market. However, several travel agents believe that Vietnam’s sea tourism has the potential to attract a large number of tourists during New Year 2009 and Tet 2009 (the Lunar New Year). At present, oil and food prices are declining, offering opportunities for travel companies to reduce their tour prices. Favorable natural conditions, attractive landscapes, and political stability all contribute to attract more foreign tourists to Vietnam.
(Source: CPV)

Tourism workers need better training

The tourism industry, expected to be one of the spearheads of Viet Nam's economic growth in the future, hopes to have 80 per cent of its workers professionally trained by 2015, the tourism authority has said. ( The country's 40 universities and 83 colleges that have tourism-hospitality faculties have failed to supply qualified human resources.)

Only 30 per cent of the industry workforce are trained, the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said.
Only 7 per cent of the workers have tertiary education while half of them cannot communicate in English, a major hurdle to attracting foreign tourists, it said.
Training fails
The country's 40 universities and 83 colleges that have tourism-hospitality faculties have failed to supply qualified human resources, it admitted.
Insiders said the training quality is very poor. Since lecturers do not work directly in the tourism or hospitality industry, the programmes are theory-based, Nguyen Phu Duc, chairman of Viet Nam Tourism Association, said.
Businesses said it takes two to three years on average to retrain new graduates to fit their needs.
A number of schools are, admittedly, trying to invest more in their facilities. Saigontourist Travel Co, for instance, plans to build a hotel to provide internships for students of the HCM City Hotel and Tourism Training School.
Ha Thanh Hai, deputy general director of the Sofitel Metropole Hotel in Ha Noi, said with the tourism and hospitality industries thriving, finding good personnel has become an urgent need.
The Metropole has to provide refresher training to its staff for four hours every month.
Speaking at a conference on human resources development in tourism earlier this month. Prof Steven Chua, president of SHATEC-Singapore Hotel and Tourism Education Center, said a personnel shortage was also threatening many other countries like Singapore and Japan.
The quality of tourism and hospitality services in Viet Nam is just better than in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, and far worse than in other countries in Southeast Asia, Nguyen Manh Cuong, VNAT deputy general director, said.
Not uniform
The quality is not uniform throughout Viet Nam. A three-star hotel in Ha Noi is much different from its counterpart in Thai Nguyen Province, he said.
"It generally affects the image of the entire industry", he added.
By 2015 he proposed an overhaul of this sector in terms of training and education programmes to improve human-resource quality and urged the Government to make strategies for long-term development.
VNAT estimates six million foreign arrivals and 25 million domestic tourists to provide the industry a turnover of US$4-4.5 billion in 2010, a one-third increase over current figures in terms of both volume and value. Then, the industry would need around two million workers, double the current number, it said.
(Source: Viet Nam News)

Phan Thiet - a place to explore and stay in

Visitors to new places often remember them because of beautiful landscapes and local specialties. In Phan Thiet, a coastal city about 200 kilometers from HCMC, people are not only attracted by the tourism sites in the area but also by something interesting on the way to the city and back. ( A view of Ca Ty River at night.)

For many travelers, riding on a motorbike is the best way to experience beautiful sights along the road, to enjoy ancient streets in the warm and pleasant air of the central region during any season of the year. On Ham Tien, a romantic street which runs beside many popular resorts and the Lau Ong Hoang, visitors should never miss a chance to drop by Poshanu Cham Tower, a complex of towers and temple relics of the Cham dynasty on Ba Nai hill.
Visitors to Phan Thiet can learn about the history of the city from hearty local residents. Many years ago, Cham ethnic people called the land Hama Lithit, which means “a flat field near the sea”. Later, the name Lithit was passed down orally by Kinh people, gradually turning out to Phan Thiet.
Today the city is a famous tourist destination with many beauty spots. Ca Ty River is considered one of the most interesting with bridges above and the ideal venue for grand festivals, like ship races and flower lantern floating. Such events attract hundreds of thousands of local and international visitors to the river and nearby locations each year.
Located by the river is Phan Thiet water tower with the French name of Château d’eau. The 32-meter tower, which was constructed by Laos’ architect and king Souphanouvong in late 1928, is a symbol of the city. Words of U.E.PT (Unise Des Eaux de Phan Thiet) on the body are joined from broken glass due to economical difficulties after the tower was completed in 1934.
It is interesting to wander to each corner of the city on a warm evening and drop by street eateries to enjoy specialties like banh xeo (rice pancake), or snail salad. Many people love can cake, a traditional dish with green onions, boiled eggs, braised fish and sour pickles.
The beautiful images of sights and people in Phan Thiet City seem to cling to many tourists when they leave. With the sweet and red dragon fruits, dry fish, or scented fish sauce along side, they feel like bringing parts of the city to their home.
(Source: SGT)

Vietnam Airlines cancels Bangkok flights

Vietnam Airlines (VNA) Wednesday canceled two flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok for security reasons, a company representative said.

VNA spokesman Trinh Ngoc Thanh said the company made the decision after receiving information about civil unrest in Bangkok.
VNA doesn’t have plans to relaunch service to Bangkok today, Thanh said. For detailed information, passengers can call (04) 3 832 0320.
A representative at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport said five flights en route to Bangkok conducted by Thai Airways, Thai AirAsia and Air France were canceled.
The carriers won’t have to refund fares since the flight cancellations were beyond their control.
Reported by Xuan Toan

Hoi An tourism faces tough year

The number of tourists going to Hoi An in the first 10 months of the year reached 1 million, a drop of 30 per cent compared to the same period last year. ( Tourists visit Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam. The number of tourists to the city in the first 10 months of the year dropped by 30 per cent year-on-year. The drop was attributed to the economic downturn and poor quality of services. )

Dinh Thi Thu Thuy, chief of Hoi An City’s Commerce and Tourism Office, attributed the fall to the global financial crisis and low quality services.
Total tourism turnover in the last 10 months was only VND550 billion (US$32 million), a decrease of 33 per cent compared to the same period last year, Thuy said.
Nguyen Thi Thanh, sales and marketing manager at Hoi An Tourist Service Joint-Stock Company, said the number of local and foreign tourists was expected to fall from 20 per cent to 30 per cent for the rest of the year.
The majority of tourists in the first 10 months of the year were from the US, France and Germany.
Arfan Marwazi Ismail, general director of Hoi An Riverside Resort&Spa, said a lack of advertising and low quality services were also to blame.
The State should have better facilities, particularly for Australian and Japanese tourists, he said.
Claude M Balland, general director of Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort&Spa, said the most important factor was improving quality of services and training staff.
(Source: VNS)

Vietnam Airlines leaves airfares unchanged for Tet 2009

This was stated by Vietnam Airlines’ (VNA) General Director Pham Ngoc Minh at a press conference on November 19th. General Director Minh stated that this was a gift for VNA’s loyal passangers.

During the Lunar New Year (Tet) 2009, and for Tet holidays in following years, VNA will strive to increase its capacity while leaving ticket fares unchanged, added General Director Minh. This action comes as VNA is trying to overcome a crisis caused by the sudden increase in fuel prices last summer and impacts from the global financial crisis.
At the end of August, 2006, VNA had announced a loss of VND 80 billion due to the increase in fuel prices to over USD150 per barrel of crude oil. However, its fee cut strategy and raising turnover of VND 1 trillion helped compensate for those losses, and VNA was able to overcome the crisis. VNA managed to save 25,000 tons of petrol and oil, equivalent to USD 25 million. “At the end of 2008, VNA will reap many financial benefits,” General Director Minh stated. “VNA will share these benefits with its passengers”.
During the Lunar New Year 2009, VNA will keep the ceiling price on its fares, and will even reduce ticket fees on some flights.
Moreover, VNA will increase its capacity by 153 percent. For example, the capacity of the Ho Chi Minh City – Hanoi and the Ho Chi Minh City – Danang routes will be doubled”.
(Source: CPV)

Vietnam’s image to be promoted on BBC

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST) has approved the Vietnam National Tourism Administration’s project to promote Vietnam's image on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The ministry also assigned its International Cooperation Department to conduct negotiations with other TV channels such as France’s Fashion TV, the Republic of Korea’s Ariang and the US’s Discovery channel and to explore the possibility of running advertisements on Japan’s NHK and China’s CCTV channels, as well as in a popular Russian newspaper. MoCST Minister Hoang Tuan Anh also directed the administration to consider re-broadcasting a trailer on Vietnam on CNN and organising roadshows in Australia, Taiwan and China. The advertisement campaign is part of the national trade-investment and tourism promotion programme which was adopted by the Government with a total capital of VND30 billion. According to an official from Ben Thanh Tourist – a large travel agency in Vietnam - the Vietnam National Tourism Administration spent VND4.7 billion promoting the national image on CNN Asia. However, the programme did not meet the expectations as few Asian people watched the channel to book tours, while none in Europe and America could watch it.
(Source: VOV)

PM pushes ahead Phu Quoc tourism island plan

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has urged local authorities of the southern Kien Giang Province to accelerate a plan to turn Phu Quoc, the largest island of Vietnam, into a big tourism centre. (PM Nguyen Tan Dung asked the Ministry of Construction to coordinate with Kien Giang Province to hire foreign experts for the implementation of infrastructure plans.)

At his working session with Kien Giang authorities on Nov. 22, PM Dung said the master plan to develop the island by 2010 and towards 2020 is going at a slow pace after four years of implementation, thus failing to tap its potentials. He asked the Ministry of Construction to coordinate with Kien Giang Province to hire foreign experts for the implementation of infrastructure plans. He urged relevant ministries to focus investment on constructing main roads on the island. The Phu Quoc International Airport and An Thoi sea port must be completed on schedule and more international air routes should be opened to the island, the PM said.
Regarding power supply, the PM said in the long run, the island will be connected with the power grid on the main land, but in the immediate future, the Vietnam Coal and Minerals Corporation should conduct a feasibility study for building a 100MW thermo-electric power plant to supply power to the island in next two years. The Phu Quoc island, having another name as Dao Ngoc ( Pearl Island ), for its cultured pearl, gathers great potentials to become a major tourist centre of the country. Located in southwestern Kien Giang Province, 45km from the mainland, the 565sq.km island owns 32,000 ha of primeval forests, beautiful and clean beaches, and undamaged coral reefs. One of its beaches, named Bai Dai (Long Beach), has been chosen by the ABC News as one of five beautiful and clean beaches, but rarely known in the world.
(Source: VNA)

High tour prices put off foreign visitors

The local tourism sector has been hit hard by the economic downturn as foreign tourists tighten their belts, tour operators said. ( Tourists visiting Ngoc Hoang Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1)

Ly Tat Vinh, head of Cholontourist Company’s development research division, said European tourists often planned trips a long time in advance and tended to book tours and hotels at least six months ahead.
At the time when they considered visiting Vietnam, tour package prices offered by local travel agencies were surging, due to high hotel and restaurant prices, he said.
As a result, they might have chosen other countries to visit, he said.
Meanwhile, the number of customers canceling trips had increased recently since the global financial crisis unfolded, Vinh told Thanh Nien.
TransViet Travel Company estimated the number of its foreign customers this year would fall by 40 to 50 percent compared to 2007, with the biggest drop occurring among Asian tourists.
Vu Duy Vu, deputy general director of Saigontourist Company, said he expected a 20-to-30 percent drop in the number of its foreign customers next year. According to the company, its customer base comprises mainly well-off tourists from the US and Europe.
Foreign tourists have also started forgoing luxury services to save money.
Huyen Thanh, director of Wildlotus Adventures Company, said many tourists didn’t want to stay in five-star hotels anymore, choosing lower-ranked hotels instead.
“The economic recession has forced foreign tourists to cut their spending and the difficult situation can last until the end of 2009,” VnExpress newswire quoted Hanoi’s Melia Hotel spokesperson Dao Viet Nga as saying.
Some regular customers of Melia Hotel in Hanoi have switched to less expensive hotels, Nga said.
Statistics released by CB Richard Ellis Vietnam showed that the occupancy rate of some five-star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City in the third quarter this year was approximately 61 percent, a decrease of about 16 percent compared to the same period of 2007.
A little too late
Seeing tour operators make less bookings, some four- and five-star hotels began lowering prices a few months ago.
But it was a little too late because local travel agencies’ foreign partners had already advertised tours for 2009 to the US and Europe markets by then.
Saigontourist’s Vu said travel agencies had to try their best to keep their tour package prices as low as possible, which also meant they sometimes had to accept losses.
Most agencies said they will not launch new tours at the end of this year, usually the tourist high season in Vietnam. Instead, they will focus on promoting low-priced and short term tours, for example, to Da Lat or Nha Trang.
He said the biggest problem that local travel agencies faced was setting tour prices because of rise and fall of air fares, hotel prices and domestic transport costs.
Huyen Thanh said tour operators couldn’t offer customers the best prices because they have to include a margin to allow for sudden price hikes in related services.
If hotels and airlines only lowered their prices for a short period, all the efforts of travel agencies to develop the tourism industry will be in vain, Vu said.
An official of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), who did not wish to be named, said there was currently no cooperation between tourism businesses on prices.
The official said the time was right for them to “sit together and cooperate” to benefit their own businesses, the sector and the country.
Nguyen Manh Cuong, deputy head of VNAT, said the global economic crisis had affected the tourism sector, so the target of receiving 4.8 million-5 million foreign tourists this year may not be reached.
Cuong said he expected only 4.3 million-4.35 million foreign visitors, or a 3.5-4 percent increase on last year. In 2007, the number of foreign tourists visiting Vietnam was 16 percent higher than the previous year.
“Product quality is the biggest problem of Vietnam’s tourism and many tourists have complained that we don’t have a wide range of products,” Cuong said, noting a plan to reform the sector had been created and would be implemented at the beginning of next year.
Vietnam’s tourism industry pulls in revenues of US$3 billion a year. The country targets about 6 million tourists and $4-4.5 billion revenue by 2010, according to VNAT.

Source: TN, Agencies

Hidden relics make Chau Doc worth a visit

A walk around Chau Doc Town in An Giang Province can transport visitors back to another century. ( A tourist views the sights of Chau Doc Town from a pedicab)

Chau Doc is the second biggest town of the Mekong Delta’s An Giang Province after Long Xuyen. It was the province’s administrative and economic center under King Gia Long’s reign from 1802 to 1820. It was in this period that the French people based offices in Chau Doc to control Dong Xuyen, now called Long Xuyen, and Dong Thap Province’s Sa Dec Town.
It takes about five hours to travel by car from Ho Chi Minh City to Chau Doc, which is near the Vietnam-Cambodia border. All goods and travelers heading to Cambodia must pass through this town.
Chau Doc has many ancient buildings that have been certified as national cultural relics, such as Thoai Ngoc Hau Mausoleum, Bo De Dao Trang Pagoda, Tay An Pagoda and Ba Chua Xu Temple. There are many temples, pagodas and mausoleums in the town, as well as the charming Chau Doc Market and Chau Doc Theater, although some of the buildings can be a little difficult to find, hidden away behind modern buildings.
Visitors who want to see Chau Doc’s ancient architecture should go to the blocks of streets around Chau Doc Market, which has houses and buildings featuring French architecture. Though Chau Doc’s ancient constructions do not rival those of Hoi An and Hue in the central region, they are attractive and interesting.
Chau Doc is rather small but most tourists do not see all the best sights as they are scattered throughout the town. Visitors wandering through ancient streets in the
downtown area could feel as if nothing has changed over the past 100 years.
After walking around to see the ancient constructions of Chau Doc, visitors can drop in at Chau Doc Market to do some shopping.
Traders here say the market has been trading since the time of French rule. One of the most famous specialties on sale here is mam, fish fermented with salt. Many brands of mam are available, such as Ba Giao Thao, Ba Giao Khoe and Ut Canh.
Reported by Diem Thu

Saigon railway station to sell more tickets via SMS

Saigon railway station will today sell 1,200-1,300 tickets to passengers booking via SMS for January 22, 2009, it said Friday.

The Saigon Railway Transport Company has been selling tickets to people traveling during Tet, the Lunar New Year festival, and said
it sold around 1,200 tickets Friday to passengers leaving on January 21.
Tickets for the period from January 19 to 21 have almost been sold out, it said.
Only a few dozen tickets for January 16 to 18 are still available to each destination, it added.
Reported by Mai Vong

Treasures of the sea

Visiting Nha Trang Town, tourists should not miss the chance to stop by the Institute of Oceanography, one of the most interesting places in town displaying the hidden gems of the marine ecosystem. ( Visitors examine the bones of a giant whale at Nha Trang’s Institute of Oceanography)

Known as “the sea on land,” the institute remains the country’s only oceanographic center introducing underwater life to the public.
The museum of marine creatures, a part of the institute, comprises a miniature ocean hosting 40,000 plant specimens and 20,000 sea creatures preserved in different forms.
In 2004, the museum was enlarged and upgraded with different sections showcasing marine life, the history of oceans, and ocean-related occupations.
One section of the museum introduces various live marine creatures with unique fish, sea turtles, and eels raised in aquariums exposed to sunlight. Another part displays specimens of sea creatures found by archeologists and fishermen, such as the skeletons of a dugong and a 26- meter-long whale. A third section exhibits oceanic species collected nationwide in the last 100 years, including seaweeds, corals, fish, bivalves and reptiles.
The history showcase introduces ancient books about the sea, equipment for oceanic studies, and many types of fishing gear.
In future, the marine museum will be expanded to take up part of the underside of Cau Da Mountain, becoming a comprehensive underwater complex to serve the public, according to institute director Dr. Nguyen Tac An.
The museum will be a place to peak the curiosity of youths and encourage a love for studying the sea, An said. It will also continue to support and advance the field of oceanographic research in Vietnam.
Built in 1923 by the French, the institute is the oldest center for scientific research in the country, located at 1 Cau Da Street at the foot of Cau Da Bridge beside Cau Da Port.
Reported by Phan Huy Tram

Van Phuc – a 1,000 year old silk craft village

Van Phuc village in Ha Dong City, about ten kilometers from Hanoi, is well-known nationwide as an ancient craft village where beautiful silk products with many patterns were made for traditional clothes for the kings of the Nguyen dynasty. ( Guests choose clothes made from Van Phuc silk in Van Phuc Village.)

Lying on the bank of the Nhue river, close to the West gate of Hanoi, Van Phuc Village retains the image of an ancient Northern village in feudal times, with a well and lotus pond, an old banyan tree at the communal house where villagers still hold a market and, in many families, the old looms beside the modern looms. The craft of silk weaving has been preserved here for over 1,000 years and became famous when Van Phuc silk was displayed at international fairs in Marseille and Paris in 1931 and 1936.
Van Phuc silk is best known for premium satin clothes and “cloud” silk (a silk cloth with a cloud pattern that appears to loom in and out) made from a skillful weaving technique which at one time was unique to Van Phuc craftsmen.
Currently 800 families in the village are working as weavers, with over 900 looms and textile tools, attracting from 3,000 to 5,000 visitors and tourists annually. The average price of silk sold here is from VND20,000 to VND25,000 per meter, while the high quality silk is about VND150,000 per meter.
In 2007, Van Phuc Village produced over 2.5 million meters of silk with the total revenue of 35 billion dong and was honored as one of the representative craft villages of Vietnam, the Vietnam News Agency reports.
(Source: SGT)

Officials lift domestic air-fare cap

The ministries of Finance and Transport have decided to remove the VND1.7 million cap on domestic economy airline tickets. (The Ministry of Finance addressed this concern, saying that air fares still had to be registered with the ministry. Airlines are required to register with the two ministries 15 days before applying the new prices.)

The decision will allow airlines to set their own prices, based on quality of service and market supply and demand, while keeping prices reasonable. They must, however, register fare changes with the two ministries.
According to Circular 103 which published the decision, the cap price of VND1.7 million for economy class will still be applied to some sole routes of Vietnam Airlines, the national airline company.
Vietnam Airlines is the sole airline flying on more than 20 domestic routes, including routes to Dien Bien Phu City, Phu Quoc Island and Con Dao Island. Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific Airlines are the two primary airlines offering services on other domestic routes. Two new private airlines are expected to enter the market soon - Vietjet Air and Indochina Airlines.
Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific Airlines supported the cap lift, saying that passengers would gain in that while companies could more easily regulate flight schedules.
Luong Hoai Nam, general director of Jetstar Pacific Airlines, said that these new regulations would prove far more beneficial than the price cap.
Nam said that without the price cap, airlines would be able to diversify fares based on demand and supply of routes according to each month, day and even hour.
For instance, flights at 9am could be VND1 million, while more convenient 11am flights could cost VND2 million, while the most convenient 11pm flights would be the costliest, Nam said.
Vietnam Airlines said that the new regulations would partly ease over-demand on routes from HCM City to Ha Noi approaching Tet, and on the route from Ha Noi to HCM City after Tet.
The airline did confirm, however, that they would not increase the fare on flights around the 2009 Tet holidays, despite the new regulations.
They continued that to meet demand approaching the nation's biggest yearly festival, they would increase their flight capacity by 33 per cent over last year, between HCM City and Ha Noi and between HCM City and Da Nang. Some, however, expressed concern that the new regulation could lead to the two airlines to mutually increase their fares.
The Ministry of Finance addressed this concern, saying that air fares still had to be registered with the ministry. Airlines are required to register with the two ministries 15 days before applying the new prices.
The two ministries would consider expenses, demand and supply and fuel prices when deciding to approve the new fares.
(Source: Viet Nam News)

Vietnam eyes popular TV channels

Vietnam is eyeing worldwide popular TV channels in a bid to promote its image and develop the tourism industry.

Recently, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has approved a project on advertising Vietnam ’s image on the UK ’s BBC TV channel. According to the BBC plan, Vietnam’s image will be broadcast on the channel in Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe regions for about 14 weeks with 240 times. The BBC programmes will showcase Vietnam ’s beauty through the images of its seas, cultural diversity and unique character of its heritages such as Ha Long Bay, Sa Pa town, Fansipan mountain and Phong Nha cave. Apart from BBC, Vietnam also eyes other popular TV channels, including Fashion ( France ), Arirang (the Republic of Korea ), Discovery (US), NHK ( Japan ), CCTV ( China ) and some Russia ’s newspapers. Last year, the country paid nearly 4.7 billion VND for the broadcast of a 30 second- clip named “ Vietnam -the hidden charm” for consecutive months on the CNN channel. Earlier this year, a sum of 30 billion USD has been approved for the tourism advertisement campaign through the trade, investment and tourism promotion fund, said the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) The VNAT also said that diversifying forms of advertisement is an important solution to reach the target of 5 million foreign visitors in 2008 and to keep Vietnam ’s image as one of the most favourite destinations for tourist worldwide.
(Source: VNA)

Life on the water

The Mekong Delta has many floating villages on the Chau Doc and Tien rivers. Passing An Giang Province’s Chau Doc Town and the My Thuan Bridge, tourists see many long, narrow houses.

People raise fish under their homes in submerged hardwood cages covered with stainless steel nets. Hundreds of such houses are concentrated together, creating floating villages on the rivers.
Visiting these houses and studying the life of local residents can be intriguing. Tourists can stay in these houses for a few days to experience life on the water. During such a homestay, tourists are separated from life on the land. They must take a boat to visit nearby houses.
In the floating houses, tourists will find themselves in an environment with plenty of wind and fresh air. Tourists from cities will feel relaxed when hearing the babbling of water instead of the din of vehicles and construction sites.
Most residents here make a living from aquaculture and fishing. Visitors staying at the floating houses can learn how to feed and care for the fish to ensure a bumper harvest. They can see how the feed is processed. Throwing feed into the water and seeing thousands of fishes wave their tails to compete for the food is particularly fun.
Visitors can also join the host’s family to collect waterferns and weeds from the river to use as fish food. After a hard day’s work, guests can take a meal with the family. The meal is sometimes simple but fun, thanks to the family’s merry atmosphere and hospitality.
These floating villages are unique to the Mekong Delta and capture some of the bustle of life on the river. Visiting such a village can be rewarding for the tourist and the villagers, who supplement their fish raising business with income from offering homestays.
Reported by Diem Thu

Vietnam Airlines says to maintain fares at Tet

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines said Wednesday it will not raise ticket prices for any domestic flights during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday (Tet).
The pledge was announced by the carrier’s general director, Pham Ngoc Minh, after the government announced a lift on fare caps.
The decision, issued last week, allows carriers to fix their own prices based on demand. The lift applies only to certain domestic routes, however, on which two or more airlines fly.
Carriers may also choose to lower certain fares.
Reported by Xuan Toan

Vietnam Airlines to sell tickets online

The national air carrier of Vietnam will finally sell tickets on the Internet as of December 15, 2008. When passengers book their tickets online and pay for the tickets, they will receive an announcement from the airlines verifying their booking. Buyers can pay by credit card Connect 24 issued by the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank).
Passengers can bring the printed version of their Vietnam Airlines’ announcement and their personal documents to the airport to fly with Vietnam Airlines.
Vietnam Airlines had planned to start selling tickets online in November 2006, but it was postponed to February 2007, then to June 2007, and now December 15, 2008.
Online booking service is a necessary condition for implementing the e-ticket project but for Vietnam Airlines’ passengers who buy an e-ticket they would still have to go to the firm’s booking office to declare personal information and show up with their personal documents.
Explaining this sluggishness, Vietnam Airlines’ official Le Hong Ha said the firm’s passenger service software, including the booking software, is designed to have connection to and process information from various booking systems of other airlines in the world so it still requires a lot of time for testing.

(Source: VNE)

Coastal provinces protect tourists from tropical storm

Three coastal provinces Baria-Vung Tau, Binh Thuan and Khanh Hoa, were taking precautions to protect tourists at seaside resorts from the impacts of tropical storm Noul, which was forecasted to batter the localities overnight. (Binh Thuan Province on Monday asked all seaside resorts to protect tourists, and such resorts have warned tourists to stay away from the sea and in safe places.)

Binh Thuan Province on Monday asked all seaside resorts to protect tourists, and such resorts have warned tourists to stay away from the sea and in safe places.
“We’ve met around 20 resorts, and some of them have prepared hotel rooms in Phan Thiet’s city center for their guests in case the storm hits,” said Le Thi Thanh Lien, deputy head of Binh Thuan Province’s department of culture, sport and tourism.
Lien said the province has over 100 resorts and tourist parks, around 80 of them in Ham Tien - Mui Ne. “Many guests are at these resorts at the moment, most of them in the Ham Tien – Mui Ne area. We are making haste to protect them,” Lien said.
In Baria – Vung Tau Province, the government has issued an alert to protect tourists from the storm.
“Most resorts and tourist parks are prepared to protect their guests and their property,” Tran Van Thong, director of the province’s culture, sport, and tourism department, told the Daily.
Le Xuan Than, vice chairman of Khanh Hoa Province, said that all boat trips to visit bays and islets of the province had been canceled.
“We’ve also given warning about the storm to tourists. At 5:00 p.m, we will move residents to safe places,” he told the Daily.
The storm was last night approaching the central coastal region, and most vulnerable localities include the three above-mentioned provinces. Torrential rains due to the impact of the storm have flooded many areas in the locality, but the storm was expected to weaken into a tropical low right after making landfall early Tuesday morning.
(Source: SGT)

Cham pottery from Go Hamlet in Binh Thuan

Binh Thuan, a tourist site in the central coastal province, does not own its popularity to attractive beaches, splendid sand dunes or deluxe resorts and spas, but rather to its renowned Cham minority craft village known as Go Hamlet by local Vietnamese or Play Gok by Cham minorities. (A Cham woman and Cham pottery works.)

For thousands of years, the generations in this hamlet, located at Tri Duc Commune, Phan Hiep Village, have grown up learning the pottery skills of their forefathers.
Every day women knead the clay which the men take and mix with water and then mould on a very simple potter’s wheel made of wood. The final products are polished with a layer of clay water.
Products are also fired in the traditional Cham way. First they are dried in the sunshine on vacant land next to the hamlet and then the locals collect straw and firewood to put around and into the products to fire them over night.
From traditional models learned from older generations such as pots, bowls, jars and vessels, the potters in Go Hamlet have also been inspired by the development of the modern market to make fine art productions. The high quality of pottery products from Go Hamlet is due not only to good clay but also to the way they are fired.
With the development of society and the demand for decorated ceramics, many artists have visited Go Hamlet to order products of their own design. The Go Hamlet artists have made some of these designs their own.
Go pottery is a reputable brand name in pottery showrooms around the country and craftsmen from Go Hamlet are often invited to demonstrate how they make their products.
In 1996, three Go women were invited to Japan for three months to make baked pottery and to teach about Cham pottery. In early 2005, Vichamco Fine Arts Company Ltd. established a showroom in Phan Thiet City to introduce more than 1,500 Cham pottery products and more than 1,000 products were displayed at the 2005 Trade Fair in HCMC.
The images of Cham women from Go Hamlet making pottery are beautiful, and are regarded as a unique symbol honoring a Cham pottery craft village with thousands of years of history.
(Source: SGT)

Hanoi hotels feel sting of economic downturn, high room rates

Hotels in Hanoi are seeing the gilded age of business going away when their room occupancy and revenue fall due to the sluggish growth in the global economy and high room tariff they have applied for a long time. (In Hanoi, the hotel market was hit by slow demand growth in 2008, as a result of a year-on-year increase of 5.8% in the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam in the first nine months of this year, or much lower than the national target of 12-17% rise.)

The international property services firm Savills Vietnam has released a survey showing that the 4 and 5-star hotel markets in Hanoi continued to drop in both average occupancy and room rate at 4.4% and 4.8% respectively in the third quarter of this year compared to the second quarter.
The 4-star hotels performed better than the 5-star properties in their average occupancy, at slightly higher than 70.5% and less than 60% in the first three quarters of 2008, respectively, according to the survey.
The room occupancy of 60-70% is much lower than that in previous years when there was not any “no low season” for the hotels of 4- and 5-star ratings in the capital city. Even in the third quarter of previous years, which is considered as a low tourist season, many hotels reported their average occupancy of over 90%.
An executive of a 5-star hotel in Hanoi, who asked not to be named, told the Daily on the phone that demand this year was much lower than that of previous years.
Savills Vietnam put overall revenue per available room of the 4 to 5-star hotels in Hanoi in the third quarter at around US$80 per night, and said this was a significant decrease. However, the company did not clarify how much this average revenue is lower than the same period last year.
The hotel executive and Savills Vietnam attributed the falling revenue to the impact of volatility in local and global markets, as well as higher hotel prices that luxury hotels offered over the past years because demand outstripped supply.
According to the survey, the current average room rate at 5-star hotels in Hanoi is less than US$145 per night white the rate at 4-star hotels is more than US$95 per night. These rates are exclusive of 5% service charge and 10% value-added tax.
However, the rates were lower than in HCMC where 5-star hotels publicized nearly US$158 per day, 4-star hotels charged more than US$100 per day and 3-star offered more than US$63 per day. This was one of the reasons why average occupancy was much lower-than-expected in the period, about 55.16% at 5-star hotels and 67.24% at 4-star properties in HCMC.
In Hanoi, the hotel market was hit by slow demand growth in 2008, as a result of a year-on-year increase of 5.8% in the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam in the first nine months of this year, or much lower than the national target of 12-17% rise.
However, Savills Vietnam anticipates that Hanoi’s hotel performance will perform better in the medium-term given improved economic conditions next year.
There are 15 four and five star hotels in Hanoi, or over 1.4 million room nights yearly. Hanoi’s tourism officials said this capital city would need approximately 24,000 hotel rooms, with 6,800 of 4 to 5-star ratings in 2010 when the city looks to attracting two million foreign visitors.
However, there are concerns that high building materials costs and a tight credit policy in 2008 have had a negative impact on the capacity of many developers to implement their hotel projects, resulting in some delays and even cancellations.
Savills Vietnam predicts a total of 2,000 new 4 to 5-star rooms will enter the market by 2010, and nearly 1,000 of these will be in Tu Liem District in Hanoi’s suburbs.
(Source: SGT)

Sail away

Established in 1994 by an Australian with Vietnamese partners, the Sailing Club – at 72 Tran Phu Street in Nha Trang Town – is renowned for its stunning seaside location, open-air restaurant, and trendy nightclub. (A fire dancer performs in front of the Sailing Club in Nha Trang Town)

During the day, the Sailing Club bar offers a fantastic escape from the heat of the sun and a hideaway from the hustle and bustle of the beach town’s busy streets. Here, one can sit on comfortable sofas while enjoying a refreshing drink and spectacular views of Nha Trang’s most popular white sand beach area.
At dusk, the club takes on a romantic feel with soft candlelight, music, and the sound of waves crashing softly in the background. The sky turns a deep red and the sun begins to set behind the Dien Khanh Mountains making for a perfect time to sip a delectable cocktail or ice-cold beer from the club’s extensive drinks menu.
The Sailing Club also offers a delicious and savory mix of Asian and Western food at reasonable prices.
Mouthwatering appetizers, burgers and seafood are a few favorites from the diverse menu. While enjoying a meal here, diners can gaze out at the azure waters and coconut palms or simply watch the crowds of people as they stroll along the beach.
As the night goes on, the relaxed ambience of the early evening transforms into a lively hot-spot for those looking to dance the night away. Drink deals and hip tunes played by contemporary DJs keep the dance floor packed nightly. Live music every Tuesday and Thursday offers something for everyone while local fire-dancers perform on the beach.
“I had an amazing 2007 New Year in Nha Trang with my sister,” said British tourist Loren. “It was a New Year to remember forever.”
The Sailing Club also has locations in Mui Ne and Hoi An Town.
Reported by Kim

Delta Air Lines plans new Vietnam-US service

Delta Air Lines Inc. is seeking the Vietnamese government’s permission to offer daily service between Ho Chi Minh City and the US starting June 2009, the company said in a statement.
Though the proposed service is still subject to the government’s approval, “there is a great likelihood the plan will be sanctioned,” said Nguyen Thi To Nhi, sales manager of East Sea Travel which is a sales agent for Delta in HCMC.
The service would fly passengers from Vietnam to the US, with a stopover in Japan, according to Delta.
The company would later seek the traffic right to sell tickets in the US and Japan, Nhi said.
Brian Swain, Asia managing director for Northwest Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta, said the demand for business and leisure travel between the two countries continues to grow.
United Airlines is the only US carrier currently operating direct flights from HCMC to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago via Hong Kong.
Delta recently completed a takeover of rival Northwest Airlines to create the world's largest airline by traffic.
Reported by Vinh Bao

Online travel insurance now available in Vietnam

The budget airline Jetstar Pacific has joined forces with AIG Vietnam General Insurance Company (AIG Vietnam) to offer an online travel insurance service, called Jetcover, on its website from November 12.

JetCover is the first online travel insurance service to be offered in Vietnam .The service is available to Jetstar Pacific passengers travelling on all flights departing from Vietnam .The product is offered at flexible prices to all Jetstar Pacific passengers, with insurance premiums starting from 2.5 USD for domestic one-way flights to 9 USD for international return trips.JetCover will offer 12 benefits to its customers, including compensations for a ccident and sickness medical expenses , flight delay, flight cancellation and loss of b aggage and personal effects.As part of the service, AIG Vietnam will provide a 24-hour emergency assistance service through AIG Travel Assist- AIG’s emergency assistance centre.Jetstar Pacific CEO Luong Hoai Nam said the launch of JetCover demonstrates the company’s commitment to providing a range of new services and products for its customers.
(Source: VNA)

Tourism in crisis: Vietnam tour fees higher, tourists fewer

Vietnam tour in crisis, it is clear that the financial crisis is the main reason for the difficulties of the world’s tourism industry. As for Vietnam’s tourism, there is one more reason for the gloomy tourism season – high tour fees.

Tourists cancel tours
October is the high tourism season in Vietnam, but the numbers of foreign tourists booking tours to Vietnam remains modest. Travel firms all have forecast that the number of foreign travellers will decrease sharply this season.
Nguyen Van Lang from Exotissimo, specialising in inbound tourism, predicted that his company’s clients would decrease by 20-30% over the same period of last year. Tran The Dung from Fiditour said that the number of his company’s clients is forecast to decrease by 15-20%. Meanwhile, Hoang Tuan Lang, Head of the Marketing Division of Continental Hotel, quoted Japanese travel firms which specialise in bringing tourists to Vietnam as saying that the number of Japanese travellers will be 40% lower this year.
The travel firms all say that the financial crisis has led to the lower number of tourists as people now tend to take domestic tours or travel to nearby countries. However, they have also pointed out that the high tour fees offered by Vietnamese travel firms are also turning foreign travellers off.
In the last year, while tours to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have increased by 5-10% only, tours to Vietnam have increased by 15-30%.
A tour from Ho Chi Minh City to Thailand (six days and five nights) offered by Vietnamese travel firms is at $400-410/person. Meanwhile, a similar tour from Bangkok to Vietnam is $550-560/person. As for a tour from Singapore to Thailand, a round-trip ticket is just $37, while airfare to Vietnam is $300.
The return Tokyo-Bangkok-Tokyo airfare is $400-500, while Tokyo-Ho Chi Minh City-Tokyo is $900.
A 3-star hotel room rate in Thailand is $70-80/day, while the rate is $100-100/day in Vietnam.
What does Vietnam’s tourism industry expect?
Vietnam’s tourism industry may not reach the goal of receiving 4.8-5mil travellers this year as only 3.2mil travellers arrived in Vietnam in the first nine months of the year.
Lam Tran Huong, Head of the Hotel Faculty at Viet Giao Tourism Vocational School, has attributed the decreased number of tourists to bad management. He said that in 2006 and 2007, when Vietnam joined the WTO and neighbouring countries faced political crisis, it was easy for the country to attract tourists.
However, Vietnam could not take full advantage of its opportunity because it did not prepare well. Vietnam seriously lacked hotel rooms to welcome foreign tourists. Meanwhile, Vietnam did not do anything to lure foreign investors. It even raised hotel room rates to make tours to Vietnam more expensive. Many hotels reportedly raised room rates by 50% in 2007 over the previous year.
“Tour fees are decided by hotel room rates, meals and transport. Vietnam tour fees will only decrease if the prices of services decrease,” said Vo Anh Tai, Director of Saigontourist.
A lot of hotels have been trying to rescue themselves by cutting hotel room rates by 10% and providing free services. However, the decreases prove to be nothing compared to the sharp increases they made last year.

(Source:Saigon tiep thi)

Vung Tau Culture-Tourism Festival scheduled early 2009

The Culture-Tourism Festival Ba Ria - Vung Tau 2009, scheduled from January 26 to February 4, will focus on cultural, tourist and daily life activities.

The major venues are Loc An Wharf, the monument of “the HCM Trail on the sea” in Xuyen Moc District, and Con Dao District.

Numerous cultural, sports and tourist events will be held during the festival, including beach volleyball, beach football, Chinese chess competition, folk games, art performances, human chess, exhibitions of calligraphy and tourist photos.

Especially, five Vietnam’s records in Ba Ria - Vung Tau will be announced.

(Source: Government’s website)

Poor mountainous provinces to tap tourism potential

Representatives from the eight northwestern mountainous provinces met in the resort town of Sa Pa in Lao Cai province on November 14 to examine ways to develop the tourism market by promoting the natural beauty of the area and the unique local tribal cultures.

Sapa town, Lao Cai Province

A famous tourist attraction in North Vietnam

They acknowledged that all of these attractions could lure foreign tourists but are not made the most of, while poor regional infrastructure, particularly sub-standard transport connections from Hanoi , remains a huge obstacle to the success of the hospitality industry in the region. The meeting was wrapped up with the signing of an agreement of cooperation, focusing on policy-making in relation to local tourism management and development, promoting tourist products and services, advertising and the development of local human resources. The northwestern region includes Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Son La and Hoa Binh provinces.
(Source: VNA)

Food for a moon god

Of all the festivals in the Mekong Delta, the Khmer Ok-OmBok Festival is arguably the biggest and most anticipated. ( A Khmer woman prepare com dep, a Mekong Delta traditional dish, at the Ok-Om-Bok Festival in Soc Trang Province)

The annual event falls in the middle of lunar October in southern Soc Trang Province, where the largest Khmer ethnic minority community and the majority of Khmer pagodas are concentrated.
The festival is a jubilant time for worshiping the God of the Moon and also a time to pray for good crops, prosperity, and a happy life.
Participants take part in activities such as releasing paper lanterns and ngo boat racing. On the eve of the festival, people display a tray with offerings to the moon god such as flowers, fruits, lamps, and com dep (a glutinous rice dish made with coconut flesh and sugar).
Com dep is a common but indispensable dish included in a tray of offerings.
The newly-harvested rice grains that still contain milk are roasted in an earthen pot, stirred continuously until crispy, and then put into a mortar to be pounded with a wooden pestle which is about 1.5 meters long.
Traditionally, a young man and woman pound the grains together. The couple stands face to face, holding a pestle in one hand and a stick in the other. They use the pestle to flatten the grains and use the stick to remove them from the pestle.
The tradition, however, has faded over time and nowadays, tourists can see two women pounding the grains or they can try it out themselves.
When the husks of the grains come off, other people sieve the flattened cores of the grains to separate them from the husks and dust.
When visiting the Ok-Om-Bok Festival, tourists will likely be invited to eat com dep. The Khmer people believe the glutinous rice dish is an invaluable gift from the God of the Moon, so they enjoy sharing the delicious dish with others.
Reported by Diem Thu

National Geographic: Hanoi’s old quarter and Hoi An in 110 historic places

Every five years, the American-reputed magazine, National Geographic, releases its ranked list of 110 historic destinations in the world. From Vietnam, Hanoi’s Old Quarter and the ancient town of Hoi An are both on the list.

(Hoi An ancient town)

This year, the number-one destinations on the list include Wachau valley and Welk monastery (Austria), Rideau Canal (Canada), Ghent City (Belgium), and Nikko (Japan). At the bottom of the list are the City of Central (USA), and Phnom Penh (Cambodia).

Vietnam’s Hanoi ranks at the 94th while Hoi An is at the 83rd position.
Here are National Geographic’s comments about Hanoi: “"The old part of Hanoi is attractive but is becoming very busy, commercial, and somewhat over-developed. Pedestrian zones are recommended."
"Hanoi is not a Hong Kong or a Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), or a Shanghai undergoing constant high-rise construction. Surprisingly, some of the back streets in the old French Quarter and the strip parks around the inner lakes retain immense charm."
"The parks and public areas are very well maintained, and the visit to Ho Chi Minh's tomb is still an exceptional experience."
"The 36 Streets area of Hanoi is lively and full of charm, but low on authenticity. The Thang Long citadel is authentic but presented without interpretation and therefore meaningless; in fact, boring to visit. Other so-called historic sites in Hanoi are all modern reconstructions. The problem in Hanoi is that while the city is beautiful and full of charm and an easy urbanity, the story told to the tourist is heavy handed and just not historically accurate."
About Hoi An, it wrote: “"A great place to be when the tourism buses have left in the afternoon."
"Authentic, accurately restored, and well-managed small town that has been brought back from sure death by culture-tourism industry. The problem is that it is just too small to accommodate all the tourists who want to visit it."
"What makes it unique is the historical blending of cultural influences."
"Beautiful architecturally, but the whole town has been 'repurposed' as a shopping opportunity for tourists; ultimately not a satisfying experience to visit."
(Source: SGGP, National Geographic)

Spiritual spaces on offer in Nha Trang

Travelling to Nha Trang City offers tourists not only a beautiful view of the coast, but pagodas dedicated to preserving the country’s ancient Buddhist traditions. (Buddha relaxes: The Lying Buddha stone statue at Long Son Pagoda is one of many spiritual attractions.)

Located just outside the city’s centre, Trai Thuy Mountain is the well-known site of three such pagodas: Long Son, Hai Duc and Linh Phong.
Buddha on a big scale
Buddha relaxes: The Lying Buddha stone statue at Long Son Pagoda is one of many spiritual attractions.Long Son Pagoda is regarded as the most famous pagoda in the city. The pagoda is located in Phuong Son Ward, at the foot of Trai Thuy Mountain, just 400m west of the railway station.
Long Son Pagoda was originally built in 1886 under the abbotship of Thich Ngo Chi (1856-1935), an active participant in the anti-French resistance war. The entrance and roof are decorated with a dragon mosaic made of glass and ceramic tiles.
In 1900, the pagoda was damaged by a large cyclone and had to be restored and moved to its current location, farther down the mountain. In 1936, the Buddhist Studies Association made it the headquarters of the Buddhist Association in Khanh Hoa Province.
Every year tourists visit the pagoda to study a large white statue of Kim Than Buddha. The 24m tall statue was built on the site of the original pagoda. Surrounding the figure of the Buddha are seven smaller statues of monks who sacrificed their lives for the country. A pair of dragons guards the Buddha, which is surrounded by lotus flowers. The statue, perched 152 steps above the pagoda, is visible in the distance as one enters the city by train or car and offers an excellent view of Nha Trang City. The statue was recognised as the biggest outdoor statue in the country by Viet Nam’s Guinness Records.
Zen monastery
Line up: Monks of the Long Son Pagoda take part in a ceremony.Located west of Trai Thuy Mountain, Hai Duc Pagoda was built under the reign of King Tu Duc (1829-83) of the Nguyen dynasty. Until 1891, the pagoda was larger and included monk’s quarters.
Now the pagoda is used as the Buddhism Studies Academy of central Viet Nam and attracts people who want to learn about the doctrines of Buddhism. Hai Duc Pagoda is considered one of the best places in the country to lead a religious life. Enormous trees offer shade and tranquillity and the pagoda’s 50-year-old library contains many rare and valuable documents and Buddhist prayer books.
Even from far away, people can hear the 1,010kg bell singing from atop the academy.
Strolling along the path which connects the Long Son and Hai Duc pagodas, tourists can enjoy the fresh air and pure silence of the solemn site.
Five sights not to miss
On the southern slope of Trai Thuy Mountain, Linh Phong Pagoda is nestled among the shade of ancient trees. After climbing up hundreds of stone steps, visitors are led to a three-door gate and guided into the pagoda.
First, tourists are shown a statue of Mitreya Buddha, sitting on a lotus throne with a kind, merciful smile.
Next visitors stroll down a path which leads to the Loc Uyen Garden. Six white stone statues stand in the centre of the garden: a large statue of Buddha surrounded by five kneeling disciples.
The magnificent inner sanctum, which lies 40m above sea level, was restored in 2001 by the master bonze and his followers, who spent five years on the construction. The tiles used to cover the roof were designed and made by the head monk himself.
The sanctuary preserves and worships ancient statues of Sakyamuni Buddha and two colossal guarding gods. Many other Buddha statues, such as Amida Buddha, Kwanyin Bodhisattva and 18 Arhats are displayed in the marvellous space.
A collection of discourses (Sutra Pitaka) for prayers are sculpted on the walls of the shrines, describing the tenets of Buddhism.
Kwanyin Bodhisattva is also worshiped at the hexagonal pavilion. A 3m granite statue stands at the centre of the shrine, guarded by a couple of stone lions. In front of the chamber, green stone dragons seem to cast admiring glances at the Bodhisattva.
The final chamber is a vestige of the old Buu Phong Pagoda, which was built to worship Guanyu and his legendary red-haired horse. After a number of historical upheavals, Buu Phong Pagoda was incorporated into what is now Linh Phong Pagoda, but the tradition and beauty of the old pagoda has been preserved thanks to the dedication of Monk Thich Chi Vien.
After a trip to see the three pagodas, Nguyen Kim Ngan, a visitor from Ha Noi, spoke admiringly of the Buddhist constructions.
"I have visited many simply decorated pagodas in northern Viet Nam. They are very different from these pagodas, which have sophisticated and solemn architecture," she says.
After enjoying a relaxing day on the beach and the entertainment of the city, visiting the pagodas offers tourists a peaceful and educational outing.
The number of the tourists to Nha Trang City in the first six months of this year was 1 million, 29 per cent higher than last year. Profit from tourism has reached to VND800 billion (nearly US$47.6 million), 40 per cent higher than the same period last year.
(Source: Viet Nam News)

Ba Be Lake - a haven of serenity

Ba Be can be described as a place of peace and serenity. The beautiful lake in the northern province of Bac Kan is listed as one of the world’s 20 largest freshwater lakes. (Ba Be Lake still and serene in the morning.)

Ba Be, meaning three lakes, was created by the confluence of river tributaries Pe Lam, Pe Lu and Pe Leng after earthquakes tens of millions of years ago. The lakes are part of Ba Be National Park.
The earthquakes are also believed to have shaped the Nang River, an additional attraction in Ba Be National Park and a natural water way that leads you to a world of surprises.
To get there you need to drive six kilometers from the administration center of Ba Be National Park to Buoc Lom Wharf, where you board a motored boat on the Nang River. The boat drifts through the bends of the river and past scenic high cliffs, mountains and crop fields on both sides of the bank. Some 15 minutes later, the boat is driven into the 300-meter-long, 30-meter-high Puong cave for you to explore the world of bats which fly just above the head and perch on stalactites.
Bamboo creepers on the cliffs by the river make the tour special. Le Van Phuong, a travel guide from the park’s tourism center, says this endemic variety is a rare plant that only grows well in Ba Be National Park and is listed as one of the endangered floral species in Vietnam.
The tour then takes in a small quiet village at the foot of mountain ranges, where 20 households of the Tay people live. You can see locals farming and buffalos grazing grass near them. The boat passes the waterway to Ba Be and continues its downstream move to a wharf on the Nang River. Here you will step onto the right bank and walk one kilometer downstream to Dau Dang Waterfall. The Nang River runs down 900 meters of stones and boulders, creating the striking waterfall.
Orchids in the riverside trees sway in the wind to welcome vistors back to the crossroads between the Nang River and the way to Ba Be. You turn right into the tributary of light blue water and then head for Ba Be Lake. At this area, it is easy to differentiate the water of the river as it is full of alluvium.
The tributary leads to Lake 3, which is the second largest lake. Surprisingly, there is a natural pond that is separated from this lake. Nestled amidst old trees and mountains, the pond is called Ao Tien (fairy pond) as a legend says it was a place where fairies used to bathe and play. The pond is never out of water and its water is as clear as the water of the third lake, which is why locals are sure there are underground links between this lake and the ponds.
Leaving Ao Tien, the boat runs slowly through Lake 2 to Lake 1, which is the biggest lake. Birds sing in the trees and fly alongside the boat while monkeys sound out greetings. Many islets dot Ba Be Lake and their names are attached to legends or true stories which travel guides will tell you during the tour in this lake. Among the islets are Ba Goa (widow’s islet) and the islet on which a temple was built to commemorate the generals of the Mac family.
If time is short, just take the boat ride along the Nang River and Ba Be Lake that is still and serene in the early morning, in the sunlight and at the sunset.
Not many tourists visit Ba Be National Park so it still offers a haven of peace and tranquility away from the bustle of city life. In addition to the river and lake tour you can trek to local villages where Tay and Mong peoples live and keep their traditions.
This park was established 16 years ago. Phuong of the national park’s tourism center says it takes three days to visit the attractions of the park, whose core area covers more than 10,000 hectares.
The eight-kilometer-long, 1.7-kilometer-wide Ba Be Lake covers 500 hectares and is surrounded by a primitive forest on limestone mountains. It is home to 106 fish species and other diverse flora and fauna species, including rare ones.
Ba Be National Park is nearly 300 kilometers from Hanoi and 50 kilometers from Bac Kan Municipality. The tour to this national park can be booked at travel firms in Hanoi.
(Source: SGT)

CAAV says will open skies for qualified foreign airlines

The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) will make it easy for more foreign airlines, especially carriers from ASEAN, to fly to this market, even before pacts signed by the bloc’s members to liberalize air passenger and cargo services in the region takes effect. (Local major airports, including Tan Son Nhat in HCMC and Noi Bai in Hanoi, are expected to equally compete with airports in the other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).)

CAAV officials said that Vietnam had a policy to open the aviation market to those foreign airlines able to meet security and safety requirements to this growing market in order to help enhance the competitive edge of local airports.
Local major airports, including Tan Son Nhat in HCMC and Noi Bai in Hanoi, are expected to equally compete with airports in the other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said Vo Huy Cuong, director of CAAV’s Air Transport Department.
Cuong told the Daily after he accompanied Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung to the Philippines to attend the two-day 14th ASEAN Transport Ministers Meeting in Manila and sign the agreements last week.
The ASEAN Multilateral Agreement on the Full Liberalization of Air Freight Services and the Multilateral Agreement on Air Services allow the regional airlines unlimited air freedom rights to transport passengers to the 10 member nations’ capital cities from 2010.
Cuong said the agreements would pave the way for a unified aviation market among ASEAN member countries after that and make it easier for people to travel in the region.
Lai Xuan Thanh, deputy director general of CAAV, told the Daily on the phone on Wednesday that liberalization of air passenger and cargo services within regions was market tendency.
However, Thanh said Vietnam would follow a road map for such liberalization in ensuring the benefits for local airlines, the efficiency of airports and how to make the most of licenses for foreign airlines to support air traffic, the development of Vietnam’s aviation market and the economy.
He said Vietnam had actually reached a single, unified aviation market with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and was carrying out bilateral air deals with nations in the ASEAN region and in North and East of Asia.
Thanh said Vietnam was following a policy to open the international airports in Hanoi and the central coastal city of Danang for airlines from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as well as certain nations in North and East Asia under the bilateral air deals with these nations.
Bilateral air agreements often set restrictions on a predetermined number of entitlements for passengers and cargo that may be transported. But, these deals are now the norm among the ASEAN members, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Currently, CAAV still restricts flight frequency of foreign airlines to and from Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC, a city that many foreign air carriers want to fly to because of its position as the economic hub of Vietnam.
CAAV figures show there are more than 40 foreign airlines active in Vietnam, a market where the International Air Transport Association (IATA) put the average annual passenger traffic growth for 2007-2011 at 7.7% and freight at 7.5%.
(Source: SGT)

Pastoral pathways

The best way to see the Mekong Delta is on two wheels and without a motor. (Cycling tours to the Mekong Delta become a favorite activity for foreign tourists)

Bicycle tours have become increasingly popular over the last few years as more eco-friendly tourists have decided to get off the beaten track and see the quiet, simple delta in the quietest, simplest way.
Through country paths, orchards, sinuous coastal roads and fertile fields farmed for generations, the bicycle is the perfect way to discover the pastoral scenery of the Mekong Delta.
The tours are filled with crystal clear rivers, peaceful pathways and large, rich rice fields, where tourists will have the chance to discover animated floating markets and local lifestyles.
There are many tour programs divided into several routes. Hundreds – if not thousands of kilometers of road and dirt paths can be covered on a bicycle in the Mekong region.
From Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh Long, My Tho, Can Tho, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Chau Doc, Ha Tien, Long Xuyen, and Dong Thap, the rewards of reaching some of Vietnam’s most remote areas include empty roads, incredible scenery and incomparable views.
Adventure seekers can take the scenic back roads through villages and swamps.
Many tour companies provide passenger vans that travel behind cyclists for support.
Most cycling groups are made up of more than 6 people, including an English speaking Vietnamese cycling guide, a driver/mechanic and assistants. For groups of ten or more an extra local bike guide is often included. Accommodation – whether it be home stays or hotels – depend on the tour and price.
Many larger package tours now offer cycling sections as part of longer two- and three-week trips.
Travel services in Ho Chi Minh City that provide Mekong Delta cycling tours

Reported by Kim

AirAsia waives fuel surcharges, MAS offers all-inclusive fares

The low-cost airline AirAsia has lifted fuel surcharges while the full-serviced air carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has launched all-inclusive fares for services from Vietnam and other parts of the world. (An AirAsia aircraft at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur airport.)

AirAsia on Tuesday started waiving the fuel surcharges from all its international and domestic flights given the easing of world oil prices and as the leading Asian budget carrier’s move to offer lower air fares in the face of the global economic downturn.
“This ‘No More Fuel Surcharge’ initiative recognizes the current economic situation and the need to provide more affordable air fares,” Tony Fernandes, chief executive officer of AirAsia Group, said in a statement.
“With the current economic uncertainties, we understand how important low cost travel is to the people and the economies of ASEAN countries,” Fernandes said. “By abolishing our fuel surcharges, our low fares will stimulate new demand and boost tourism.”
Bui Duc Hanh, Hanoi station manager of Thai AirAsia - a member of AirAsia Group, said passengers would save US$25-32 per sector if they traveled on the carrier’s daily flights from Hanoi and HCMC to Thailand’s Bangkok and Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur.
“The savings are significant,” Hanh told the Daily on Tuesday. AirAsia is also offering 500,000 free seats for guests to book on http://www.airasia.com/ from today until November 16 for travel between June 22 to October 24 next year on its flights to all destinations.
Malaysia Airlines has yet to remove its fuel surcharges but applies its All-Inclusive Low Fares program to all destinations in ASEAN, including Vietnam.
The all-inclusive low fares mean customers will know upfront the total amount they have to pay for the promotional fares including taxes, surcharges and fees.
“The wide variety of extra charges in recent years, and the fact that they now form a greater part of the total price, has led to consumer demand for all-inclusive pricing,” Idris Jala, managing director and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Jala said Malaysia Airlines was slashing Everyday Low Fares by a further 50-73% on domestic and ASEAN destinations. “So we are able to offer All-Inclusive Low Fares.”
Terence Swampillai, area manager of Malaysia Airlines in Vietnam, told the Daily that two million low-fared seats were on offer for the carrier’s flights worldwide.
The all-inclusive fares start from US$57 for a single trip on Malaysia Airlines flights from HCMC to Kuala Lumpur, and from US$74 from Hanoi to the Malaysian city.
These promotional fares are much lower than normal fares, which start from US$250 for a single HCMC-Kuala Lumpur trip and from US$180 for the Hanoi-Kuala Lumpur trip.
Australian destinations like Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane are also covered under this promotion. The lowest fare starts from US$240 nett for a one-way trip between HCMC and Perth, and from US$257 nett for the Hanoi-Perth route.
The all-inclusive low fares must be booked at http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/ between now and November 30 for travel between January 4 to July 31 next year for all the destinations excluding Australia, as the travel period to Australia is from April 15 to July 31 next year.
Low fares are only offered on lean flights and are non-refundable. The flight dates cannot be changed.
* Vietnam Airlines has announced plans to operate more domestic flights during the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, to meet the surging demand for air travel in the festive season.
Vietnam Airlines plans an additional 832 flights between Hanoi and HCMC, and HCMC and Danang from January 10 to February 9 next year, the airline said in a statement.
As scheduled, the national flag carrier will add 430 flights between Hanoi and HCMC, and 402 flights between HCMC and Danang. The additional seats will be 110,000 for the first route and 73,000 for the second.
The carrier expects the daily number of seats will grow 53-97% on peak days for the Hanoi- HCMC run, and climb up to 117-200% for the HCMC-Danang run compared to normal days.
The additional seats for the coming Tet holiday are 33% higher on the flights between Hanoi and HCMC and 36% on the HCMC-Danang route than the number of extra seats on the same routes respectively during the previous Tet.
The last Tet saw Vietnam Airlines operating 318 more flights between Hanoi and HCMC, and HCMC and Danang, with a daily number of 3,600-5,900 seats for the first route and 1,200-1,700 seats for the second route.
(Source: SGT)