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2010-06-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

Hoi An Hotels Accommodation - Hoi An Tours - Vietnam Information Guide Free

Domestic tourism increases three fold

2009-03-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge - Since the beginning of the year, the number of domestic tourists has increased three fold over the same period last year, tourist companies in Ho Chi Minh City said.

It is one month since the city participated in a promotion by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism to stimulate domestic tourism.
Tourist companies participating in the program set up promotional package tours, with flights to southern and central provinces cut by 30-40 percent.
Coach tours have not grown as the promotional price has not been attractive enough with five to 10 percent discounts.
The discount is part of plan drawn up by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and a group of domestic travel businesses involving over 200 hotels, resorts, restaurants and transport companies in 18 provinces and cities.
If the plan is taken up fully, the cost of coach tours this summer will be cut by 20 percent.
VietNamNet/SGGP

Gambling, fortune-telling and rubbish ruin festivals

2009-03-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge - Gambling, fortune telling and commercialism are ruining northern Viet Nam’s cultural and religious festivals, complains Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Hoang Tuan Anh. ( Tourists enjoy a traditional dance with Mong ethnic people in the northern province of Lao Cai, where gambling and commercialism have not spoilt the atmosphere.)

The minister delivered his judgement at a meeting to assess the quality of the festivals in Ha Noi last Wednesday where he said his ministry intended to provide models for their organisation and management.
Ministry officials would classify the festivals to provide a basis for the models, he said.
The ministry’s chief inspector, Vu Xuan Thanh, told the meeting that the latest checks of festivals showed that documents sent to localities setting guidelines for the festivals had been ignored.
Overcrowded and often disorderly festivals were popular at many pagodas, he said.
These included the historical Dong Pagoda in Thai Binh Province, the Yen Tu Pagoda in Quang Ninh Province, and Ha Noi’s Huong Pagoda.
Gambling, fortune telling and pickpocketing was also rife at Nam Dinh Province’s Vieng Market and Binh Duong Province’s Ba Pagoda.
The pagodas and historic sites were littered with rubbish and some scenic spots were partially destroyed.
The chief inspector said hundreds of violators had been fined a total of VND286 million and more than 40,000 pirated porn discs and unacceptable cultural products confiscated.
Stopping cheats
"But it hasn’t been enough to create order and stop the cheats at the festivals," he said.
Duong Thanh Lan, 60, of Ha Noi echoed the minister and inspector’s views.
"I like taking part in traditional festivals in pagodas and temples that have not been commercialised," she said. "But I have been the victim of cheats and pickpockets and know have to be vigilant in these places. It makes me uncomfortable."
Festival traditions and features were very different from the past, she said.
Bac Ninh Province’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Department director Nguyen Dang Tuc told the meeting specific regulations and punishments were needed to restore order at the festivals.
Interim guidance documents were not enough to stop the illegal activities.
The ministry’s Culture and Information Department Nguyen Dao Toan said the responsibility of each agency in overseeing the festivals was necessary.
Otherwise, the blame was always shifted from one to the other.
Hai Duong City Culture, Sports and Tourism Department director Dang Viet Cuong said municipal officials would now make specific plans for festivals up to 2015.
These would identify those responsible for organising festivals.
VietNamNet/VNS

Deferral of tax hike proposed to shore up tourism services

2009-03-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The Tourism Working Group has insisted on a delay for the increase of the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) as this will make life more difficult for many companies in the hotel/resort industry.(Last year, Vietnam drew 4.25 million international travelers, up a mere 0.6% over 2007.)

From April 1, higher SCT rates will apply to some tourism-related services, including golf associated revenues, from 10 to 20%, and body treatments, from 15 to 30%.
"The Government should be looking for ways to stimulate additional spending on domestic goods and services, not raise taxes so as to deter it," said Baron R. Ah Moo, chairman of the Tourism Working Group under the Vietnam Business Forum.
The upcoming changes in the SCT are not being well received by the tourism community in Vietnam, according to the Tourism Working Group.
Ah Moo said in a statement sent to the Daily that the percentage of repeat international visitors after their initial visit was relatively low compared to Thailand and Indonesia.
"Vietnam's tourism industry already faces difficulties in visas and a lack of proper infrastructure," said Ah Moo, who also serves as chief executive officer for Indochina Hotels and Resorts and Danao International.
"By increasing the SCT, you have now impacted one of Vietnam's last sustainable competitive advantages, its appeal as an affordable leisure destination," he said.
The group said the National Assembly voted to temporarily reduce value-added tax (VAT) from 10 to 5% for hotels and related services in an effort to encourage discretionary spending and the SCT increase seemed to contradict this policy.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism reported that Vietnam attracted over 688,700 international visitors in the first two months of this year, down 10% compared to the same period last year.
The tax increase also coincides with the start of the low season for travel to Vietnam, where demand is anticipated to be significantly down.
"I would appeal to the Prime Minister to delay or defer the implementation of the increase in SCT to a later date in an effort to minimize the impact on an already struggling hospitality industry," Ah Moo said.
He said tourism was a US$4.5-billion industry in Vietnam and accounted for 11% of the total employment in the country and suggested that removing burdens such as the SCT should be the country's highest priority.
The tourism sector is looking to around 25 million travelers, including 4.3 international visitors, and revenue of around US$3.7 billion this year. Tourism experts said these targets will be hard to reach.
Last month, the number of Chinese visitors was down nearly 13%, just over 41,000, and the number of international visitors was down 0.8% to nearly 343,000.
Last year, Vietnam drew 4.25 million international travelers, up a mere 0.6% over 2007.
VietNamNet/SGT

Hotels spoil plan on low-cost tourism

2009-03-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The bottom threatens to fall out of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT)’s strategy to create low-cost tours amid the economic downturn as hotels fail to honour their commitments to reduce prices.

The VNAT announced the strategy after foreign tourist numbers plunged 12 per cent in January to 370,000 and analysts predicted things to get worse. It announced a national campaign to last until the end of September under which tour package prices are to be cut by 30 to 50 per cent to attract foreign tourists to the country.
It sought a commitment from travel agencies and hotels to cut room charges by up to 50 per cent and persuaded Vietnamese airlines to join.
Seventeen hotels and 14 travel firms in HCM City signed up, promising to offer discounts of 30 to 50 per cent.
But only a handful have so far honoured their commitments, though with much lower discounts than promised.
The Bong Sen-Sai Gon Hotel was one of the earliest to reduce room charges, offering thus far 10 to 25 per cent discount to 50 groups of foreign travellers coming through travel firms.
Tao Van Nghe, general manager of the five-star Majestic Hotel in HCMC, said his hotel too had reduced tariffs but he was worried about the programme’s efficiency.
The HCM City Tourism Association said the discounts of 10 to 30 per cent did not make a "strong impression" on tourists when many countries in the region were offering up to 80 per cent rate cuts.
Defending high rates
The hotels that have failed to honour their commitments justify their action.
Some said they did not honour their commitment because they were still waiting for the Government’s incentives for those involved in the campaign, mainly related to taxes and electricity and water prices.
Dietmar Kielnhofer, general manager of Sheraton Sai Gon - which is not part of the campaign - told Viet Nam News that since all businesses and market segments were affected by their own set of market conditions, rather than participating in an overall rate reduction strategy, the hotels chose to support the initiative by individual case-by-case discussions.
"We are meeting with our stakeholders and customers to access each and every one of their business and market situations, to work out how we can best partner them at this time. This is a very detailed approach, but one we feel ensures what we do at this time is relevant and appropriate for each and every one of our partners," he said.
"For this type of protracted economic crisis, there is no one-size-fits-all solution."
Nguyen Duc Quynh, deputy executive director of the Furama Resort Da Nang, said Furama had not participated in the campaign because its room prices were already reasonable.
"To ensure the hotel’s profit and staff’s income, we have maintained the current rates but sometimes we make some reductions for group tourists," Quynh said.
Some hotels did not want to reduce their prices because it could affect their prestige, while others were afraid that if they cut tariffs now, they would be unable to raise them in the future, he said.
Globally, tourism was hit badly last year and analysts forecast a zero or negative growth rate in the first haft of 2009, adding Viet Nam would be similarly affected.
"It is fair to say that business is not as strong as last year for the entire hotel market," Keilnhofer said.
"I do feel Viet Nam is in a more sheltered position and so the market here may not feel the severe affects that some other Asian centers may feel, however there is certainly a reality to the conditions."
To stimulate growth, the Government needs to be more proactive in marketing Viet Nam overseas and drive the tourism sector more aggressively forward, he said.
It is imperative that the tourism ministry, in conjunction with the private sector, pulls out all stops to generate a positive, tourist friendly image of Viet Nam, he added.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Experiencing shark and squid fishing around Dao Ngoc

2009-03-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – Con Dao, also known as Dao Ngoc (Pearl Island), in the East Sea about 97 nautical miles from Vung Tau City, is endowed with lovely beaches shaded with evergreen trees, fresh air, clear blue waters, primitive forests and abundant wildlife. These days Con Dao also offers fishing and squid fishing services, which are becoming increasingly popular with tourists.

Con Dao has 20 sandy beaches, some of which are attached to primitive forests creating a poetic landscape. White sand dunes slope gently to the blue and clear water of the sea, inviting visitors to swim, play in the waves and discover the beauty of coral reefs with scuba diving. Tourists are also encouraged to try fishing, and in particular squid fishing.
Fishing is an option both day and night; however squid fishing is only available at night. Unlike many areas where the fish and squid are found in deep waters or hiding behind stone falls, fish and squid are abundant around Con Dao and are easy to catch.
Tour guides are available to direct fishing groups and supplies, such as boat, fish rods and bait, as well as high-tech fishing equipment like a Global Positioning System (GPS) and a FishFinder, can easily be hired locally. There are many types of fish to catch and families and friends often gather together for seafood parties.
Ca Map (Shark), 43, Lo Voi (limekiln) and Ong Dung capes can be reached overland and boat, junk and canoe trips which can also be arranged from Con Son town center or Ben Dam Port to Bay Canh (seven sceneries), Cau (areca), Bong Lan, Tai (talent), Tre Lon (big bamboo), and Tre Nho (small bamboo) islands, where visitors can indulge in the splendid island sceneries as well as freely drop their fishing rods and relax after a tiring work day.
At night the shimmering lights, gaudy colors and fake squid lure the squid swimming in the darkness of the sea. The best places for squid fishing are 914 Pier, Ben Dam Port, Mui Dai Cape, to name just some off-shore-sites.Nhat Beach on Love Top is known for romantic sunsets as well as wonderful shark fishing. This is the best place for fishermen hoping to conquer a shark.
Deluxe accommodation in Con Dau is available at Sai Gon-Con Dao Resort. Poulo Condore Restaurant offers excellent seafood and rents out all necessary fishing equipment.
For more information, contact Sai Gon-Con Dao Resort at 18 Ton Duc Thang Street, Con Dao District, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. Tel: (064) 3630 979, email: sgtcd@hcm.vnn.vn, or Saigontourist Travel Service at 48 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, HCMC. Tel: (08) 3827 9279, email: info@saigontourist.net, website www.saigontourist.net
VietNamNet/SGT

Vietnamese officials visit Russian accident victims

2009-03-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – A Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) delegation on March 23-24 visited and presented gifts to Russians injured in a bus accident in central Binh Thuan Province ten days ago.

Ho Hong Lien, a VNAT representative, said that the visit to the injured currently being treated in Moscow was made at the request of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism and during the delegation’s participation in the 16 th Moscow International Travel & Tourism Show (MITT-16).She also said it was regrettable that they could not visit the injured Russians in other localities.According to the Russian Emergency Ministry, by March 23, 15 Russian tourists were still hospitalised, including ten in Moscow, two in Saint Petersburg and three in Surgut.The accident occurred on Dai Ninh Pass on the night of March 13, killing nine Russian tourists and a Vietnamese tour guide, while injuring 15 others.
VietNamNet/VNA

Ba Na telpher named in Guinness World Records

2009-03-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The Guinness World Records will present the world record certificates to the Ba Na – Suoi Mo telpher system in the central city of Da Nang on March 25, the inauguration day of the system.

According to Ba Na Hills Company, the operator of the telpher system, the Guinness World Records organization has recognized two world records related to the Ba Na – Suoi Mo telpher system: The world’s longest one-wire telpher network in the world (5,042.62m) and the telpher with the highest gap between the lowest and the highest stations (1,291.81m).

This telpher also holds the record for the largest departure station in Southeast Asia, which has entertainment facilities, a showroom of photos and objects about Ba Na’s past and present. At the last station, visitors can see one of the largest sitting Buddha statue in Asia, which is 27m high, in the Linh Ung pagoda.

With a total investment capital of VND300 billion, the Ba Na telpher has 24 pillars, 94 cabins, and can serve 1,500 visitors per hour. It takes only15 minutes for visitors to go from the foot of Ba Na Mountain to the Ba Na ecological tourism site, at 1,487m above sea level. This tourist site experiences four seasons within one day, and has an abundant fauna and floral system.

It is expected that Ba Na will welcome approximately 1 million visitors a year, compared to 200,000 in the past, when the telpher was not built.

Hai Chau

HCMC Tourism Festival set for next month

2009-03-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

VietNamNet Bridge – HCMC Tourism Festival 2009, organized by the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in collaboration with the HCMC Tourism Association, will take place at Dam Sen Cultural Park from April 3 to 5.

Cable car service in Ta Cu Mountain, Binh Thuan Province.

The festival will feature a Tourism Fair with 120 counters, southern culinary fair with 50 kiosks, the fifth HCMC Tourism Golden Voice contest, a game show called “HCMC spotlight of Asia” and a tourism photo exhibition.
In addition, restaurants and hotels owned by Ben Thanh Tourist, a prestigious brand in tourism, will organize many activities, promotion programs and game shows at counters at the festival.
Ben Thanh Tourist will also take this occasion to offer tourists new local and international tours. A cluster of tours to North and Central Vietnam will feature splendid landscapes, ancient pagodas and cultural and historic relics.
They include the four-day tour to Hanoi, Halong and Yen Tu priced at VND4.299 million per person, five-day tour to Hanoi, Bai Dinh Pagoda, Yen Tu and Halong priced at VND4.347 million per person; four-day tour to Danang City, Hoi An ancient town, My Son Sanctuary, Ba Na and Hue priced at VND3.199 million per person; and a five-day tour to Danang, Hoi An, Ngu Hanh Son, Lang Co and Hue priced at VND4.185 million a person.
As a special promotion, the four-day tour to Malaysia-Genting will include accommodation at the five-star ParkRoyal hotel for the price of a three-star hotel.
To mark the upcoming 20th anniversary, Ben Thanh Tourist is also introducing discounted tours to celebrate Liberation and Labor Day (April 30 and May 1). A tour to Ta Cu Mountain, Mui Ne, Con Dao, or just to Con Dao, promises a fascinating trip for discovering marine life, meanwhile the tour to Nha Trang City will be a relaxed holiday of stunning beaches, white sand dunes and diverse seafood.
For those interested in discovering ancient relics and learning more about Vietnamese culture and history, the Danang-Ba Na-Hue-Phong Nha tour, or the Hanoi-Ha Long-Yen Tu-Sapa tour are both good options.
International tours to Asian countries will include destinations such as Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia, and deluxe tours to European countries will include Germany, Austria, Netherlands, the U.S. and France.
The HCMC Tourism Festival will present animated programs and games with attractive gifts, and Ben Thanh Tourist will hand out vouchers worth VND200,000 to VND500,000 to enjoy outstanding culinary programs at the Liberty Hotel and Vien Dong Hotel, and VND50,000 vouchers for breakfast at Ben Thanh restaurants.
For more information, contact Ben Thanh Tourist at 86 Ly Tu Trong Street, HCMC’s District 1. Tel: (08) 5202020, web: www.benthanhtourist.com.
VietNamNet/SGT

Tough year for Quang Nam tourism industry

2009-02-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

Local tourism must maintain last year’s growth rate in the first few months of 2009 or Quang Nam would face difficulties for the whole year, warned Tran Minh Ca, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.This year the province’s tourism industry is aiming to welcome 2.3 million visitors, an increase of 3.5 per cent over 2008.
The central province is taking measures to help stimulate tourism and assist companies in the field in reaching their targeted growth rate.
This year, Quang Nam will organise cultural events and exploit traditional festivals, like the Spring Festival 2009, the Thu Bon Festival and My Son’s tenth anniversary as a world heritage site, to attract tourists.
Ca said that the province would also stimulate tourism consumption by pouring VND4 billion(US$230,00) into new tourism programmes and advertising.
Quang Nam will offer 30-50 per cent discounts on tours and will increase rush hour services.
The provincial People’s Committee was ready to help tourism companies solve any issues dealing with capital and taxes, Ca said.
The province would also improve infrastructure in the ancient streets and encourage hotels to open more tours to Quang Nam.
Despite the world recession, the number of visitors to Quang Nam still increased in 2008.According to a report by the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the province had nearly 2.23 million visitors, up 7.9 per cent over 2007.
The number of foreign visitors increased by 2.2 per cent to 469,000. The tourism industry added VND769 billion to the province’s coffer, increasing 28.4 per cent from 2007.
Tourists coming from distant locations like Europe and the US decreased, while regional tourists from Malaysia and Thailand increased by 21.6 per cent and 41.4 per cent respectively.
For Quang Nam, the beginning of 2009 will be a crucial time to attract tourists at a time when numbers are dwindling nationwide. Travel companies in HCM City and Ha Noi said that many tours to Viet Nam had been cancelled recently due to the world recession.
VietNamNet/VNS

Delphin Voyager brings 500 Germans to Vietnam

2009-02-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

The five-star cruise ship Delphin Voyager docked at Saigon port on February 4, bringing 500 German tourists and crewmen to Ho Chi Minh City.During their week-long stay, they will be divided into groups to explore the culture and lifestyle of HCM City and several Mekong Delta provinces.
A group of 210 visitors will make a tour of Tien Giang province while another group of 80 visitors will travel to Binh Quoi tourist village and experience a traditional Vietnamese wedding.
The cruise ship is scheduled to travel to the northern border province of Quang Ninh where they will visit the UNESCO-recognised heritage site, Ha Long Bay, and then to Hanoi.
VietNamNet/VOV

Ba Ria – Vung Tau culture & tourism festival kicks off

2009-02-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

With the theme “Resounding Seaside Town”, the Ba Ria –Vung Tau Culture and Tourism Festival 2009 opened in Vung Tau City on February 2nd.

2009 is the third successive year Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province has hosted this event, with the expectation of attracting even more tourists as this is the Year of the Water Buffalo. The event is expected to be the biggest event held so far to display the distinctive cultural and tourism features of the Province, as well one which will help tourists and local residents get an overall view of Ba Ria-Vung Tau’s land and its people. The event will also include the firing of cannons, military re-enactments of legendary battles of the anti-American war of resistance, displays of spring flowers, wine, food, photo exhibitions, traditional games, lion dances and tradtional canoe races. Chairman of the Ba Ria – Vung Tau People’s Committee Tran Minh Sang said that the event will be a chance to promote the Province’s natural beauty and its tourism potential, as well being a way to show off local hospitality to tourists. A planned series of major cultural, tourism and sports events for 2009 were been announced at the opening ceremony of festival, all of which are designed to attract even more domestic and foreign tourists. In 2009, the Province will have 15 events, in particular the International Kite Festival, the International Women’s Beach Volleyball Championship and the Miss World Pageant.

VietNamNet/CPV

Visitors say Vietnam’s largest tourism spot a rip-off

2009-02-04T16:26:00.000-08:00

Visitors are increasingly frustrated with the services and facilities at the country’s biggest tourism spot, Dai Nam tourist area in Binh Duong Province.

Many complained about having to walk nearly two kilometers from the ticket booth to reach the main gate.
The administration seems to be unprepared for handling a large number of visitors. There are not enough buses to transport them though Dai Nam is a large area involving long distances, visitors said.
They had to queue for food, which is poor but is sold at unreasonable prices.
There is a shortage of shaded areas to rest and signs indicating routes, they said. Unfinished and slipshod work mars the landscape, rubble and rubbish are strewn everywhere, and roads are flooded, they said. The 450-hectare Dai Nam tourist area, which opened in 2007 in Thu Dau Mot town, has a zoo, mountains, a pagoda, and beaches.
VietNamNet/SGGP

Hoi An ancient quarter extends pedestrians-only days

2009-01-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

The ancient quarter in Hoi An Town will be dedicated exclusively to pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles for five days a week from today, according to a regulation issued by the town People’s Committee.

The ancient quarter of the town in central Quang Nam Province will have no sounds of motorbikes or other vehicles in the week except for Thursdays and Sundays.

In the future, everyday of the week will be for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles in the ancient quarter, said Le Van Giang, chairman of the town’s People’s Committee.

More than four years ago, Hoi An authorities began to turn the ancient quarter into a walking section for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles for four days a week. This has become an attractive feature for tourists.

In related news, the People’s Committee of Hoi An Town has announced special price incentives for people who visit for the Lunar New Year on January 26.

Reported by Ho Trong

Tourism’s urgent plan to attract more visitors in 2009

2009-01-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

A nationwide promotion is one of the urgent measures being taken by the tourism sector to stimulate tourism in order to achieve the sector’s target of welcoming 4.5 million of foreign tourists in 2009.

Hotels have committed to reducing their service prices by 30-50 percent, following implementation of the programme from January to September, said Tran Chien Thang, director of the Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VNAT) at a press briefing in Hanoi on Jan. 5. The national carrier, Vietnam Airlines, also pledged to provide special ticket offers, decreasing price by 30-50 percent, for both domestic and international flights. Other service suppliers have committed to offering price reductions to attract more visitors. To facilitate visitors’ access to the programme, the VNAT will boost promotion campaign via the Internet and the mass media both at home and abroad, and launch the programme’s official website. Big tourism events such as the ASEAN Tourism Forum scheduled for early January in Hanoi , is considered as the focus of the programme. The VNAT will continue to study domestic and international markets to launch new tours from Vietnam to China , Laos , Cambodia , Malaysia , Singapore and Myanmar , as well as offering “Farm trip” and “Press trip” from a range of countries to Vietnam . At present, 37 travel agencies, 61 hotels, 3 transporters and 14 souvenir shops join the programme, offering 99 discounted products. “This is an opportunity for businesses to work together to build a trademark for Vietnam ’s tourism sector,” Thang said. Vietnam welcomed 4.3 million foreign tourists in 2008, a modest year-on-year increase of 0.6 percent in the context of the world’s economic downturn.

(Source: VNA)

Sea travellers to Vietnam up sixfold

2009-01-06T18:16:00.001-08:00

The number of sea travellers to Vietnam in 2008 increased six times compared to the previous year, announced the Saigon Travel Service Company (Saigontourist).In 2008, Saigontourist welcomed 180,000 international arrivals, a year-on-year increase of 85 percent.

Famous cruisers, such as SuperStar Virgo, SuperStar Libra, SuperStar Aquarius and Costa Allegra frequently docked at seaports in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Ha Long unloading a larger number of foreign tourists.

According to the Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VAT), 2008 was considered a banner year for cruise services.

(Source: VOV)

Ha Long tourism in 2008

2009-01-06T18:08:00.000-08:00

Over 2.65 million visitors came to Ha Long Bay in 2008, an increase of 48.8 percent over 2007. Of those 1.71 million were foreign visitors, a 67.6 percent increase, the Bay’s management board has said.

The management board organized a vote to nominate Ha Long as of one the seven natural wonders of the world. The voting took place at Hoang Gia (royal) International Park and Bai Chay Tourist Wharf attracting over 18,000 votes.
The reduction of littering, throwing mud into the sea, begging, and using dynamite to catch fish have been a priority for local authorities.
Houseboats and ships operating on the sea were managed well to ensure security for tourists, the board said.
At present, there are 595 houseboats with 2,168 people on the bay, 90 percent of people have signed a pledge to protect Ha Long.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has officially announced the first ‘99 tours’ with 50 percent discounts for package tours on the morning of January 4.
These 99 tours focus on potential tourism markets such as China, France, western countries and Russia.
The promotional tours on the program to attract international tourists and stimulate domestic tourism in 2009 has brought the participation of 37 international travel companies, 61 hotels, many restaurants and transport firms.
Promotional tours for domestic tourists will be announced next week.
The same morning, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism also made the promotional website http://www.promotours.gov.vn/ public.

(Source: SGGP)

Foreign airlines eager to open air routes to Cam Ranh

2009-01-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

Experts said that the Cam Ranh Airport in the central city of Khanh Hoa will develop robustly after it becomes an international airport in 2009.The sketch of Cam Ranh Airport's new terminal, which will open in 2009

The airport was used as a civil airport on May 19, 2004. The number of passengers quickly rose from 274,314 people in 2004, including passengers at Nha Trang Airport, to more than 683,000 in early 2008.

With the passenger growth rate of 36.8% in 2007, 36.3% in 2008, Cam Ranh has the highest passenger growth among airports in Vietnam.

The General Director of the Central Region Airports Hoang Thanh said in 2008, Cam Ranh exceeded Phu Bai Airport to become the fourth largest airport in Vietnam in terms of passengers.

The Nha Trang Tourism Centre is building Nha Trang into the city of events. The international container entreport project and large industrial and tourism projects in the Van Phong Economic Zone have been kicked off. The South Phu Yen Economic Zone has attracted many big projects, totaling around US $11 billion in registered capital.

Ninh Thuan attracted the highest number of investment in Vietnam last year, including the Ca Na steel complex project worth US $9.79 billion in registered capital. The distance from Cam Ranh Airport to the above locations, even the resort city of Da Lat is less than 150km.

According to a comprehensive plan of the Transport Ministry, Cam Ranh is a local airport. However, in August 2007, the Prime Minister decided to turn it into an international airport. In June 2009, Cam Ranh’s new terminal, which can host 1.5million to 2 million passengers per year, will be inaugurated. That will be the time Cam Ranh becomes an international airport.

The General Director of Vietnam Airlines, Pham Ngoc Minh, said Cam Ranh will develop robustly in the near future. Vietnam Airlines plans to connect its international air routes to Hanoi and HCM City to Cam Ranh. It will also have international flights from Cam Ranh to North Asian countries and call for foreign airways to open direct air routes to this airport.

Some South Korean groups committed with Vietnam Airlines to bring passengers to Cam Ranh and the Russian Aeroflot also want to open air routes to Cam Ranh.

Minh said in 2010, Cam Ranh will have 1.5 million passengers and up to four million by 2015.

Located on 750 hectares of land, Cam Ranh is larger than the Hanoi-based Noi Bai Airport and just 50 hectares less than the HCM City-based Tan Son Nhat Airport. The government has allowed Vietnam Airlines and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) to invite foreign investors to establish the Cam Ranh Airport Construction and Investment JS Company.

(Source: Tien Phong)

Flower lovers to enjoy cherry blossom on Tet

2009-01-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

Aficionados of Mai Anh Dao blossom (Prunus Cesacoides), a special kind of cherry blossoms in the mountainous city of Da Lat, are unhappy this year because they can not enjoy the blossom which usually flowers around Christmas and New Year. (Rows of the flower along the Xuan Huong lake are budding. )

Due to unseason weather the blossom will bloom later than usually but, luckily, it is believed to flower in time for Tet (Lunar New Year).

At present, rows of Mai Anh Dao trees along the Xuan Huong lake are budding while some trees along the corners on Le Hong Phong, Ba Thang Tu and Nguyen Du streets have some flowers.

Tourists hope to enjoy the scene of Da Lat, a beautiful central hill city, decorated with blossoming Mai Anh Dao in surrounding valleys and pine hills, and trees reflected in the lake.

(Source: TT/SGGP)

All aboard for the Hanoi-Nanning train

2009-01-06T17:50:00.000-08:00

The first international-standard train to travel between Hanoi and China’s Nanning city began running on January 2.

The made-in-China high-class train will carry up to 250 passengers on hard and soft seats for each journey.
As a result of the railway co-operation agreement between the two countries, the train will leave Ha Noi’s Gia Lam train station at 7.25pm daily and arrive in Nanning at 9.05 the next morning.
The Nanning-Ha Noi journey starts at 5.15pm.
The train stops at Bac Giang and Dong Dang stations of Viet Nam during the 13-hour journey and Pingxiang, Chongzuo and Nanning in China.
Travellers are required to carry valid passports and visas.
Viet Nam Railway Corporation transport business manager Nguyen Huu Tuyen said negotiations to waive passports and visas had begun and to confine check-in procedures to one hour.
Tickets range between US$25 and $40 and groups of at least six will enjoy a 25 per cent discount.
The capital of southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, is famous worldwide for its stunning landscapes.
Chinese rail workers crew the train with help from Viet Nam Railway Corporation employees while in Viet Nam.

Ambitious plans

The Viet Nam Railway Corporation planned to build about 400 new locomotives, passenger carriages and freight wagons, its deputy director Nguyen Dat Tuong said yesterday.
The corporation would build 60 passenger carriages, 300 freight wagons and 30 locomotives during the next two years, he said.
It would also repair and refurbish 70 freight wagons.
The deputy director said the corporation would use new technology to build the rolling stock; diversify its products and seek new export markets.
The corporation increased its turnover 16.2 per cent to VND6.87 trillion (US$404 million last year although it did not meet its own target.
Turnover growth of 8 per cent was planned for this year.
(Source: VNS)

Strategy to boost tourism in 2009

2009-01-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

2008 was a bad year for Vietnam’s tourism industry, as the number of international visitors totalled 4.2 million, 87 percent of projections. In an effort to boost tourism in 2009, tour companies have developed a strategy.
A wide range of products, including special tours throughout the country will be offered at discounts of between 30 – 50 percent during a two month promotion program which starts early January. Mr. Nguyen Quoc Cuong, deputy head of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said that the discount rate offered for certain products will be based on the average price for the same kind of products in the region. Promotional campaigns will be made possible through the cooperation of Vietnam Airlines and many luxury hotels, who have pledged to cut the price of air tickets and rooms for tours to be launched under the program, said Mr. Cuong.He added that if the program works well and produces profits, it will be extended until the end of June or maybe until the end of the year. Mr. Tran Chien Thang, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that together with the promotion program, it will launch an advertising campaign through which the beauty and peace of the country, the quality of tours and discount rates will be widely broadcast. He suggested issuing a “tourist guide map” through which famous attractions to visit in the country will be introduced to visitors. Users can find instructions about the most ideal routes to get to sites and make choices from a wide range of services offered at reasonable prices. Mr Thang also proposed the government make a 10 percent cut in VAT on tourism products and services. It would help stimulate and compel more travel companies, hotels, restaurants, coach companies and shopping centers to take part in the program.As a measure to support tourism activities, the Department of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is outlining a scheme to popularize Vietnamese culture and tourism on the Korean channel KBS TV, on Vietnamese channel VTV4 TV and on the internet. The department will also invite reporters and travelers from Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia and ASEAN countries to visit the country to introduce famous landscapes, including Ha Long Bay, Sa Pa, Phansipan Mount, Phong Nha- Ke Bang National Park and Hoi An ancient town.

(Source: SGGP)

TRAVEL IN BRIEF 16/12

2008-12-16T22:53:00.000-08:00

New sea tour to Phu Quoc Island

Phu Quoc beach.Hong Kong’s Royal Group will bring its five-star cruise ship, Jupiter Cruises, to Viet Nam for the Phu Quoc Island-Shihanouk Ville route, which will be available before Christmas.
This will be the first 5-star cruise service for Phu Quoc, a joint-service offered by Royal Group and Viet Nam’s Sea Star Corp.
The nine-story Jupiter Cruise is 178m long, 22m wide, and has around 400 cabins. It can serve 1,000 passengers at once, offering conference rooms, restaurants, bars, karaoke, shopping malls, and beauty and entertainment services.
The Sea Star Corp and Royal Group plan to build a tourism port in Phu Quoc. Currently Jupiter Cruises will have to anchor in Duong Dong, 2km offshore of Phu Quoc.

Tet preparations begin

HCM City will host the annual Nguyen Hue Flower Street Festival as part of the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, which will include entertainment and charity events.
The festival will feature the Banh Tet (glutinous rice cake) fest and fireworks displays, said Saigontourist Holdings Co., the organiser of the event. Nguyen Hue, Le Loi and Dong Khoi streets will be decorated with lights from December 18 to January 1, and from January 18 to February 14 for the Lunar New Year celebrations. Fireworks will be displayed at six locations on New Year’s Eve.
Tran Hung Viet, deputy general director of Saigontourist, said some 10,000 pieces of banh tet will be donated to the poor. Business community sponsorship money will also be given to charity. Saigontourist will spend more than VND10 billion (US$650,000) for the festival.

Hue attracts more cruise visitors

Thua Thien-Hue has welcomed 20,000 foreign cruise tourists so far this year months of the year, a four-fold increase over 2007. Most cruise ships docking at Chan May Port are luxury liners. The largest ship is the 5-star Queen Elizabeth II, which brought 2,000 tourists to the country.
The cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas of the US Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines brought an additional 2,000 foreign tourists to the province. During the call at Chan May Port, foreign passengers visited attractions in Hue, Hoi An, and Da Nang.

New spa resort in Binh Thuan

Princess d’Annam Resort&Spa has opened doors in Binh Thuan Province. The 9ha resort is a blend of styles that mixes the traditional, bold Eastern identity with the stunning and sophisticated opulence of French culture. Jean Philippe Beghin, the resort’s general director, said, "This style helps make a special impression on guests as soon as they set foot on the property."

More buses to Cambodia

The HCM City-based Sapaco Tourist Company began to increase bus tours between the city and Cambodia on December 4, the day the Viet Nam-Cambodia visa exemption for ordinary passport holders takes effect.
In HCM City, the company now operates seven buses every day to Phnom Penh instead of five previously, departing at 6am, 7am, 8am, 9am, 10am, 11.30am and 1pm.
In Phnom Penh, the seven buses leave for HCM City at 6am, 7am, 8am, 9am, 11.30am, 1pm and 2pm.
In addition, Sapaco’s buses between HCM City and Cambodia’s Siem Reap now run daily instead of every two days.

Tourists hunt for war souvenirs

Visitors to the former battlefields in the central province of Quang Tri often buy valuable war keepsakes like identity tags, coins, zippo lighters, US coins and canteens from waste collectors.
Tran Ha, a reputed collector and provider of war objects for tourists in Khe Sanh Town, in the province’s Huong Hoa District, said the war souvenirs he sold were provided by waste collectors in the district.
(Source: Viet Nam News)

Vietnam to cut tour fees immediately to lure travellers

2008-12-16T22:43:00.000-08:00

A senior official of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said that on December 15 VNAT began hurriedly compiling a plan on cutting fees on tours for foreign tourists to lure more travellers.Foreign tourists in Vietnam

The official said that the plan would be ready for the meeting between VNAT and international travel firms, luxury hotels in HCM City and the national air carrier Vietnam Airlines to be held by the end of this week. Details of the plan, which markets the tour fee decreases will be applied to, how much the tour fees will be cut, and how long the special programme will last, will be decided soon.

“For the immediate time, Vietnam still can attract Russian, Japanese, French, Australian and South Korean travellers who have cancelled tours to India and Thailand if we launch some tours with attractive tour fee decreases,” said Vietnam Airlines’ General Director Pham Ngoc Minh.

Vietnam Airlines has suggested that involved parties join forces to focus on some key markets, in which Vietnamese enterprises can offer competitive products.

Price decreases will be different for different markets, and only travel firms that join the campaign will be able to enjoy preferential prices.

VNAT is going to chair two additional similar meetings in Hanoi and the central city of Da Nang to announce the decisions on tour fee decreases as soon as possible.

According to Director of the HCM City Culture, Sports and Tourism Department La Quoc Khanh, it is necessary to persuade shops to join forces with travel firms, hotels and air carriers to create low-cost tours. Thailand, for example, announced the tour fee reduction of $39/traveller for tours associated with shopping, while the travellers are led to shops which registered to join the low-cost tours.

Vietnam witnessed the sharp fall of the tourism industry in 2008 and has forecast a 0% or minus growth rate in the first half of 2009.

A conference discussing ways to lure foreign travellers to Vietnam was held on December 11. It was criticised as being late but ‘better late than never’.

At the conference, Minh from Vietnam Airlines urged travel firms, hotels and involved parties to compile an action plan to attract more clients in the context of the expanded global financial crisis, the political uncertainties in Thailand, which are expected to take 6-7 months at least to recover, and the terrorism case in Mumbai, India. Minh said that in these conditions, tourists will prefer safe destinations with reasonable tour fees.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in the first 11 months of the year, Vietnam attracted 3.87mil international travelers.

(Source: Tuoi tre, VietNamNet)

Russians to get visa exemptions from New Year

2008-12-16T22:39:00.000-08:00

From January 1 next year, Vietnam will grant visas exemptions to Russians who have valid passports, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the number of Russian tourists visiting Vietnam is increasing strongly.Vietnam will be the third Southeast Asian country, after Thailand and Laos, to grant visa exemptions to Russian citizens who enter for tourism purposes.To be granted a visa exemption to stay in Vietnam for 15 days or less, Russian visitors must have a valid passport and a return or onward ticket. For stays longer than 15 days, Russian tourists can apply for to the Ministry of Public Security or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a visa extension.
(Source: SGGP)

Hoi An receives nearly 450,000 tourists

2008-12-16T22:36:00.000-08:00

Since early this year, Hoi An City known as a World Culture Heritage Site in the central province of Quang Nam has received nearly 450,000 tourists, including more than 320,000 foreigners, earning VND28 billion from selling visiting tickets.

To attract tourists to the ancient city during Christmas and New Year holiday, Hoi An Culture and Sport Centre will organise a number of activities such as traditional art performances, street festival, a cultural fair of ethnic minority groups and meetings with foreigners. The centre’s director Vo Phung said that visitors can enjoy a street festival on New Year’s Eve and a cultural fair featuring specialities of each ethnic minority group.
(Source: VOV)

Vietnamese tourists warned to avoid Thailand

2008-12-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST) has warned Vietnamese people not to travel to Thailand at this moment. Travel companies, meanwhile, are suffering heavy losses as they have customers stranded in the country.

International passengers stuck at Bangkok-based Suvarnabhumi Airport (photo AP)

The MoCST told the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), local tourism departments and travel firms to keep updated on information about the situation in Thailand to ensure security for Vietnamese tourists.

Nguyen Manh Cuong, VNAT’s Vice Chief, said many local travel companies have been seriously hit by Thailand’s uncertainties because they have had to pay a lot for stranded visitors.

“When the international airport in Bangkok was closed, many foreign passengers on their way to Vietnam were affected because they had to transit at this airport,” Cuong said.

Not only Vietnam, some other countries such as China, Singapore, Australia and the US have also advised their citizens not to go to Thailand at this time. Others have advised their citizens to re-consider plans to go to the beleaguered country or at least avoid areas where there are demonstrations.

According to the Tourism Administration of Thailand, around 600 Vietnamese people were stuck in Bangkok. Many of them have had to return home overland. Many travel companies have cancelled tours to Thailand, including tours to Phuket, where the AFF Cup 2008 was scheduled to be organised.

(Source: VNE)

Vietnam-Cambodia visa exemption likely to boost tourism

2008-12-04T17:08:00.000-08:00

The Vietnam-Cambodia visa exemption for ordinary passport holders which comes into effect today will create more opportunity for tourism, local travel agents say.

The director of Lua Viet Company Nguyen Van My said the pact will encourage more Vietnamese to travel to Cambodia.
“The number of tourists from Vietnam to Cambodia will rise about 30 percent as agencies and travelers can now save time and money for visa application at the border gates,” My said.
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai from Fiditourist Co. said the company is planning to increase tours to Cambodia from two to three or four per week in 2009.
“If the plan is realized, the number of our customers traveling to Cambodia will double,” Mai said.
Sapaco Tourist also announced plans to increase bus tours between Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh from 10 to 14 trips a day, while trips from HCMC to Siem Reap would run daily.
Regarding Cambodian visitors, My said the number would only rise slightly as the neighboring government’s procedures make it difficult for their citizens to obtain ordinary passports.
Many travel agencies in HCMC had previously operated four-day tours by bus to Cambodia at an average price of US$210-220, including visa application fees, while Vietnamese citizens had to spend $20 to apply for a visa to enter Cambodia prior to the exemption pact.
According to the agreement signed in Hanoi on November 4 by Vietnamese Prime Minster Nguyen Tan Dung and Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen, citizens of both countries with ordinary passports valid for at least six months can stay in the visited destination for up to 14 days without a visa.
Reported by Mai Phuong

Trek travel

2008-12-04T17:04:00.001-08:00

Trekking tours are a new and popular option offered by many travel companies in Vietnam. Tour operators throughout the country are also beginning to offer more than just a standard hike through a forest. ( Tourists hike through a primeval forest in the Central Highlands’ Dak Nong Province)

Many now combine visits to remote mountain communities where tourists can interact with locals while learning about the indigenous flora and fauna in the area.
Several local travel companies also focus on trips to national parks and forests where plants and animals are abundant, diverse, colorful and easy to spot with the naked eye.
In addition, primeval forests and minority ethnic villages in the Central Highlands and Vietnam’s northwest are also popular places for trekking adventures. These areas feature diverse scenery, rich ecosystems, and colorful villages of traditional minority ethnic groups.
Tourists can hike through quiet forests and terraced fields on mountainsides, visit small springs, touch rare plants and beautiful wild flowers, and go bird-watching. They can also meet and speak with people of Bana, Ma, J’Rai and H’Mong ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands as well as the Phu La, Dao, Tay and Nung people in the northwest.
Visitors may also choose a home-stay tour and spend a night at a local family’s home.
The Central Highlands is also home to the Madagui forest, an ideal area for exploring a primeval forest. These woods are part of Nam Cat Tien National Park. Here, tourists can observe a rich ecosystem of flora and fauna, listen to guides speak about animals and plants of the rainforest, and explore caves and springs.
In addition, visitors can camp out, enjoy traditional gong drum shows, drink ruou can (a kind of wine contained in an earthen jar), meet with minority ethnic people, and visit their homes.
Reported by Tien Dat

Japanese hot pot buffet bring a special culinary culture to Hanoians

2008-12-03T01:19:00.000-08:00

A moving Hot Pot Line rocking special Japanese hot pot buffet with hundreds of dishes such as such as salmon, scallop, oyster, Kobe beef and mushroom and vegetables along with a free sauce pot comes to Hanoians for the first time at Asahi Hot Pot restaurant, 76 Trieu Viet Vuong Street.

A specific characteristic of Asahi Hot Pot is delicious sauce and fresh materials imported from Japan. According to Yoshikwa, the Japanese main chef of the restaurant, a Japanese special hot-pot, must have special consommés, in which some special natural ingredients such as the Konbu leaf is indispensable.

Besides, the consommés is sophisticatedly processed within 8 to 12 hours to make original tastes of pure and tender.
There are various kinds of Japanese hot pots such as vegetarian pot, salmon head pot, seafood and special Asahi Pot. Each kind of hot-pot goes together with its correlative sauce made from sesame, alcohol and Japanese Soya-sauce by the main chef.
Japanese styled interior space with suffused light, sophisticated designs and charming staff in Kimono and aromatic flavour from meals is to the delight of anyone who step in there. In the coldness of the winter, hot pots are mostly the favourites as it accords to Hanoian’s liking. Furthermore, enjoying hot pot buffet brings fresh feelings for gourmets.
(Source: ND)

Ticket bookings for Tet low

2008-12-03T01:16:00.000-08:00

Airlines as well as operators of trains and coaches, who are selling tickets for the trips on the peak days of upcoming Tet holiday (Lunar New Year), agree that bookings do not grow as fast as expected. ( Passengers flood the Saigon Railway Station to buy train tickets for their travel during the upcoming Tet.)

The transportation operators attribute lower-than-expected demand to the fact that many Vietnamese people are tightening their purse string for holiday because of economic woes in Vietnam, while the international financial crisis has affected foreigners’ plans for vacations in this country.
The management of Saigon Railway Station said there remained fares for the trains departing from HCMC to Danang, Hue and Hanoi a week ahead of Tet. Last week, the station started to sell tickets via SMS and at the station for the trains from HCMC to the central stations in Nha Trang, Binh Dinh, Quang Ngai, Hue and Danang on January 24, or two days before Tet.
As for air travel, Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific said they had almost sold the seats on flights from HCMC to Hanoi on the days close to Lunar New Year’s Day. However, the airlines still have tickets for the other days.
“We still have seats on good planes during Tet holiday,” Do Anh Tuan, commercial director of Indochina Airlines, told the Daily on the phone. Now, passengers can book economy-class fares on the website of the first private airline in Vietnam for the trip departing from HCMC to Hanoi days just before Lunar New Year’s Day.
Last week, Vietnam Airlines announced to sell 12,000 promotional fares lower than normal fares from December 15 till February 6 as part of the national flag air carrier’s annual program entitled “Happiness for Family Reunion.”
The airline knocks off 50% of the seats on certain flights from Hanoi and Danang to HCMC from February 1 to 25. Meanwhile, there are fares valued at VND400,000 and VND600,000 for a single trip between HCMC and Danang, and VND900,000 and VND1.1 million for a trip between here and Hanoi. These fares will be for the flights from January 30 to February 6, or after Tet, which falls on January 26.
Jetstar Pacific said seats had run out on the planes from HCMC to Hanoi one to five days before Tet, but are still available on the other days.
Jetstar Pacific and other airlines are of the opinion that the demand for air travel in the coming Tet is higher than the last occasion, but it is too early to ascertain the growth rate.
Demand lower than projected
Transportation operators predict demand is up 10-15% this Tet compared with the last holiday, an increase that they say lower than previously projected.
Nguyen Ngoc Thua, director of Mien Dong Coach Station One-member Ltd., said the company was planning an increase of 10% in the number of passenger vehicles.
Mien Dong Coach Station in Binh Thanh District mobilized around 14,500 vehicles to transport 390,000 passengers on the days in the run up to last Tet. Nearly 16,000 vehicles able to transport some 430,000 passengers are planned for the upcoming Tet.
Thua expected transportation demand would grow on the routes from HCMC to Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, Nam Dinh, Thua Thien-Hue, Nghe An, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Gia Lai and Daklak.
The railway sector is also gearing up for Tet. Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong, chief of Saigon Railway Station, said the station sold 10,000 tickets every day for the trains running during the holiday, an increase of a mere 5% over the last occasion.
Thanh said the station would operate 44 trains on the north-south trunk rail during Tet to meet some 30% of the transportation demand for this occasion, and that the rest would be shared by coach operators and airlines.
Train fares for Tet trips between HCMC and Hanoi range from VND641,000 to VND1.276 million, or the same to the levels of normal days.
Airlines do not sell air tickets higher than VND1.7 million, a ceiling level applicable to a single trip between HCMC and Hanoi before, although they are allowed to hike fares.
Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific sell Economy-class highest fares of VND1.7 for a single HCMC-Hanoi trip during Tet, while Indochina Airlines offers one-way tickets of the same class at VND1.65 million.
However, coach fares for Tet are forecast to soar 20-60% compared with the rates of normal days, and operators are expected to announce their final rate increases before December 20.
This year, around 260 coach and bus operators will transport passengers from Mien Dong to their homes during Tet, which is the biggest holiday in Vietnam.
(Source: SGT)

Enjoy com dep to know more culture of Khmer people

2008-12-03T01:13:00.000-08:00

Khmer, one of the ethnic peoples living in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long, is rich in traditional cultures and crafts. Com dep (flat green rice) is one of the crafts that the Khmer people have made a great effort to preserve and develop, according to Vietnam News Agency. ( Khmer people in a traditional ceremony to offer com dep to the moon at Bom Mat pagoda in Soc Trang Province in Ok Om Bok festival this November. (Photo: TTXVN))

Com dep has existed in Binh Minh District, Dong Binh Commune for hundreds of years and has become essential in support of preserving the traditional features of the Khmer people. In the Ok Ombok traditional festival of Khmer, com dep is the main offering to the moon, as the event is the time when Khmer worship the moon.
The festival is held yearly in the 14th and 15th days of the tenth lunar month (Khmer Calendar). It denotes the welcoming of new rice because it is the end of the rainy season and vegetable harvesting. Thus, com dep is symbolic of the traditional cultural features and culinary of Khmer people.
Com dep is made from sticky rice. Three farmers can grind 20 kilograms of sticky rice everyday for a profit of VND100,000. Even though making com dep is not well-paid, the Khmer people continue to make it in an effort to preserve their culture and develop their economy and tourism.
Com dep is not only the main offering of the Ok Ombok festival; it is also an important dish for the Kinh people, Chinese and the Mekong Delta residents as well as the Khmer people. Therefore, the local authorities have supported credit policies to help farmers maintain this traditional craft.
To produce tasty and delicious com dep farmers have to take the rice through three phases: preparation, grinding and processing. The first phase of grinding the harvested and roasted sticky rice is the hardest step. Farmers have to soak the sticky rice in fresh water for 48 hours to 50 hours, then pour it into rice mortar and pound it with a wooden pestle rhythmically and steadily. When the sticky rice becomes glutinous the farmers take the rice out of the mortar and winnow to remove the husk from sticky young grains.
Traditional com dep is mixed with ground coconut and coconut water, salt, sugar and peanuts in some hours until com dep become soft and tasty dish.
Son Thi Huong, a com dep artisan from a family with generations of making com dep has been chosen by local authorities to present this craft in the 4th Southern Khmer people Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho taking place in December 4 to 9.
(Source: SGT)

Vietnam Airlines helps stranded passengers return home

2008-11-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-27T23:16:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-27T23:13:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-27T23:11:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-27T23:09:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-27T23:03:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-24T00:02:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-23T23:58:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-23T23:52:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-23T23:46:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-21T23:31:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-21T23:29:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-21T23:19:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-21T23:17:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-21T00:02:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-20T23:58:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T19:12:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-16T20:22:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-16T01:44:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-16T01:39:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-16T01:34:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-16T01:30:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T19:59:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T19:15:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

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)

A glimpse of Bac Me

2008-11-13T20:08:00.000-08:00

If you travel on National Road 34 from Ha Giang to Cao Bang Municipality, do not forget to drop by Bac Me to view the fascinating landscape of the Gam River and visit places of interest in the northern locality. (A scene view of Bac Me Town and the Gam River.)

Situated more than 60 kilometers from Ha Giang Municipality, Bac Me is a quiet town thriving on the left bank of the Gam River, and is striking enough to tempt passers-by to stop at its historical and cultural attractions.
Cang Bac Me, or Bac Me Prison, nestled in a forest of old trees, is a destination for those who want to look back into history to the time when the French ruled the region. Historical documents say the French used Cang Bac Me as a military base before 1938 but then converted it into a prison for revolutionaries.
The prison in Yen Cuong Commune is surrounded by a stone wall of some 190 meters long and two meters high. Though the watch tower and other components of the national historical site were restored five years ago, many ruins remain, giving visitors a glimpse of the hard life of the revolutionaries.
Cang Bac Me has more to offer. As the site is perched on the side of mountains and overlooks the Gam River, it becomes a place of choice for relaxing at a destination of beautiful mountain and water landscape.
The Gam River itself is a wonder that the Nature Mother has given to Bac Me and other parts of northern Vietnam. The river runs along the National Road 34 section of Bac Me District in Ha Giang Province and weaves its ways through mountains and hills, carving stones along its banks into art works of different shapes. The riverside scenery is beautified by terraced paddy fields and old trees standing straight or falling across either of the banks.
The best place to view and take pictures of Bac Me Town is a slope which is about 500 meters from Ha Giang Town. There, the scenery is like a painting, with red-roof houses partly hidden behind branches of old trees, mountains silhouetted in the clear water of the Gam River and boats arriving and leaving the wharf near the town.
Travelers who have negotiated the bumpy road from Bac Me to Bao Lac are rewarded with the beauty of the scenic riverside. On the road sections under construction, friendly local people smile at the passers-by and herds of butterflies in different colors fly out from bushes and the river to greet them.
In Bac Me, there is a plan to develop a tourist complex comprising of Cang Bac Me as well as Dan Cum and Na Chao caves as a destination with both historical and archeological attractions.
Archeologists have found tools and artefacts believed to be used by the people who had lived in the region more than 10,000 years ago.
(Source: SGT)

Worshipping open-mindedness in a temple visit

2008-11-13T20:04:00.000-08:00

Ho Chi Minh City ( HCMC) is one of the most desirable destinations in Vietnam, having attracted thousands of visitors and immigrants who bring with them their own customs, mores and beliefs. (Foreigners visit Lady Thien Hau Temple.)

The city features a number of impressive buildings reflecting this blend of Vietnamese, Chinese and European cultures. One example is Cho Lon in HCMC’s District 5, also known as Chinatown, where the Lady Thien Hau Temple is a popular venue for worship by the Chinese community.
As such, the Lady Thien Hau Temple is a worthwhile stop on any tour of Chinatown in HCMC. At this temple visitors can learn more about the confluence of the Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist religions, and how they relate to the moral values of present daily life.
The temple, located at 710 Nguyen Trai Street in District 5, was built in 1760 in typical Chinese architectural style by a group of Chinese from Guangdong, Guangzhou and Fujian. It was restored in the 1800s and again in 1916. The inner temple is for worship and the outer area is for sacrifices.
The temple commemorates Lady Thien Hau, the Goddess of the Sea, who was born in China on March 23 of the lunar year in AD 940, and passed away in September 9 of lunar year. Legend tells that in her sleep her spirit flew to the sea and at the sight of endangered sinking vessels the goddess flew to the sailors and saved them. She was thus worshipped as the protector of the Chinese fishermen.
Later, in the 17th century during the mass evacuation of Chinese from mainland China to Vietnam the Chinese prayed to Thien Hau for her magic power to guide them and upon safe landing they collected money and gold to build temples dedicated to her to thank her for her protection. One temple is in Hoi An and the other is the temple in Cho Lon, HCMC. The temples tell stories about gratitude.
After viewing the main chamber where the statues of Lady Thien Hau, her mother and her sister are seated, one can look up and see spiral incense hanging from the ceiling. To show respect, an old man beats the drum every time a donation is made as recognition of a good deed. This custom was brought to the temple by Taoists.
The figurines on the walls of the temple decorated with turquoise tile pieces are evidence of how the Chinese pay tribute to great men. They represent national heroes, a king, a scholar or mandarin, the temple’s founders, an old man, a rich person and a wood cutter.
The Chinese and Vietnamese have long practiced indiscriminate worshipping. Little time and energy is spent differentiating which is Buddhist and which is Taoist. Meanwhile, the influence of Confucianism is reflected in the philosophy of the five moral teachings, Righteousness, Benevolence, Courtesy, Wisdom and Faithfulness, which are still performed in their ways of living.
In other words, worshippers here pay their respect to the gods and goddesses, lead a good life and accumulate fortune for the future and for their children’s heritage.
The annual Lady Thien Hau Temple festival is on the 23rd day of the third lunar month on the occasion of the Lady’s birthday anniversary. The festival attracts both Vietnamese and Chinese Buddhists to raise their prayers to the Lady.
(Source: SGT)

Huge resort project gets going

2008-11-13T20:01:00.000-08:00

A resort project worth a staggering US$8 billion in Quang Nam Province will still get moving ahead after comments from relevant ministries, despite earlier concerns about the viability of this mammoth project.
Provincial authorities have heard positive opinions about the Dragon Beach resort project from six ministries, and have asked the investors to make amendments as required, said Dinh Van Thu, vice chairman of the province.
“The ministries have given good comments on the project,” Thu told the Daily on Tuesday, explaining that the ministries have asked the investors to clarify some key factors such as investment capacity and environmental impacts.
Two American investors from California – Tano Captial, LLC and Global C&D, Inc. – have joined forces to set up the Dragon Beach Company to develop the resort complex of the same name.
The province, upon these comments, has requested the U.S investors make changes to the project’s development plan, he said.
Thu said that the provincial Department of Planning and Investment had met with the investors to talk about the new requests, and the investors were in the process to do so to complete procedures for the project.
Each of the two founding companies has a chartered capital of US$50 million and has submitted papers to verify their financial capacity. However, the ministries have also requested investors to prove the investment capacity to make sure that they can build the big-scale project.
The tourism-entertainment complex, to be located on 400 hectares in Dien Duong Commune in Dien Ban District, will feature many luxury facilities including hotels, resorts, international conference centers, entertainment facilities as well as slot machines for foreigners.
“We (the provincial government) will give an investment certificate if the ministries’ demands are met,” he said. In September, Quang Nam Province passed the project dossiers to relevant ministries for consultation before giving an investment certificate to the company.
In the original plan, the investors wanted to develop casino services there. However, the Prime Minister rejected this request by the investors because casino is a highly-conditional service that requires strict criteria.
(Source: SGT)

PM approves upgrade of Phu Quoc int’l airport

2008-11-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

The Prime Minister has approved the development plan of Phu Quoc International Airport in the resort Phu Quoc island in southern Kien Giang province till 2020 with orientation to 2030.(Phu Quoc island)

Under the plan, the airport will be upgraded to meet the grade 4E standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the second level for a military airport with a combined capital of 16 trillion VND (941.1 million USD). By 2020, the airport will be capable of receiving B767 and B747-400 planes with a runway of 3,000m x 45 m. The airport’s annual capacity is projected to reach 2.5 million passengers by 2020 and 7 million passengers by 2030, while its cargo throughput is designed at 14,300 tonnes a year by 2020 and 27,600 tonnes by 2030.
(Source: VNA)

Trying biking tours in the heart of Mekong Delta

2008-11-12T22:41:00.000-08:00

Biking is an interesting and authentic way to explore the countryside in Vietnam. Victoria Can Tho Resort has recently launched a new selection of biking tours to offer its guests the opportunity to discover daily life in the heart of the Mekong Delta region. (Expat guests biking in the Mekong Delta.)

The adventurous trips lead riders through a series of small paths, luscious green fields and tropical fruit orchards with the resort’s own fleet of quality mountain bikes.
The biking routes range from 57 to 87 kilometers with a choice of different itineraries and are suitable for most people with normal fitness levels. Highlights include small river crossings on local boats, handicraft and rice paper making villages and the famous little town of Sa Dec, where Marguerite Duras, a French author of the well-known novel The Lover, spent her childhood.
Guests who wish to extend their biking tour with a luxurious treat can opt for the Can Tho – Long Xuyen – Chau Doc itinerary, mixing biking and cruising aboard our converted traditional rice barge, Le Jarai.
They will be able to feast on a freshly prepared lunch, enjoy massages, cooking class or even sunbath on the upper deck while relaxing in the tranquility of the Mekong.
For a more cultural experience, the Long Xuyen – Chau Doc route will take guests through small provincial towns to see Cham villages as well as Muslim mosques near the Cambodian border, renowned for an eclectic mix of Cham, Khmer, Chinese and Vietnamese cultures.
Victoria Can Tho offers biking tours at prices starting from US$97 per person upwards, including professional mountain bikes, safety helmets, a repair kit and a supporting mini van at disposal at all times.

Members of USTOA, who represent the entire spectrum of vacation packages and tours available, are required to adhere to strict code of ethics in order to maintain the highest standards of professionalism and services, as well as demonstrate ethical and financial responsibility in their business conduct.
(Source: SGT)

New romantic tours for couples

2008-11-12T01:05:00.000-08:00

Vietnam is growing in popularity as a destination to foreign tourists, of whom many are couples and newlyweds seeking a romantic holiday. In response Vietnam’s tour operators have designed some special tours at Vietnam’s beautiful beaches.

(Foreign tourists relax at Phu Quoc Beach.)

For couples wanting to escape from a noisy, urban life, Saigontourist Holding Co. has introduced a cluster of romantic, short tours called “Take care together”.
The three-day tour “Love at the Vinpearl Land” is priced at VND13.8 million per couple, exclusive of flight ticket, and the three-day tour “Romance on Pearl Island – Con Dao” is priced at VND3.7 million a couple exclusive flight ticket.
The four-day-and-three-night tour “Nha Trang – the beauty of sea and island” costs between VND4.6 million and VND5.9 million a couple and the two-day-and-one-night tour “romantic night in Ha Long” is VND9.25 million a couple.
The “Love at the Vinpearl Land” tour features a fascinating trip in cable car to the Vinpearl Land resort in the central coast city of Nha Trang for time to relax in a hot spring mineral bath and mineral mud silica at Thap Ba Hot Spring Center. The fresh air and blue sea water melt away daily worries.
Newlyweds will enjoy spending some time along in the five-star hotel with a view over the sea as they plan their new life together. They will be welcomed with warm greetings and luxury buffet parties.
In Con Dao, couples are free to discover isolated sand dunes such as Dam Trau dune, Da Trang rock field with endless rocky layers in mysterious white color and Love top, the ideal place for couples to express their feelings.
As part of these special honeymoon tours, Saigontourist will give the happy couples meaningful gifts and flower boutiques, an umbrella and a discount voucher for their next visit.
Fiditour Tourist Company has also designed special tours and programs and packages called “Only us”, including the following four-day-package tours: “Nha Trang – the happy paradise”, priced at VND17.3 million a couple, “Phan Thiet – Mui Ne- Love Paradise” priced at VND11.6 million a couple, “Con Dao – isolated nature” priced at VND10.5 million per guest, “Phu Quoc – Passionate Love” priced at VND12.1 million, “Hoi An – together in the ancient town” priced at VND19.8 million a couple. The three-day package tour “Ha Long –poetic Love” is priced at VND20.44 million.
At Saigon Phu Quoc Resort and Spa couples will have unforgettable moments with a romantic dinner on the beach, excursions to the islands, diving and onboard fishing.

(Source: SGT)

High-tide highlights

2008-11-12T01:02:00.000-08:00

During the Mekong Delta’s high-tide season, which lasts from the ninth to 12th lunar month each year, An Giang Province becomes a place full of new discovery for visitors. (Visitors to the Mekong Delta’s An Giang Province can take a speedboat to view dozens of local animal species. )

As the water level rises in local rivers, tourists can take a speedboat to observe interesting wildlife at Tinh Bien District’s Tra Su cajuput forest.
In the shade of the lush trees of this 850-hectare forest, visitors can see an array of colorful birds. Nests can be seen up close and you might even spot a mother bird feeding her young.
The area is also home to more than 83 animal species.
At many places in the Tra Su cajuput forest and along the road from Long Xuyen Town to Ba The Mountain in Thoai Son District, visitors can view vast areas of lotuses. The flowering plants, in many different shades, rise up from under the water and make for terrific photographs.
Traveling through An Giang in the high-tide season is also an opportunity for visitors to enjoy the season’s local specialties.
Many restaurants and bistros serve fresh salads with shrimp and lotus buds, a hot-pot dish with salted, fermented fish accompanied with field vegetables, or water lilies with mud carp cooked in a diluted fish sauce.
Other specialties such as grilled, clay-covered snakehead fish and snails steamed with lemon grass are also available.
Visitors should also not miss the Chau Doc-style bun ca (fish vermicelli), a well-known delicacy.
What makes An Giang stand out from the Mekong Delta’s other localities in the high-tide season is its Dolta Festival, a traditional cultural event of the Khmer community which is celebrated annually in Tinh Bien and Tri Ton districts in lunar September.
The festival features a cow race and attracts a large number of local and foreign visitors. Locals bring their biggest and strongest cows to compete on a flat field cheered on by a crowd of merry spectators.
Reported by Diem Thu

Tea festival to take place in Central Highlands

2008-11-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

The second Tea Cultural Festival will be held in Bao Loc Town, Lam Dong Province from December 4-7, the provincial People’s Committee said.
The event aims to promote the domestic tea industry and provide a forum for exchange between local and international tea businesses.
Lam Dong Province has about 27,000 hectares for tea-cultivation, producing an annual export figure of approximately US$40 million.
The first Tea Festival was held in the province’s resort town of Da Lat in December 2006.
Reported by Phan Huy Tram

Canceled festival points to tourism industry shortcomings

2008-11-12T00:57:00.000-08:00

The annual Tourism Year program aims to advertise the tourism potentials of a specific region to international visitors. (Would international travelers like these continue to be interested in Vietnam? )

It was initiated in 2003 by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

The government’s recent decision to cancel next year’s “Tourism Year” festival raises questions about Vietnam’s ability to sell itself efficiently and attract international travelers.

Last year it was held in the northern mountainous province of Thai Nguyen, attracting around 1.2 million tourists, including 25,500 from abroad.

But that was a rare success.

A review of the festival since inception found that preparations for it and its marketing are not very effective.

VNAT chose Dak Lak Province as the host site of Tourism Year 2009 to promote the hospitality industry in the central highlands. But provincial authorities backed out citing shortage of facilities and time for preparation.

Deputy director of Dak Lak’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Phan Tam Thanh, recently told a local newspaper that the province only has 45 hotels and guesthouses with 1,700 rooms, quite insufficient to host the festival.

After Dak Lak withdrew, neighboring Gia Lai Province asked to host the event, Nguyen Manh Cuong, deputy head of VNAT said, but eventually organizers decided to shelve the plans.

“We made mistakes while selecting the host for this year’s program,” Cuong said. “We were going about organizing events for locals when our main focus should have been to attract foreign tourists.”

Director of Saigontourist Travel Service, Vo Anh Tai, said the promotional activities for Tourism Year remain a big concern.

With limited budgets and weak links to key foreign markets, the bulk of them end up focusing on the domestic market, he said. Selecting a location for the program is also problematic. While some destinations have “hidden” tourism potential, poor infrastructure and low quality tourism products rule them out as hosts, according to Tai.

These issues also plagued this year’s program in the Mekong Delta’s Can Tho City.

“My family was disappointed during our recent visit to My Khanh Tourist Village [for] the Tourism Year,” Amercian visitor Amanda Paxton said. “Food and fruits were sold at high prices, while beggars kept harassing us.”

David Johnston, a British visitor who attended last year’s event in Thai Nguyen, told Thanh Nien Daily: “The program would not have been successful if organizers had not had enough facilities to meet visitors’ basic needs, like enough public restrooms.”

According to VNAT’s Cuong, the tourism body should re-evaluate the purpose of the program to focus on developing the right products and marketing plans to ensure good preparation.

Each Tourism Year could be based on a theme, he said – for example seabased tourism, ecotourism, or sports and adventure – and promotions in major overseas markets strengthened and tourism products further developed to draw more visitors.

Reported by Vinh Bao

Last of the summer wine

2008-11-09T18:29:00.000-08:00

In this second part from a series of travel articles on Con River in Binh Dinh province, Hai Hau discovers one of the country’s tastiest tipples, Bau Da rice liquor.

I am normally not a big fan of the hard stuff, but I know when I arrive in a small hamlet in An Nhon district of Binh Dinh province it won’t be long before I’m drinking some of the local liquor. They say that the greatest form of flattery is imitation and nowadays it seems Bau Da liquor can be found everywhere, though technically speaking it can only come from a quiet little hamlet of Cu Lam in Nhon Loc village, which is located along the banks of Con River. The hamlet is located in a tranquil spot amongst bamboo groves and green paddy fields and when I arrive at the village gate I can immediately smell a waft of alcoholic yeast in the air. I have no appointment or prior arrangement. I just amble through the hamlet and happen upon Pham Van Anh, who is tending to an open fire inside his home. When I mention I’m here to do some research on the local liquor, he ushers me inside. I have, it seems, knocked on the right door. Van Anh has nearly 30 years’ experience of making rice liquor, which in Vietnamese is called ruou (pronounced zeo). “My great-grandfather, grandfather, and father and now my four brothers and I have all produced ruou,” says Van Anh. “It’s not because of any sentimental attachment or the family’s trade secrets, but simply because Bau Da’s sweet-smelling ruou can only be made in Cu Lam.” “I am no more skillful than any other ruou-producer,” he continues before adding the most important element or ingredient for Bau Da ruou is the water from an underground stream that runs off the Con River. Of course, villagers may quibble over what is the important ingredient and techniques may differ from house to house, but Van Anh says that everyone uses bamboo pipes for the distillation and only terracotta pots are used to store the liquor, which is heated slowly over a low burning flame. When the liquor is finished it should taste as if there is “fire and ice in it”, according to Van Anh. Vah Anh’s friends and neighbours Nam and Tieng arrive. Both men are something of an authority on ruou and have both been officially appointed to showcase Cu Lam village’s ruou production methods at the upcoming Tay Son Rice Liquor Distilling Festival. “A sip of Bau Da ruou gives you a feeling that something is burning in you while you melt in the alcohol,” says Nam. “After that comes the particular sweet flavour of Cu Lam village.” As if to prove the alcohol’s potency, Anh dips his finger into a glass before nonchalantly lighting his cigarette with the tip of his finger. As Nam pours a round of shots, he explains that drinking ruou is not just about getting drunk as some people may believe. These men see themselves as connoisseurs. When drinking a glass of Bau Da ruou, which is completely clear, you should leave it sit first, rather than knock it back straight away. You then wait for the flavour to build in your face before sipping from the glass and savouring the alcohol. Bau Da ruou is said to be a magic potion that will dispatch melancholy feelings. It is also said to be medicinal. If someone is suffering from a fever , he is told to hover his nose over a jar of ruou and he will sweat out his illness. Nam, Tieng and Anh take immense pride from their hamlet’s liquor but their smiles evaporate at the merest mention of imitation Ruou Bau Da flooding the market at cheap prices. Of late Nam’s family has been producing ruou at a loss and he claims that the 38 households involved in ruou production in Cu Lam are all in the same boat. The hamlet also survives off farming pigs and recently the value of pigs has dipped. With the threat of poverty looming, many of the ruou-producing families are considering getting out of the liquor business. Along Highway 1A in Binh Dinh province you can find liquor bottles with a label that reads ‘Ruou Bau Da’, but Nam assures me the liquor in the bottle wasn’t made in Cu Lam. He claims that a company from Quang Nam province signed a contract with Cu Lam villagers with the promise of distributing their product to a wider market. The villagers were appalled to learn that soon afterwards the company was buying less and less liquor from Cu Lam and had started to sell liquor, which was made elsewhere, in bottles with the Bau Da wine label. The villagers had inadvertently sold off their brand name. The villagers have teamed up with fellow ruou-producers from Binh Dinh province to establish an association that would reclaim its right to bear the name Ruou Bau Da. The thought of reclaiming what is rightfully theirs brings smiles back to my hosts’ faces. Nam raises his glass of ruou and quoting from an old poem, says: “Let us drink some liquor, so that you and I will watch as eternal melancholy fade away.”
(Source: Timeout)

Brothers in arms

2008-11-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

In the third part of a series on tourism sites along Con River in Binh Dinh province, Hai Hau goes in search of the home of three brothers, who rose up against tyranny and liberated Vietnam over 200 years ago.

The Con river flows through the village of Kien My in Phu Phong-Tay Son town in Binh Dinh province. From this charming and humble setting in the late 18th century, three young men rose up to lead an unlikely rebellion that saw them defeat the local Nguyen Lords of the south and the Trinh Lords of the north, before audaciously routing a Chinese army in the capital of Thang Long (Hanoi). These three men are known as the Tay Son heroes, the most famous being Nguyen Hue, who would later rename himself Emperor Quang Trung. In the beginning heavy taxes and corruption at the local level of government motivated these brothers to rebellion. They styled themselves as the champions of the people and proved to be popular rebels. As they swept through the land their slogan had been “fairness, no corruption, only loot the rich, and help the poor”. Nguyen Hue stated his goals were to end oppression, reunite the country and restore power to the Le Dynasty emperor in Hanoi. He also promised to remove corrupt officials and redistribute land. When Quang Trung eventually took the throne as emperor he proved as astute a politician as he had been a general. In control of a united country that was much larger than any previous ruler of Vietnam, the new Emperor distributed land to the poor peasants, encouraged artisans that had been suppressed, allowed religious freedom, re-opened Vietnam to international trade and abolished Chinese as the official language of the nation. The new official language was the Vietnamese script Chu Nom. His political shrewdness and military prowess can be traced back to his scholarly upbringing. As children the three brothers were dedicated to the study of literature, history, and the military arts. A number of well regarded and erudite tutors had trained the brothers and encouraged them to fulfil their potential. Standing under the tamarind tree in the garden of the home where the Tay Son heroes were born and raised in Kien My village, I try to picture the brothers practicing martial arts outside or burrowed into works of literature inside. To think that the tamarind tree still stands and flourishes is to realise the brevity of human life – no matter how heroic or historic. There is also a well dug by the heroes’ family that is said to be sacred. It is said sick people have healed themselves by coming here to make offerings at the Tay Son temple and drink water from the well. Whether sick or not, people come from all four corners of Vietnam to taste water from the well. An old verse that Kien My villagers’ sing, goes “We will always remember the tamarind tree, the well and the yard of the communal house that have done us good”. After Quang Trung’s untimely death from an unknown illness, the Tay Son dynasty slipped into a quick decline. Slowly but surely, Nguyen Anh, later Emperor Gia Long, seized control of Vietnam with the aid of French and European mercenaries. The Tay Son family ancestral home was razed by the Nguyen dynasty’s forces. But the villagers would not abandon the spirits of their local heroes. A new temple dedicated to the Tay Son dynasty was built on the ruins of the old house. The new structure was referred to as a communal house so as to not to incur the wrath of the Nguyen dynasty, who would undoubtedly have razed the building again had they got wind of it. Today the communal house, tamarind tree and the well are all part of the Quang Trung Museum. Inside there are statues of the Tay Son brothers as well as their most esteemed officials, such as Ngo Van So, Ngo Van Ky and Ngo Thi Nham as well as Bui Thi Xuan, a fearless female general. Besides the museum complex there are other traces of the Tay Son dynasty. Nearby you will find Go Da Den (the Black Rock hill), where Nguyen Nhac (the eldest of the three brothers) set up a martial arts training ground for the Tay Son troops. Kien My villagers like to say that on restless moonlit nights, they can hear the sounds of horses galloping and the voices of Tay Son troops cheering. In Kien My there is also the remnants of an old wharf called Truong Trau where people traded betel leaves in Tay Son times. Betel leaves and areca nuts were transported elsewhere to barter for salt or farming tools. The Tay Son brothers came from a rich betel trading family and Nguyen Nhac, who was actively engaged in the trade, was known to his friends as ‘brother betel’. Villagers from Kien My still practice several traditional trades that hark back to Tay Son and presently life seems to be treating most people well. Once the village’s blacksmiths were famous for forging swords and lances for swashbuckling heroes and royal armies, but nowadays the skilled craftsmen use time-honoured techniques to make shovels, spades and other farming tools. Other trades include making bun (rice noodle), rice paper, raising silkworms, spinning silk and cotton, making bean cakes and trading betel leaves. Every one I speak to seems to be proud of living on ‘royal land’. Every home I peer into has a bust of Quang Trung, the Emperor, or Nguyen Hue, the rebel hero. After the harvest, it is him who they will thank. It is because of him, they believe, that the sun still shines on Kien My.
(Source: Timeout)

History comes to life in Soc Son

2008-11-07T22:59:00.000-08:00

A serene, almost sacred, atmosphere envelops the mountainous scenery of Ve Linh Commune in Soc Son District, 30km north of Ha Noi’s centre, where legend has it Saint Giong flew back to heaven on his horse after defeating foreign invaders. (Thanksgiving: A procession carries gifts to commemorate Saint Giong at the temple during a local traditional festival, which is held between the 6th and 8th day of the first lunar month.)

feel it in the voice of local guides as they show me the wonders of the region. As they tell me of the legendary figure they use the honorific ngai (his excellency) when saying the name Saint Giong.
Colour abounds in the area, turquoise blue lakes - believed to be the footprints of Saint Giong’s horse - contrast against the palate of green mountains, hills and trees that mingle softly with the local bamboo, said to be coloured yellow from fire from Saint Giong’s horse. White stones intersperse the soft colours, giving the place the look of a painting.
An eco-tourism complex is planned for this most historic of places, covering 270 ha, and will include a golf course if you have had your fill of history.
Nguyen Van Lam, director of the Soc Temple Tourism and Relics Management Centre told me it was difficult to balance the preservation of historic sites with the need to promote the area and build tourism infrastructure. "We have found that not selling entrance tickets, but encouraging tourists to donate whatever they see fit, is the best way to fund the preservation of historic sites here."

He said the area attracts around 15,000 visitors per year.

Holy centre
At the centre of the planned tourism project is Soc Temple, one feels free from the hustle and bustle of city life where, and you can almost hear history calling in the wind.
The temple complex was built in the pre-Le Dynasty (980), and has altars to worship Saint Giong, his mother, and local gods and godesses. It was last restored in 1992 and was recognised as a national historic relic in 1962.
The most important feature of the temple buildings is the main altar, made from a mixture of clay, sugarcane juice, paper and lime It is unique in Viet Nam and forms the shape of the mountain ranges surrounding the complex. Seven statues are worshipped at the temple. The statues are standing, a rare sight in Viet Nam as Nguyen Vu Dai, a temple guard, explains, "Standing statues are quite rare as most of local temples worship sitting statues."
The back of the altar opens into a cave, that can be explored if you enter from the left and exit from right.
"Going from left to right symbolises going in by the father gate and out by the mother gate," said Dai, "the cave represents the resting place of all Vietnamese ancestors."
Stopping in the middle of the cave and looking towards the statue of Saint Giong, visitors should take a deep breath to receive the "holy" air from the back of the statue.
"You will get the strength of Saint Giong and live longer," Dai said.
Leaving the temple complex I travel further afield, trekking up a hill I notice a stone stele recording the history of Saint Giong, and the days festivals in his honour are held.
Mid way up Hon Da Trong Mountain there is a big white stone, cleft in two, that locals believe is Saint Giong’s armour, at the peak I admire the view and am told a statue of Saint Giong will be placed in time for the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of Thang Long-Ha Noi in 2010.
"I have chosen an image of an 18-year-old boy with strong arms and legs for the statue," said sculptor Nguyen Kim Xuan, the creator of Giong’s statue, "As there is no model for the heroic figure, the statue should symbolise the strength of Vietnamese people to maintain peace and wipe out invaders."
The finished work will be 40m tall and weigh 50 tonnes.
As I contemplate the history of this place and my origins, I come to hope that others will come here to the magic of Ve Linh Commune.

(Source: Viet Nam News)

Tourism needs better staff

2008-11-07T22:56:00.000-08:00

Drastic changes are vital for VN to have a competitive tourist industry ( Foreigners visit the Jun village in the Central Highland province of Dac Lac. A well trained workforce with good skills, knowledge, service and foreign-language skills is of great importance in boosting the country’s tourism.)

Viet Nam’s tourism sector will risk lagging far behind other regional countries and find it difficult to maintain a high growth rate if breakthrough measures are not taken to generate enough qualified personnel, a senior tourism official has said.
"The biggest hurdles to tourism development in Viet Nam are the poor quality of tourism products and the failure of local tourist administrators to keep pace with the demands made by rapid growth in the sector," said Nguyen Manh Cuong, deputy director of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).
Opening the Conference on Quality Assurance of Tourism Human Resources Development held in HCM City yesterday, Cuong said the local tourism industry should urgently train a contingent of well qualified and knowledgable personnel who had managerial skills, national pride and ethics.
"Without drastic measures to ensure the quality and quantity of the tourist workforce, the sector can hardly compete in the region and the world in the near future," Cuong said.
"A series of synchronous measures will be taken, such as continuing administrative reforms, increasing promotion, attracting investment at home and abroad, and diversifying and improving the quality of tourist products."
But all these could be realised only if there was a well trained workforce to satisfy tourists’ demand, he said.
Cuong noted several constraints in current tourism training, including inadequate and backward facilities and equipment, limited skills of teachers as well as poor collaboration between training institutions and the tourism industry.
Four elements – occupational skills and knowledge, good service, foreign language skill and reasonable allocation of labour between areas – would be crucial to meeting the critical demands of the tourism industry, he said.
The quality of training must be assured, which would be reflected in the number of graduates having jobs in the tourism industry, he added.
Tourism training must be relevant to changes likely to occur as new careers emerge to cater for new developments, including the growth of serviced apartments, the event and entertainment-management industry, tourism marketing and promotion.
Hans Farnhammer, First Secretary of the European Commission Delegation to Viet Nam, said, "Despite the tremendous progress of the tourism sector, challenges remain concerning with the development of new tourist attractions.
"These include the opening of new national parks for tourists, heritage conservation, environmental protection and taking poverty alleviation into account.
"The key to success for the implementation of the tourism master plan lies with qualified human resources."
He said the EU was proud to contribute to tourism development in Viet Nam by providing more than 10 million euros through the Viet Nam Human Resources Development in Tourism Project to provide on-the-job training to a large number of workers.
The co-operation project between the EU and the VNAT aims to increase the standards and quality of the tourism labour fource.
Cuong said the current task of local tourism sector was to sustain the growth rate and ensure sustainable development.
By 2010, the industry will be targeting 5.5-6 million international tourists and 25-26 million domestic travellers, bringing in revenues of US$4.5 billion.
The third annual conference attracted 250 domestic and foreign participants.
(Source: Viet Nam News)

A winding road of stunning scenery

2008-11-07T20:27:00.000-08:00

The road to the northern province of Ha Giang presents many breath-taking bends but is still well worth traveling for the marvelous landscape it offers to nature lovers and adventurers. ( Two ethnic women with bamboo basket on their back walk up on the breathtaking road section to a market in the morning.)

The 60-kilometer section from Dong Van to Meo Vac and Lung Phin winds up and down to the magnificent Ma Pi Leng Pass through mountains and valleys of rocks and villages of ethnic minority groups.
Many adventurers select Ma Pi Leng as the most beautiful pass in Vietnam. The road runs on the sides of black limestone mountains, which are typical features of Dong Van Plateau.
Wall-like rocks of all shapes also beautify the pass, which is in the middle of Dong Van Town and Lung Phin. The Nho Que River adds the finishing touch to nature’s perfect and picturesque painting.
To fully appreciate the pass some adventurers chose to stroll or jog rather than see it from inside a car, exploring the scenery as they go and stopping for pictures at view points. Please note that it is not easy to find a safe corner on the pass to park a car, and there is much to see and admire on the road besides Ma Pi Leng.
Meo Vac at the end of the 20-kilometer pass has an original Sunday market. Groups of Mong, Dao and other ethnic peoples in their colorful costumes walk from every corner of the mountains down to the market to buy and sell life’s necessities as well as oxen, pigs, horses, chicken and other cattle and fowl that ethnic people raise at their homes and on the fields. Visitors will get excited over noisy bargains at the trading area for animals and the tinkling sounds of spoons, pots and bowls when food sellers prepare dishes for patrons and guests to eat at the market.
The road from Meo Vac to Lung Phin through the imposing rocky mountains is an equally exciting journey. Ethnic children shout out greetings to passers-by on the way home from school and Mong women in their traditional costumes can be seen farming on the hillsides and mountainsides and carrying bamboo baskets loaded with vegetables home.
Nestled at the bottom of valleys and perched against the mountainside are the distinctive houses of the ethnic people. Typically the eyries made of wood are just high enough so that strong winds cannot blow them away, and they can live and shelter from the chilling weather and freezing winds in winter.
People are advised not to travel on this section of the road in winter as the cold weather is chilling and the stunning scenery is often shrouded in a thick fog. However, it is blankets of fog that make the mountains and deep valleys more enticing and a real challenge for adventurers to conquer.
(Source: SGT)

Tourism industry urged to improve human resources

2008-11-07T20:26:00.000-08:00

It is necessary to raise the quality of human resources in the tourism industry to maintain the sector’s growth rate and ensure the sustainable development of Vietnam’s tourism, said the deputy head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Manh Cuong.

Cuong made the statement at a meeting to ensure the quality and development of human resources in the tourism industry held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 6. The meeting, which forms part of an EU-financed project to develop Vietnam’s tourism-related human resources, aims to help the government and businesses maintain the quantity and quality of the country’s human resources in this sector. The project is a result of cooperation between the European Commission and the VNAT, with a total budget of 12 million EUR, of which the EU contributed 10.8 million EUR. The participants discussed a range of solutions designed to boost cooperation between various training offices, businesses and tourism management agencies so as to engender sustainable development for tourism. They were also updated on information relating to developments in human resources relevant to the tourism industry in Vietnam.
(Source: VNA)

Tour operators laud Cambodia visa exemption pact

2008-11-07T20:23:00.000-08:00

Many local tour operators have run into rapture at the news of visa exemption for holders of ordinary passports between Vietnam and Cambodia, saying the pact would be a springboard to spur travel between the two countries. (The majority of local visitors travel to the neighboring country via Moc Bai border gate in the southern province of Tay Ninh for trips to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap during four to five days, and each of them is now charged a visa fee of between US$20 and US$25.)

Vietnam and Cambodia on Tuesday inked an agreement to this effect during the Vietnam visit by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Travel firms in HCMC said that the number of local people to travel to Cambodia is increasing quickly, and will be further bolstered once the visa agreement takes effect.
The majority of local visitors travel to the neighboring country via Moc Bai border gate in the southern province of Tay Ninh for trips to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap during four to five days, and each of them is now charged a visa fee of between US$20 and US$25.
Ta Thi Cam Vinh, head of Ben Thanh Tourist’s outbound department, which is arranging tours for around 2,000 Vietnam travelers to Cambodia this year, showed her happiness at the new agreement.
“The number of the guests will increase if tourists can travel to the country without visa,” she said. The number of travelers to Cambodia via her company this year is expected to increase by 100%.
“We think that we will combine with some Cambodian partners to launch a promotion program for Vietnam travelers on the occasion (of visa requirement being abolished)”, Vinh said.
Many travelers have complained about the high visa requirement, saying they felt it very inconvenient to spend much time and money for this procedure to enter to the neighboring country. Once the visa requirement is dropped, they can use the money to buy a one-way car ticket from HCMC to Siem Reap.
At Peace Tour, the number of local travelers to Cambodia this year is also expected to double. The company has obtained licenses from the two countries’ transport ministries for its vehicles to travel between the two sides directly, so the new visa agreement would give Peace Tour a strong boost.
“I really want to know when visitors can travel to Cambodia without visa. It’s good condition for our business,” said the company’s director Nguyen Thi Hoa Le.
Le expected a new wave of local travelers into Cambodia upon the new rule “because they can travel to Cambodia easily like to domestic destinations like Danang and Hanoi.”
Like Peace Tour, Sapaco Tourist is also carrying same services. However, Sapaco offers tours for its travelers on Thursdays only. On other weekdays the company operates as a transport company catering to travel firms and other guests.
“My company has over 700 Vietnamese and Cambodian guests per day. I hope the guests will increase strongly,” said Pham Van Toi, director of the company.
The company runs 12 trips between HCMC and Phnom Penh per day with a one-way ticket costing over US$12, and daily trips between HCMC and Siem Riep costing US$22 a passenger.
Saigontourist Travel Service Company has also had bookings from nearly 7,500 local passengers to Cambodia in 11 months this year, up 48% year-on-year. The company has two regular trips there per week.
Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing manager of the company, said if the new rule takes effect before the Lunar New Year of 2009, “our company can woo more overseas Vietnamese to travel with us to Cambodia.”
(Source: SGT)

Landlords cash in on foreign tenants

2008-11-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

The increase in the number of foreigners living and working in HCM City is bringing a windfall to house owners who lease out their houses to foreigners. (Though official statistics are not available, telephone information service 1080 estimates there are around 6,000 foreigners in the city now.)

Though official statistics are not available, telephone information service 1080 estimates there are around 6,000 foreigners in the city now.
But not all of them can afford the US$2,000 and above a month that deluxe and serviced apartments cost, especially single people and students. Renting a room in a house is often a good option for many, thanks to the lower rents.
Thai Van Lung Street in District 1 was the first place in the city where this became popular. Since 1995, Quarter 4 here has been known as the "Western quarter".
Most house owners here build three to five floors, leasing out as many as seven rooms with facilities like internet connection, air-conditioner, water heater and furniture.
Similar has been the case with Quarter 5, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1, which is located near the University of Social Science and Humanities, where many Japanese and South Korean students study.
Rooms measuring 10-15sq.m. here cost VND6-6.5 million ($362-393) a month, including power and laundry.
Many people even move out of their houses to rent them out to foreigners.
Le Van Tam says his family owns five houses in districts 1, 3, and 5 and has rented out all of them to foreigners for nearly VND200 million ($12,000) a month.
Vo Minh Chau of Phu Nhuan District, who has rented out two floors to three Australian students for the last two years, says having foreigners staying in the house also helps both owner and tenant benefit from each other in terms of cultural exchanges.
"Especially those who are studying or doing research on Viet Nam," he points out.
While Vietnamese hosts help them learn the country’s customs and language, he says sometimes his lodgers help his children with studies.
His children no longer play computer games, but have, instead, become interested in learning English to communicate with their new friends, he says proudly.
(Source: Viet Nam News)

One route, two natural wonders

2008-11-06T17:03:00.000-08:00

Without doubt, Nguom Ngao Cave and Ban Gioc Waterfalls are two must-see natural wonders in the northern province of Cao Bang. As these two natural wonders are on the same route, it is convenient to explore them both.(A raft approaches Ban Gioc Waterfalls.)

It’s up to you to decide in which order you visit the cave and waterfalls, however many people prefer viewing the waterfalls first as this site is farther away and at the end of the route, while the cave is better outlined for stopping on the way back.
Ban Gioc is situated on the border with China, approximately three hours travel on 100 kilometers of winding roads before approaching the waterfalls to see their beauty and magnificence. Ban Gioc are in fact two different waterfalls. The one on the left belongs completely to Vietnam, the one on the right is much bigger and jointly owned by Vietnam and China. The Quay Son River, which divides the two countries, provides the main source of water for this bigger waterfall and serves as a foreground for viewing and close-up photographing.
To get close to the cascades each person has to pay VND20,000 (some US$1.2) to board a raft and be taken to the best places on the river for shooting the best photos of the waterfall. The raft fee is not included in the entry ticket, which costs VND20,000 per person.
The most memorable moment is when the raft is navigated right up to the waterfalls, to the point where the cascades nearly fall on you. There, photographs should be taken as quickly as possible otherwise the spray will blur the lens of cameras.
The bigger waterfall is composed of nine tiers; the two most impressive ones are visible from down stream. It requires great effort and courage to trek upstream to view the remaining tiers and a nice lake.
The raft is then driven to the left bank of the river for Vietnamese nationals and visitors to Vietnam to step on and approach the other waterfall, which is higher but not as strong. This waterfall looks like a thin white cloth covering trees and stones.
Remember not to stay at Ban Gioc too long as Nguom Ngao, another natural wonder, is waiting for you. For some reason many travelers chose not to visit Nguom Ngao on the way back to Cao Bang Town which is unfortunate as this is an astonishing cave with stalactites of various shapes.
It takes about one hour to stroll around inside Nguom Ngao, which is located three kilometers from Ban Gioc Waterfalls. Local people discovered Nguom Ngao in 1921, but the cave was not officially opened to tourists until 2006 when paths were built to lead visitors to many corners of the cave. Along the way are stalactites of all shapes that look like boats, cactus, forests, terraced rice fields - a symbol of mountainous region of Vietnam and poles and valleys that are said to create a link between the earth and the heaven and a loving tie between men and women.
The most impressive stalactites are those that form an upside-down lotus chandelier, which is nestled a little below the path, and the corners with figures featuring fairies with flowing long hair.
The coolness as well as falling water drops and the sound of a running stream inside soothe the mind of visitors on the one-hour-long trip. Lo Quang Quyet, a tour guide with Cao Bang Tourism Company, explains the stream runs two kilometers inside the cave before flowing into the Quay Son River.
The tunnel network of Nguom Ngao is actually more than 2,140 meters long but for safety reasons only 980 meters has been opened to tourists to walk down and admire. The cave in Trung Khanh District has three entrances, namely Nguom Ngao, Nguom Lom and Ban Thuon, but only the first two are currently open.
The entry ticket for Nguom Ngao is VND15,000 per person. Tourists have to walk up and down cemented stairs and through a valley of a rice field before they reach the fairy world-like cave.
(Source: SGT)

Splendid solitude

2008-11-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

Sap Mountain, part of the magnificent That Son Mountain Range, is home to the largest manmade lake in the Mekong Delta. (Ong Thoai (or Thoai Son) Lake on An Giang Province’s Sap Mountain provides a relaxing escape for visitors)

Formed from decades of rock excavation, the lake – located on the eastern side of the foot of the mountain – has now become a tourist attraction.
The lake was named after Thoai Ngoc Hau (1761-1829), a Mandarin of the Nguyen Dynasty who reclaimed the land of An Giang and created the Thuy Ha Canal to serve as a waterway for farming practices.
Ong Thoai or Thoai Son Lake is speckled with small islands and statues of rock. Next to the lake is Thoai Ngoc Hau’s Monument standing at a height of more than 10 meters.
Visitors can row a boat through mystical caves on the resplendent water and weave among the rocky outcrops. On both sides of the lake are small huts made of wood with coconut-palm-leaf roofs.
Tourists can rest, relax and sip a cool beverage inside these huts or lay in solitude in a hammock under the shade of a leafy tree.
Tourists can also walk in the shade of a lush forest to visit several pagodas on the mountain.
Bats’ Cave, a natural grotto that stands behind a group of large rocks on the mountainside, provides a cool break from the sun.
Another feature of Sap Mountain is a large rocky statue stretching three meters in length, 1.2 meters wide and 20 centimeters thick. It was erected in 1822 under Thoai Ngoc Hau’s supervision.
For tourists looking for peace, quiet and relaxation, Sap Mountain offers a tranquil sanctuary in the heart of nature.
To reach Sap Mountain, travel 26 kilometers from Long Xuyen Town in the Mekong Delta’s An Giang Province along provincial Road 943 to arrive at Nui Sap, the administrative center of Thoai Son District.
Reported by Diem Thu

Hanoi lacks luxury hotel rooms

2008-11-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

Hanoi-based travelling companies are facing the decrease of their income due to the lack of hi-end rooms for visitors to Vietnam at peak period.

A travelling firm’s representative said at the moment visitors can hardly find luxury hotel rooms in Hanoi as almost 90 percent of the rooms have been in use over the last two months despite the average rent price of 160 USD per room per day. According to CBRE Vietnam’s survey, the average rent price of five-star hotel rooms in Hanoi increased 34 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of this year and the booking rate of these rooms is always high. As a result, many travelling firms had to cancel their tourism contracts. Deputy Director of the Hanoi Tourism Department, Cao Thi Ngoc Lan, said that is why the number of Chinese visitors to Hanoi decreased. Apart from negative impacts of the global economic crisis, the shortage of luxury rooms and high rent prices are attributed to the decrease of international arrivals to the country. In the first nine months of the year, the number of foreign visitors to Hanoi reached 960,000, a year-on-year increase of only 5 percent. According to the Hanoi Tourism Department’s statistics, Hanoi now has 8 five-star hotels and 27 hotels of three or four stars with a total of 5,000 rooms. Most of these hotels are working at full capacity with 85-95 percent of the rooms in use. Hanoi is expected to receive about two million foreign arrivals, which means that it will need 7,000 luxury rooms. Thanks to its preferential investment policy, Hanoi is receiving numerous luxury hotel–building projects. However, with the newly licensed projects, by 2010 the city may have only 2,000 more rooms. Of the projects, Accor, a French corp., has officially launched the construction of Novotel Hanoi on the Park, its fifth hotel in Hanoi, which is considered a resort in the city. Other large projects of the Republic of Korea and Japan’s investors are also underway. It is estimated that for the next five years at least 2.5 billion USD will be poured into real estate projects in Hanoi. Once operational, these projects will help address the shortage of luxury hotel rooms in the capital city.
(Source: VNA)

Kites fly high in the Hue sky

2008-11-05T18:45:00.000-08:00

Among many places in the country, Hue City seems to be regarded as the most ideal for kite flying. Except on rainy days, hundreds of kites can be seen soaring in the sky over Hue Citadel every afternoon, to the cheer of lively families, both adults and children. (A view of kite flying in Festival Hue 2008, taking place from June 3-8 in Ngo Mon, Hue City.)

Kite flying is an interesting and attractive game which has been around for a long time. Previously, kite flying was an interest of families and individuals, among whom were some artistic families in Hue who have been famous for kite flying for many generations. However, nowadays there is a Hue Kite Club, managed by Hoang and Nguyen Van Cu, deputy-head of the club. Fifteen club members support the exchange and preservation of the cultural feature of Hue kite flying.
Apart from kite flying over Ngo Mon (Noon Gate), the club also participates in dozens of exhibitions and kite flying contests nationwide in Hanoi, HCMC, Nha Trang, Nghe An, Hoi An, Quy Nhon, Vung Tau, Quang Nam, Quang Binh and Quang Tri.
In the annual Hue Festival many local and foreign clubs including the South Korean Kite Club and Hoi An Kite Club take 15 kinds of kites to the sky to glide over Ngo Mon. The most striking of them is the 100-meter-dragon kite owned by artisan Nguyen Van Cu. The record-long kite took two months and 20 meters long to make by artisan Nguyen Chung Cu and his two helpers. The artisan’s kites have even been flown in France, where Hue kites are very popular and famous, and the artisan spoke with the French about Hue kites and gave kite-making lessons in some schools. His kites also have been exported to the US.
At the third international kite flying contest, Nguyen Van Cu and Nguyen Van Hoang took 40 colored kites to fly in the French skies. They were much admired by the 34 participating countries and local kite lovers. Vietnamese-French kite enthusiasts came to watch and show their appreciation for the Hue kites soaring in French sky.
The 60-year old artisan Nguyen Van Cu now lives on Mac Dinh Chi Street in the central city of Hue. His hobby of kite flying has spanned over 40 years kite. His childhood was filled with the sounds of kite-flutes of his grandfather Nguyen Van Ban.
The artisan’s grandfather had to sell some domestic utensils to buy kite materials as he was very poor. However, the melodies echoing from the flute attached to the soaring kite in the blue sky seem to sweep away the sadness of his poverty and misery.
(Source: SGT)

Jetstar Pacific to resume HCMC-Hue service next month

2008-11-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

The low-cost airline Jetstar Pacific will resume domestic service between HCMC and Hue from December 5 in coincidence with a traditional pickup in domestic air travel demand and a fall in world oil prices.(Jetstar Pacific launched a spring campaign on Monday to offer cheap fares for its daily domestic flights.)

Nguyen Thi Thuy Binh, chief commercial officer of Jetstar Pacific, told the Daily on the phone on Monday that data showed the number of passengers often jumped during the months toward the end and the beginning of year.
“So, we have decided to resume flights between HCMC and Hue daily in response to the increasing demand of passengers, including foreigners who want to travel by air from this city to central Vietnam,” Binh said.
She added declining world oil prices had made it possible for Jetstar Pacific to fly between HCMC and Hue again. Hue is a renowned tourist destination in central Vietnam besides Danang where the carrier has three daily services.
The HCMC-headquartered carrier suspended its daily flights to Hue and those between Hanoi and this central city more than four months ago due to the then high fuel costs. The carrier also wanted to spare aircraft for the services between Hanoi and HCMC, Danang and other major routes with strong demand.
Jetstar Pacific had to drop the HCMC-Nha Trang run in September 5 to concentrate on other domestic services with higher seat occupancy and on new international services.
Binh said Jetstar Pacific had not had any detailed plan to resume HCMC-Nha Trang and Hanoi-Hue services.
Binh revealed Jetstar Pacific was expected to receive a first Airbus A320 aircraft in the middle of this month to provide more seats for the market in addition to its existing fleet of five Boeing A737-400.
Jetstar Pacific launched a spring campaign on Monday to offer cheap fares for its daily domestic flights.
Customers can book the promotional fares until November 9 at http://www.jetstar.com/, ticketing offices and travel agencies, or by calling 39550550 in HCMC and Hanoi, and 3583583 in Danang for departure from December 1 this year to March 28 next year.
The fares, which are exclusive of surcharges, taxes and fees, will start from US$18 for a single trip between HCMC and Danang, HCMC and Hue, and Hanoi and Danang; from US$18 for HCMC-Vinh and Hanoi-Nha Trang flights; and from US$31 for HCMC-Hanoi and HCMC-Haiphong routes.
Limited airfares are offered for booking for the flights departing from December 20 to January 4, and from January 17 to February 8 because of Christmas, New Year and Lunar New Year (Tet).
“This spring sale provides customers with opportunities to plan their travel early”, Binh said.
(Source: SGT)

Saigontourist welcomes over 2,600 tourists by sea in a day

2008-11-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

The Saigontourist Travel Service Company on November 4 alone received over 2,600 foreign visitors aboard two cruise liners. (The Saigontourist Travel Service Company has so far this year welcomed over 85,000 foreign visitors by sea.)

The Costa Allegra Ship anchored at Saigon Port to let nearly 1,350 tourists mostly from Italy, Spain and the UK make a one-day tour of Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta. The ship will then leave for central Da Nang City. Meanwhile, more than 1,300 Chinese tourists on board the SuperStar Aquarius visited Ha Long Bay in northeastern Quang Ninh Province, a UNESCO-recognised world natural heritage. Saigontourist expects to receive over 1,000 tourists on board the Super Aquarius Ship at Tien Sa Port in Da Nang City on November 11. The company has so far this year welcomed over 85,000 foreign visitors by sea, representing a 80 percent increase over the same period last year.
(Source: VNA)

Joining Ok Om Bok Festival to take prayers to the moon

2008-11-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

Among the annual festivals of the Khmer ethnic minority in Southern Vietnam, Chol Chnam Thmay, Dolta and Ok Om Bok are the most important and Ok Om Bok, also called Phochia Praschanh som paes khee (Festival of Worshipping the Moon), is the most imposing.(A view of a ngo boat race in Soc Trang City.)

Ok Om Bok festival will take place in the Mekong Delta city of Soc Trang’s My Tu District from November 6 to 12, under the organizing committee of the national tourism year themed “Mekong – Can Tho 2008”.
Ok Om Bok features folk religion originated from Buddhism. The festival opens by a ngo boat race (Um Tuk Ngua in the Khmer language), one of the most attractive activities of the Khmers.
Ngo boat (tuk ngua) is made from timber in the shape of a nagar snake, the sacred object of the Khmer people, has a pointed bow and elevated stern and a colorful hull decoration. It is honored as a sacred relic, used only in essential festivals like Ok Om Bok and is kept and preserved carefully in local pagodas.
The boat is about 24 meters long, 1.2 meter wide and is able to hold about 40 people. Sitting in two lines midway along the sides, young Khmer men and women move gently in harmony with the sounds of gongs and waves. As the first boat crosses the finish line, the crowds on both riverbanks cheer loudly and enthusiastically for their victory.
The festival is held in many places in the Mekong Delta but mostly in Soc Trang and Tra Vinh Town. When night falls, people hustle to Nuoc Ngot pond in Soc Trang and Ba Om pond in Tra Vinh to celebrate moon worship.
At the festive nights, tourists and locals walk in groups around the ponds and enjoy local food and buy souvenirs. All seem to forget tiring daily work and drift with the melodies and sounds of folk songs, diverse instruments and dance of the Khmer.
The night becomes more exciting with ethnic games and traditional fashion shows. Some join a contest of flying lanterns and silently contemplate the colors.
A flying lantern is made with a bamboo frame pasted with paper, in which tinder is tied under the frame then lit, making it fly high in the air. The flying lantern rises higher and higher in a mysterious and romantic breeze as if bringing the hopes and beliefs of the Khmer people to the Moon God.
The event also features water-lanterns made from bamboo and paper in the shape of a boat with colorful decorations.
People make a line with a drum band ahead, whisper their prayers to God and gently drop paper-boats on the water. The river is indulged in peaceful and fanciful scenery. This is also the traditional time for couples to pray for their love and destiny.
(Source: SGT)

Ky Hoa Night Market to cease operations

2008-11-04T19:04:00.000-08:00

District 10 authorities will liquidate stall leasing contracts with 230 traders of the Ky Hoa Night Market on December 1, 2008.(A shoe stall at Ky Hoa Night Market.)

The clearance of Ky Hoa Night Market is said to be in line with the city’s overall construction plans.The Ky Hoa Night Market has operated for four years and created jobs for more than 1,500 people. The annual turnover of the market is around VND32 billion (US$1,906,761).The market has so far been a favorite shopping place for low and average incomers including workers, pupils and students.The management of 540 sq. meter Hong Bao Minh Trading Center in Tan Phu District has announced it is ready to welcome traders from the Ky Hoa Night Market to the center. The trading center now has more than 100 stalls available.
(Source: SGGP)

Green and grottoes

2008-11-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

Less than 100 kilometers from Hanoi, the landscape at Trang An is like another planet. (A small boat carries tourists through the lakes and caves of Trang An in the northern province of Ninh Binh)

The newly-opened tourism site’s 4,500 hectares is a lush collection of caves and valleys, bisected with snake-like rivers that can be traveled by rowboat.
The giant limestone karsts are stirring as you paddle down small rivulets surrounded by rich-green hills and crystal clear water.
Four kilometers from the former capital of Hoa Lu – in the middle of the countryside in the northern province of Ninh Binh – quiet, tranquil and peaceful are the first words that come to mind as you relax to the sound of water lapping against the side of your small boat.
The boats are rowed by local women who double as guides, recanting local stories and history.
The tiny boats pass through small pristine lakes between caves and rivers.
Toi (Dark) is a pitch black cave that stretches 315 meters. Large limestone outcrops looming at the entrance and exit give the cave a surreal, mystical feel.
The 100-meter Sang (Light) cave boasts mysteriously colored stalactites and stalagmites.
Khong cave is barricaded by a parapet and houses the Khong palace, where seven loyal mandarins from the Dinh dynasty (968-1010) are worshipped.
The cave’s thi (Chinese fig) tree is a thousand years old.
Grottoes such as Nau ruou (Distilling wine), Sinh, Si, Seo and Son Duong (Chamois) are also popular attractions at Trang An.
The water near the entrance of the 260-meter long Nau ruou is known for its purity and is used to make the local specialty: Ruou tien Vua (Wine offered to the king).
It is said that three drops of water from Ba giot (Three drops) cave will bring good luck and blessings.
The Trang An caves used to provide fishermen with perfect shelter from storms.
A tour to Trang An can be combined with a trip to the nearby Tam Coc grottoes and/or a tour of the ancient capital at Hoa Lu.

Reported by Cam Nhi

Jetstar Pacific launches domestic promotion

2008-11-04T18:59:00.000-08:00

Low cost carrier Jetstar Pacific announces today its new promotion program for domestic flights from December 1, 2008 to March 28, 2009.
According to the promotion, JetSaver Light tickets are priced at VND268,000 (US$16) per leg, excluding taxes, fees and surcharges.
Tickets are on sale starting 6 a.m. today until 11:59 p.m. November 9 at www.jetstar.com or booking agencies and operators in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang City.
The promotion applies to air-routes like HCMC-Da Nang, HCMC-Hue, Hanoi-Da Nang (from VND268,000 one-way); HCMC-Vinh, Hanoi-Nha Trang (from VND418,000 one-way); and HCMC-Hanoi, HCMC-Hai Phong (from VND468,000 one-way).
Reported by Hung Son

Hoi An offers a deeper culinary experience

2008-11-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

Hoi An Town is already well known as a world heritage site and a major tourism destination in Vietnam.

(Australian visitors learn how to make spring rolls at the Yellow Flower Restaurant.)

The 17th century architecture, the Japanese-built bridge with a tiled roof and the Phuc Kien Pagoda are all worth visiting more than once.

Visitors also discover quickly that the town has its own culinary specialties - cao lau, mi quang (Quang Nam noodle), com ga (chicken rice), banh dap (beaten baked cakes), banh bao, and banh vac (also called white rose cakes), for instance.

However, a new trend that is emerging allows visitors to learn how to make these dishes themselves. It is a fun way to spend valuable time in the town, interact with residents and go further into culinary exploration than just eating at various restaurants and trying out new dishes.

Local restaurants that have begun to offer regular cooking classes say they are acting on requests from the visitors’ themselves.

I watched as a group of four visitors from Australia attended a cooking class held at the Hoa Vang restaurant (Yellow Flower Restaurant) at the riverside on Bach Dang Street.

They were learning to cook three special dishes: spring rolls, steamed shrimp in coconut, and baked fish in banana leaves.

After an hour of receiving instructions from the restaurant chefs, the visitors pronounced their experience satisfactory, and enjoyed the dishes they had cooked themselves.

Pham Thi Tram, the restaurant owner, told me that the foreign visitors liked Vietnamese food very much and were proud to learn how to cook them, so that they could show off their cooking ability back home.

The class has been regularly held at her restaurant at the request of the visitors, and most are enthusiastic learners, she said.
(Source: SGGP)

Negligence defaces Lam Dong landscapes

2008-11-02T19:39:00.000-08:00

The Culture, Sports and Tourism Department of the central highlands province of Lam Dong has called for the closure of degraded establishments and tourism projects in prominent destinations.

The department’s recommendation to the province’s People’s Committee accuses enterprises of failing to invest properly in the areas whose tourism potentials they exploit.
“Investors lack ability to invest or have enough but do not invest. They mainly exploit the landscapes.
“Besides, the department recommends that enterprises invest with the right aims; however, they just promise and do not deliver”, department head Do Van The said.
There are 31 areas identified as tourism destinations are famous, and have great historical and cultural value.
However, the investment capital in developing them has not been high, and execution has been slow. Exploiting the landscapes without investing in maintaining them makes the place run down.
The department says that tourists do not want to visit many places because of the poor condition and poor services. The attractiveness and competitiveness of Lam Dong tourism is undermined by the shoddy work of the enterprises.
It estimates that more than 50 percent of the main tourism destinations and sights in the province, and 10 of 17 national monuments have been degraded.
“Enterprises have to reinvest from 3-5 percent of their turnover to repair, maintain and beautify the tourist areas, and organize cultural activities. However, they do not heed this” says Dinh Ba Quang, head of the Cultural Heritage department.
The Prenn waterfall was recognized as a national heritage in 1998. It is well located, but the facilities and products there have become jaded and monotonous. The waterfall has suffered from severe environmental pollution in recent years.
The fate of the Cam Ly waterfall in terms of pollution, but the spot is still open although the department has repeatedly called for its closure.
Another sufferer is the tomb of Nguyen Huu Hao (father of Nam Phuong Queen).
All these areas are managed and exploited by Da Lat Tourism Services Joint Stock Company, Quang noted.
The Than Tho Lake has languished for more than three years since an investor was supposed to implement a project, without any progress.
The Gougha Waterfall has disappeared from sight because of the Dai Ninh hydropower project.
The Pongour waterfall is always thirsty during the dry season. In the heart of Da Lat, the Xuan Huong Lake has an offensive smell.
Enterprises tasked with developing and maintaining these areas will be inspected and their projects recommended for closure if they have not met the stipulated conditions.
(Source: SGGP)

Bulgarian Deputy PM votes for Ha Long Bay

2008-11-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

Impressed by the imposing scene of Ha Long Bay during his tour of Quang Ninh Province on Nov. 1, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yvailo Kafin clicked onto the website on new world wonders to vote for the bay.

Quang Ninh was the first leg in the Deputy PM’s official visit to Vietnam from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Gia Khiem. Ha Long Bay now stands second after the Philippines’ Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park in the list of 77 candidates in the online voting for seven new world natural wonders launched by the NewOpenWorld. Thanks to the local authorities’ efforts to promote its images, the bay is a magnet for tourists to Quang Ninh province. In the past ten months, the province welcomed 3.8 million tourists, a record number so far, with most of them coming from China, Belgium, Germany, the UK, Italia, France, and Spain.
(Source: VNA)

Taking the plunge in Nha Trang

2008-11-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

During the summer time, Ngoc Le would dive into the azure depths of Nha Trang’s ocean almost everyday.

Le, a diving instructor at Vinadiver, a branch of Viettravel that specializes in offering diving tours, says that going under water delivers both thrills and a sense of peace.
“It’s like going sightseeing,” he said. “But it’s way more interesting because the scenery is so colorful that one almost feels as if one were in a fairytale.”
Well dressed: a group of foreigners prepare to go diving
Live action: Some striped friends greet a diver
Diving enthusiasts get married in Nha Trang Bay
Nha Trang Town with its pristine beaches has always been one of Vietnam’s most important tourist hubs. Its fame has been heightened further after recently hosting two major international beauty pageants – Miss Earth and Miss Universe.
Tourists in Vietnam often head to Nha Trang to enjoy its premier beaches and fair weather, but nowadays a variety of water sports services have been cropping up around town.
For many guests, scuba diving represents the most adventurous water activity. A diving instructor will often accompany a diver and closely monitor him or her. Divers are taught how to communicate under water and how to adapt under emergencies, if for example, equipment malfunctions.
The first step for novice divers is to get acquainted with the diving suit and associated equipment. The diving kit includes a typical suit, a pair of goggles, an air cylinder and a 13-kilogram aqualung. In addition, divers are required to wear two fins attached to a chain weighing up to 14 kilograms, which helps them to submerge.
According to diving instructors, communication under water must be done via body language and divers are taught to be aware that some fish in deep waters, as breathtaking as they may look, can cause skin rashes and other dermatological diseases if touched.
About five years ago, the Nha Trang administration started to develop scuba diving tours as a means to lure more tourists, especially international visitors. Nowadays, scuba divers can select from a range of locations suitable to their interests and level of experience.
Hon Mun (Morray Beach) is appropriate for beginners with its shallow depth of between five and eight meters. Hon Rom (Madonna Rock) has water that ranges between 18 to 22 meters deep, with some spots reaching 30 meters. Islands such as Hon Trau Nam, Hon Kho are favored by more expert divers as they reach depths of greater than 30 meters.
Hon Mun and Hon Rom are both marine conservation areas. The former islet, located 45 minutes by boat from the port of Cau Da (Rock Bridge), boasts one of the most attractive coral gardens in Nha Trang with more than 300 types of corals. The island covers only one square kilometer, but is home to anglerfish, white-eyed moray eels, demon stingers, and cuttlefish, among other oceanic species.
The eels in the waters around the island often hide among the coral, but diving instructors rouse them to create a breathtaking sight for divers. There are several eels 15 meters in length and also huge groupers flitting among the coral formations.
Advanced divers would enjoy the waters of Hon Rom, an island that contains an impressive array of caves 30 meters below the water’s surface.
In these underground caves, divers can explore the dim grottoes at their leisure, delighting at the various under water surprises that dart suddenly from around each corner.
Follow the outline of the reef to a maze of rock formations surrounded by beautiful corals and swarms of cuttlefish nearby, and divers will truly experience tranquility under the sea at Hon Rom.

Reported by Phan Huy Tram

The wild beauty in Binh Tien

2008-11-01T00:40:00.000-07:00

With its primitive and beautiful landscape, Binh Tien Beach in Cong Hai Commune, Ninh Hai District is one of the most beautiful sites in Ninh Thuan Province that attracts both domestic and foreign tourists.(Binh Tien houses many rocks of unique shapes.)

To reach the beach, travel along Highway 1A from Phan Rang City in the direction of Nha Trang to km marker 1525 (31km from Phan Rang and 72km from Nha Trang), turn right onto a small newly-built road, about 2km long, and then pass over a spring named “Spring of Fresh Water” that connects the two sea straits in Cam Lap Commune, Khanh Hoa Province and Cong Hai Commune in Ninh Thuan Province.
The centre of Binh Tien area is a small village located under the shade of rows of coconut trees. Binh Tien Beach spreads out over about 3km with white and soft sand and its waves are not big. Particularly, the sea water is very clean and clear. Binh Tien Beach in summer offers visitors thatch roofed huts where they can enjoy such seafood favourites as cuttlefish, crabs and snails while taking in the fresh sea air. Furthermore, it is very interesting to behold sunrise on the beach, particularly at Ca Tien Beach on the southern side, 1km away.
If tourists reach the mountain peak when the sun rises out of the sea, they will be amazed and fascinated by the charming scenery. The bright sunshine reflects off the soft and white sandy beach surrounded by rocks of different shapes. Once visited, it promises to be a “must return”.
(Source: ND)

Cruising the Mekong by sampan

2008-11-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

Visitors enjoy the river’s charm on traditional wooden boats(Shipshape: Sampans are the vehicle of choice for tourists on the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta River in Tien Giang Province.)

For travellers who want to explore the sprawling Cuu Long (Mekong Delta) by boat, Cai Be Town in Tien Giang Province, some 100km south of HCM City, is one of the best launching points - and here you can also travel the delta’s seemingly endless waterways on a sampan.
Earlier this year, Hanoi-based Luxury Travel Company started tours of the delta on large sampan boats – a much more charming option to explore the delta than the usual metal tour boats used by most tour operators in the area.

Traditional sampans are small Asian flat-bottomed boats, propelled by oars or a rear-mounted oar. The sampans used for the new Mekong tours are larger, luxury versions of the smaller traditional vessels. These 22m-long and 4m-wide wooden boats, with two bedrooms and a living room, offer a relaxing way to cruise the waters.
Sampans used to be the vehicle of choice for locals on the Mekong Delta, which is filled with wide waterways and meandering rivers and canals. Now the sampan has proved to be suitable for tourists, with many visitors from Europe taking the sampan tours since they were launched in June.
Pham Manh Ha, director of Luxury Travel Company, says the tours let visitors see local life on the water and land. The tour lasts two days, and takes visitors through the provinces of Tien Giang, Dong Thap and to Can Tho City.
"Visitors can join locals on the banks of the river, feast on local cuisine in lush tropical gardens, visit handicraft villages and travel down the tributaries of the Mekong Delta," says Ha.
Nguyen Cuu Hung, a sales manager at Luxury Travel, says the company’s sampan tours start at around 10am, setting off on the Tien River in Cai Be Town.
Each boat carries a maximum of four tourists along with the crew. The sampan also tows a smaller junk, which is used to penetrate deep into the delta’s many narrow canals.

Coconut candy

The first stop is at a coconut-candy maker in Cai Be Town.
"The town is famous for its coconut products and visitors will see how they are made - it’s something that foreign tourists have never seen in their homeland," says Hung.
"The town is surrounded by the greenery of coconut trees."
Banana boat: Local people trade their goods on a floating market in Cai Be Town in Tien Giang Province. The market has attracted many Vietnamese and foreign tourists.After a bellyful of coconut treats, the boat heads for Cai Be floating market, cruising among local barges that are stocked with fruit and vegetables, before cruising upstream on the Tien River and heading to Vinh Long and Sa Dec.
Sa Dec Town in Dong Thap Province has a long history.
"The village has changed a lot during the last decade," says Hung. "House with roofs made from coconut fronds now increasingly have roofs made from sheet metal. But the local people still keep their lifestyle and tradition of hospitality. People are so friendly here that visitors can feel free to stop at any house they like, where hosts often offer tiny cups of rice wine."
Lunch is served at an old house dating from 1890 in Sa Dec, with the spread of food including dishes made from fresh vegetables and fish caught in the river by local fishermen.
With the sampan anchored nearby, tourists have two hours to walk around and explore the pagodas and houses in the area.
Sa Dec is like a small, Asian-style Venice, with numerous narrow canals criss-crossing the land. There’s a local market, which is a lively centre of town. The town’s narrow streets still have many beautiful French houses and Chinese temples, built in the 19th century.
After exploring the town on foot, dinner is served late in the evening at a local house. Then, it’s time to get back on board the sampan to cruise down to Can Tho City.
At night, the crew anchor the vessel in a peaceful part of the river.
"As usual, the crew find a wharf where tourists can get an insight into the life of local people," says Hung.
Most families in the Mekong Delta make their living by catching fish. "It’s not unusual to see entire families living on small boats in the delta," says Hung.
But for those on the sampan tours, there’s plenty of room to stretch your legs. The boat’s bedrooms, with their timber furnishings, are cosy and romantic. Blankets are provided to keep travellers warm, as the Mekong’s breezes can make the night-time quite cool. But with the boat gently rocking on the water, a good night’s sleep is almost guaranteed.
The second day starts early in the morning. Breakfast is served on board while approaching Cai Rang floating market – the largest in the Mekong Delta.
The sampan will cruise through the large cluster of boats selling everything from sand and rice to fruits, vegetable, fish and flowers.
"Visitors can bargain with the locals, but they will not overcharge you as most trading here is wholesale," says the director of Luxury Travel.
The cruise ends around 10am in the morning, when the boat stops at Ninh Kieu Wharf. Tourists will hit the road to have lunch in Can Tho, before cycling around the large town.
With their journey almost complete, visitors can make a four-hour bus trip to HCM City in the afternoon or stay for the night in Can Tho City.

(Source: Viet Nam News)