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The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia and Vietnam Airlines jointly held a seminar and a gala night to promote the Vietnamese tourism in Kuala Lumpur on March 5.
This is part of a tourism promotion programme celebrating the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi conducted in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia from March 1-5 in order to advertise Vietnam’s tourism to regional countries.
The tourism promotion programme in Malaysia focused on introducing the hidden charm of Vietnam through a series of tourism products as well as preferential policies to attract tourists to Vietnam.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister Counsellor of the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia Trinh Vinh Quang said that Vietnam, as the ASEAN Chair in 2010, will make active contributions to building an ASEAN Community based on three pillars, including politics-security, economics and socio-culture.
The Vietnamese Embassy will serve as a bridge linking the two countries through which Vietnam can promote its hidden beauty and tourism potentials to the Malaysian people, helping strengthen mutual understanding about each other’s culture, history and custom.
Pham Quang Hung, Director of the Department of International Cooperation under VNAT, stressed that boosting intra-ASEAN tourism is high on the agenda of the Vietnamese tourism sector’s programme.
This year, the VNAT will have many programmes to attract tourists from Southeast and Northeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, he added.
According to Nguyen Thanh Vuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Tourism Market under VNAT, tourism promotion programmes in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia have brought in satisfactory results.
On the occasion, VNAT representatives had a working session with officials from Malaysia’s Ministry of Tourism during which the two sides agreed to boost bilateral cooperation, he said, adding that Malaysia pledged to train Vietnamese human resources in management and serving skills.
During the gala night, guests had a chance to enjoy art performances imbued with the Vietnamese national identities.
In 2010, Vietnam, described as a land of peace, is expected to welcome 4.2 million international visitors from neighbouring markets, especially regional countries. (Source: VNA)
The southern resort city of Vung Tau will organize the second International Kite Festival from March 24-29, organizers said Sunday.
Tran Tuan Viet, deputy head of the event’s organizing board, said kite troupes from 26 countries and territories will present their traditional and modern kites on the city’s beaches during the event.
The festival, titled “Legend – Millennium”, will also feature an event in which local kite builders fly a thousand kites to celebrate Hanoi’s 1,000th anniversary this year, Viet said.
Vung Tau Town held the first kite festival in March last year. Three to four hundred kites were took part in the three-day event.Source: TBKTSG Online
The Vietnam National Tourism Administration said it will seek approval from the government to have foreign visitors exempted from visa fees later this year to boost the country’s tourism.
The fee exemption scheme is expected to begin when the administration launches a two-month sales promotion for tourists in August or in September.
The government last year agreed to exempt visa fees for tourists who booked tours under the 2009 national campaign “Impressive Vietnam.”
Visa fees for tourist entry into Vietnam are now US$25. Tourists can be charged higher by travel agencies.
Ung Phuong Dung, director of Indochina Service Vietnam, said last year her company had around 200 tourists eligible for visa fee exemption every month, but most of them had not known about the benefit beforehand.
Such a program needed to be promoted better to foreign visitors, she said.
Foreign arrivals in February rose 30.2 percent from a year ago to around 446,000. The country expects to receive 4.5-4.6 million foreign tourists this year, up 18-21 percent from 2009. Source: TBKTSG
Five firework teams from the US, Japan, Portugal, France and Vietnam will compete in the third Danang International Fireworks Competition to be held March 27-28. The competition, which attracted 60,000 people to the seaside tourist destination last year, is themed “Legend of the Han River” this year.
It has also been chosen as one of the events to mark the 1000th anniversary of Hanoi this year.
The participating teams include Pyrotecnico of the US, Luso Pirotecnia Group of Portugal, Jacques Couturier Organization of France, Tamaya Kitahara of Japan, and the Danang fireworks team, Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon (Saigon Economic Times) newspaper reported.
Each team will set off a 20-minute display accompanied by music, The Saigon Times Daily reported.
Two grandstands capable of seating 26,000 spectators will be built in front of the main stage along the Han River, with tickets costing VND200,000 (US$10.72).
Local authorities also plan to organize a series of events like art performances, exhibitions, and sporting activities during the two-day competition.
The city People’s Committee, the organizer, estimates the competition to cost VND20 billion ($1.07 million).
It has so far raised VND17 billion from sponsors.
The competition, which is expected to attract 60,000 foreign and local visitors to the port city, will be broadcast live on local channels, including VTV1, VTV4, and DVTV.
It is set to become biennial after this year, according to the committee. Source: Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon
Hanoi Craft Week 2010 will take place from Aug. 4-9 at the Friendship Cultural Palace in Hanoi with the participation of 500 craft villages. Themed “A thousand years of quintessence” the fair is part of activities to celebrate the Thang Long-Hanoi millennium anniversary and the national tourism year in Hanoi, Luu Tien Long, Director of the Hanoi Department of Industry and Commerce, said at a press briefing in Hanoi on March 8. In addition to promoting exports, developing and improving the products of Hanoi craft villages, the week will promote the traditional cultures of the villages over the past 1,000 historic years. It will also include other activities like a contest for artisans on a signature souvenir design for the millennium anniversary. Visitors will have a chance to witness the process by which crafts are made, and even take part in the production themselves.The organising board will also arrange a tour of five outstanding craft villages in combination with other tourist sites around Hanoi.The week will cover workshops on the potential and development of Hanoi handicraft villages and shows for craft items.The design contest and craft village tour were launched in February.Source: Vietnam+
Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang will be turned into a tourism and commercial hub for the country and the region, according to a decision recently signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
According to the decision, Vietnamese individuals and organisations, Overseas Vietnamese and foreign investors are encouraged to invest in the island. Fields of investment range from infrastructure, industry, urban development, and seaports, to trade, tourism, finance, and banking.
In particular, foreign investors will be allowed to provide international telecoms services for the island.
The decision is expected to boost the development of Phu Quoc in the near future.
With over 56,000 sq. km in area, Phu Quoc is known as a place rich in potential in seafood production and tourism. Source: Vietnam+
Phu Quoc is Vietnam’s largest island. Situated in the Gulf of Thailand, the island is part of Kien Giang province. The district of Phu Quoc includes the island proper and 21 smaller islets. Phu Quoc is called a “Tourist Heaven”.Under the government’s scheme, by 2020 Phu Quoc will be a sea ecological tourism centre, attracting 2-3 million visitors a year.
However, this “heaven” is losing its value through the exploitation and disfigurement of its natural assets.
In the name of tourism projects, many businesses have been destroying the natural landscapes of Phu Quoc. They are exploiting sand on the coast, causing coastal erosion, and menacing the scenery with concrete works.
In the Dinh Cau area, to expand its beach to serve tourists, the Phu Quoc Tourism JS Company exploited Con village in Duong Dong Town, which was famous for its beautiful, natural beach.
The firm sucked sand from the coast near Con village, causing a landslide, threatening Con villagers. Chairman of Duong Dong town Duong Minh Hung said that around 140m of coast has collapsed, endangering 17 houses.
However, of greater concern, the beautiful beach of Con village has been ruined. After two months of sucking sand from the beach, a “gulf” was created at the site which had been a nice beach in the past.
In Hang Yen, An Thoi town, a company named Gold Star destroyed the protective forest, sucked sand and built a dike to enlarge its beach.
Phu Quoc’s beach is being cut into small pieces by tourism projects.
Tourism companies are also trying to build high-rise buildings and hotels on the coast with weird designs, obscuring the view of the Phu Quoc sea.
Around 4km of coast from Duong Dong town to Cua Lap has been the “victim” of concrete. The Huong Bien Hotel built a stone dike of over 1m in height and nearly 500m length along the coast, breaking up the wonderful beach in front of the Dinh Cau area.
The Sai Gon-Phu Quoc Hotel also built some concrete works on the most beautiful beach in Phu Quoc. Many concrete architectural works cover a large area of land on the island.
Many construction works on Phu Quoc are copied from foreign ones, and look very strange, such as the Ngan Sao tourism site. On 300sq.m of beach, the investor built imitations of famous works in the world, like the sea lion of Singapore, the Opera House in Sydney, Australia as well as a Dutch windmill.Source: VietNamNet/LD
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved regulations for Phu Quoc Island and Nam An Thoi islets in Kien Giang to become tourist venues.Phu Quoc is defned as the country’s key tourist site and, through this decision, tourism projects located on the island will enjoy investment incentives.
The island’s sea border-gate is An Thoi Port and its air border-gate is Phu Quoc Airport. Via these two borders, direct air and sea routes will be established between Phu Quoc and neighbouring countries.
Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s largest and most populous island, spans more than 561 square kilometers including 150 kilometers of coastline and has 85,000 inhabitants.
The island is 500 kilometers southeast of Thailand, 700 kilometers east of Malaysia and 1,000 kilometers from Singapore.
These destinations can be reached from the island via an hour-and-a-half flight. Phu Quoc is also near the southwest gateway to Cambodia’s Kep city and Sihanouk Port.
On October 5, 2004, the then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai signed a decision approving the master plan on developing Phu Quoc Island in Kien Giang province with outlook until 2020.
The master plan said that Phu Quoc will be developed into a big and modern international tourism and trade exchange centre in Cuu Long River Delta, which will be gradually turned into a large regional and global tourism and trade centre.
By 2010, there will be several high-quality tourism and entertainment complexes, attracting 300-350,000 travellers a year. It is expected that by 2020, it will receive 2-3 million travelers.PV, Source:VNE
Vietnam Airlines (VNA) has announced it will double the number of flights between Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City and Narita International Airport in Tokyo, to 14 flights a week beginning March 28.VNA will also increase the number of flights between Hanoi and Osaka from five flights a week to seven beginning July 1.
The boost in trips from Vietnam to Japan will see VNA offer more than 40 flights a week to four Japanese cities including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka in the coming months.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO) has announced flight schedules for April 1 to October 30 this year.
Accordingly, flights from HCMC to Ca Mau Province will increase from three flights a week to 10.
For HCMC-Tuy Hoa (Phu Yen) and HCMC-Chu Lai (Quang Nam) routes, the number will move up to seven and five flights a week respectively.
Flights from HCMC to Con Dao will vary between 19-21 flights a week.Source:VietNamNet/SGGP
Major retail and hospitality campaigns are among some of the initiatives designed by the tourism industry to meet ambitious targets this year, according to Vu The Binh from the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism’s Travel Department.The sector hopes to receive 4.2 million international visitors in 2010, 400,000 more than the 2009 figure, even though Government assistance to the industry has been reduced.
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ASEAN Tourism Forum organisers honoured
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Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung awarded organisations and individuals who helped successfully host the 2009 ASEAN Tourism Forum with certificates of merit in Ha Noi yesterday, March 8.
Viet Nam National Tourism Administration director Nguyen Manh Cuong told the presentation ceremony that the forum’s success had helped affirm Viet Nam’s regional status and promote the country’s image, people and culture.
“The forum also created conditions for local tourist companies to meet with the industry’s regional representatives; assess trade opportunities and develop the prowess to organise major international events,” he said.
More than 2,000 delegates, including ministers, senior tourist officials, business and media representatives from both inside and outside Viet Nam attended the forum from January 5-12, 2009.
It was the first time the forum had been held in Viet Nam.
Tourism administration figures show that 877,712 international visitors arrived in Viet Nam during the first two months of this year, a rise of more than 27 per cent against January and February last year.
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“It means we will have to draw on a variety of resources and marketing tactics to pull it off, said Binh.”The industry has been digging deep for creative inspiration and the search appears to have born fruit. A new industry slogan “A friendly Viet Nam welcomes you” has been adopted and will be displayed at exit gates across the country’s airports. Airline staff, customs officials and the public at large would be instructed to repeat the saying to foreign guests, Binh said.
The announcement of the new slogan follows the industry’s earlier adoption of the year’s tourism theme “A thousand years of Thang Long – Ha Noi.”
“Persuading people to show hospitality, like smiling at visitors might be very tough. Especially since most people don’t smile at strangers. But the sector will co-operate with the media to convince people to join the programme.”
The new initiative was based on the results of a survey of tourists travelling in Viet Nam.
But Nguyen Minh Quang from the Ha Noi University of Education questioned the effectiveness of the initiative: “Based on my pedagogical experiences, I must say I am quite sceptical about this campaign because if a person is naturally friendly, he will continue to act like that whether he knows about the campaign or not but to others, forcing them to act against their nature does not seem practical to me.”
But from Binh’s perspective, the initiative’s strength lay in its ability to exploit social networks and act as a valuable marketing tool: “Foreign tourists who come to Viet Nam are potential marketers. If they are satisfied with their experience, they will promote Viet Nam to their friends and relatives.”
Overseas Vietnamese were also deemed valuable to the initiative. For instance, the Executive Committee of Overseas Vietnamese in France has recently pursued the administration’s suggestion to run a campaign encouraging each person in the diaspora community to persuade 10 French friends to travel to Viet Nam.
The committee said the campaign was feasible.Other activities planned under the initiative included a series of retail sales across the country organised by the tourism industry in concert with the Viet Nam Retailers Association.
“Integrating Vietnamese goods into tourism products is one of the most important policies we will implement in the upcoming years. And I think it will be more suitable to leave the choice of what goods to be promoted to retailers,” Binh said.
When asked, Craig Soffer, an American expat based in Ha Noi, said: “I think a hospitality oriented campaign that works to get Viet Nam a new image regarding customer service and hospitality is a great idea.”
“I’ve always felt that Vietnamese products in Viet Nam have been fairly priced, even if you do have to do a little haggling at the market,” he added.
“Viet Nam still has a long way to go before it becomes a shopping destination like Singapore but in only six years I’ve seen the appearance of Parkson, Vincom Tower and many other interesting shops, so the growth is obvious and Viet Nam seems to be on the road.”
The administration said it would rely on select agencies, transport companies and hotels – those able to capture the unique essence of Viet Nam – to implement the initiative.
Tourism to both Ha Hoi and HCM City increased remarkably during Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday compared to the same period last year.Source:VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
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