Vietnam Breaking News

Quang Ninh to host cherry-yellow apricot blossom festival in March

Quang Ninh to host cherry-yellow apricot blossom festival in March
<div>The Hanoitimes – The cherry – Yen Tu yellow apricot blossom festival which is scheduled to take place in Ha Long city, the northern province of Quang Ninh from March 11-15, will display nearly 60 yellow apricot trees at Yen Tu Pagoda, 50 Japanese cherry trees and 5,000 cherry blossom branches.</div>
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<td><img alt="At the cherry – Yen Tu yellow apricot blossom festival 2016" src="http://bit.ly/2mcgA2K" width="500" />
<div>At the cherry – Yen Tu yellow apricot blossom festival 2016</div>
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The cherry – Yen Tu yellow apricot blossom festival will be held at the October 30 Square in Ha Long city, the northern province of Quang Ninh from March 11-15, according to the organising board. 
It will be the sixth time Quang Ninh has held a cherry blossom festival and the second time the Yen Tu yellow apricot blossoms are also displayed at the event. 
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<td><img alt="The cherry – Yen Tu yellow apricot blossom festival 2017 will take place in Ha Long city, the northern province of Quang Ninh from March 11-15." src="http://bit.ly/2mDD2z7" width="500" />
<div>The cherry – Yen Tu yellow apricot blossom festival 2017 will take place in Ha Long city, the northern province of Quang Ninh from March 11-15.</div>
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The cherry – Yen Tu yellow apricot blossom festival aims to strengthen diplomatic and friendly ties between Quang Ninh and Japanese businesses and people, popularise the image of Japanese cherry and Yen Tu yellow apricot blossoms. 
The event is to introduce Quang Ninh’s tourism and trade strength to visitors at home and abroad, thereby enhancing tourism investment by Vietnamese and Japanese firms. 
According to the People’s Committee of Ha Long city, the organising board has ordered 50 Japanese cherry trees and 5,000 cherry blossom branches. The trees and flowers are expected to arrive in Ha Long on February 28 and March 3. Nearly 60 yellow apricot trees at Yen Tu Pagoda in the province will also be selected for the display. 
This year’s festival will take place numerous activities, such as a Vietnam-Japan cultural and art exchange, a show of Japanese traditional culture and an exhibition featuring the world natural heritage Ha Long Bay, introducing tourism products made by local firms, outstanding tour operators and lodging facilities. 
The event will also showcase signature products under the “One Commune, One Product” programme, specialties, souvenirs, and household appliances of local and Japanese companies at more than 170 stalls. 
A conference promoting tourism investment between Vietnam and Japan is also scheduled to be held at the festival, focusing on how to attract more Japanese visitors to the province.
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<div>Translated by Thu Minh</div>
<div>Source: chinhphu.vn</div>
 
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Quang Ninh to host cherry-yellow apricot blossom festival in March

Quang Ninh to host cherry-yellow apricot blossom festival in March The Hanoitimes – The cherry – Yen Tu yellow apricot blossom festival whi...

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An Giang sees tourist growth in religious sites

An Giang sees tourist growth in religious sites
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Temple of Ba Chua Xu Nui Sam, a famous religious site in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang (Photo: VNA) An Giang (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province of An Giang received more than 1 million tourists to its religious sites in February, up 200,000 from the previous month, according to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
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<div>The number represented 26 percent of the local yearly target.
Religious tourism has been developing in An Giang in recent years. The locality is famous for a complex of historical and religious sites, including Temple of Ba Chua Xu Nui Sam in Chau Doc city, Cam Mount in Tinh Bien district and That Son, a range of small mountains located in Tri Ton and Tinh Bien districts.
The province has been stepping up promotion campaigns for these tourist attractions and worked to stop local service providers from illegally soliciting travellers and overpricing.
Chau Doc city, where most tourist sites are located, has offered free wifi at Basa Fish Park, Bo De Dao Trang Pagoda Park and Ba Chua Xu Nui Sam Temple while Tourist.ONE, a mobile application that offers travel guide in the province and helps travellers book tickets, has been also developed by the department and a local mobile operator.
This year, An Giang province aims to welcome over 6.8 million tourist arrivals, earning the revenue of more than 3.5 trillion VND (153.8 million USD).
It plans to launch a Month for Tourism in An Giang 2017 event in Chau Doc city in May alongside a wide range of other tourism promotion events and festivals throughout the year.- VNA
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An Giang sees tourist growth in religious sites

An Giang sees tourist growth in religious sites Temple of Ba Chua Xu Nui Sam, a famous religious site in the Mekong Delta province of An Gi...

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Vietnam to cater more to Chinese tourists

Vietnam to cater more to Chinese tourists
VietNamNet Bridge – The number of Chinese travelers to Vietnam in 2016 accounted for one-third of all foreign travelers.
 
 
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According to the Chinese tourism administration agency, in the last five years, the number of Chinese travelers has increased by twofold to 120 million. One out of every foreign travelers is from China. Regarding spending, the World Travel & Tourism Council reported that in 2015, Chinese spent $215 billion on travel, increasing by 50 percent compared to 2014.
According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), 2.7 million Chinese travelers came to Vietnam in 2016, twice as many as 2012 and 50 percent higher than 2015.
Airlines have recently opened a series of direct air routes linking Chinese localities and Vietnamese tourist cities such as Nha Trang, HCMC and Phu Quoc.
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<td>The number of Chinese travelers to Vietnam in 2016 accounted for one-third of all foreign travelers.</td>
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All countries want to get benefits from the Chinese tourism wave. And so does Vietnam. Nha Trang and Da Nang, cities with beautiful beaches, are favorite destinations for Chinese tourists.
The local authorities have been taking action to better satisfy the demands from Chinese travelers. Da Nang, for example, is training more tour guides who can speak Chinese to attract more travelers from the vast market.
According to Alternaty, a consultancy firm, this will help stimulate demand in the resort real estate market in the time to come. Vietnam has become a favorite destination point, while Nha Trang, Cam Ranh and Phu Quoc will see new supply sources in two to three years.
In fact, some travel firms and Vietnamese people have little sympathy for Chinese travelers because of the troubles some of them make.
Not only Vietnam, other countries such as Thailand, South Korea and Japan also have worries about the bad behavior conducted by some Chinese travelers, including public disorder, theft and drinking.
However, the director of a travel firm specializing in providing inbound tours said that no one would refuse Chinese travelers because they want profits.
He said that Chinese travelers are willing to spend money and will obey rules if they are informed in advance.
Ly Truong Chien, president of Tri Tri Group, commented that Vietnam is ‘not skillful’ in persuading travelers, including Chinese, to spend money.
Nguyen Tri Hieu, an economist, said Vietnam should not miss the opportunities to earn money from Chinese travelers.
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Vietnam to cater more to Chinese tourists

Vietnam to cater more to Chinese tourists VietNamNet Bridge – The number of Chinese travelers to Vietnam in 2016 accounted for one-third of ...

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Bản in : Terraced fields, ladders to heaven appealing to tourists

Bản in : Terraced fields, ladders to heaven appealing to tourists
The magnificent terraced rice fields, also called ladders to the heaven, with ripening paddy grains of ethnic minority people in Yen Bai province’s Mu Cang Chai district or Ha Giang province’s Hoang Su Phi district have attracted a large number of tourists, tour operators said.
As one of the most popular destinations of the northwest, Mu Cang Chai terraced fields, which have been cultivated by the H’mong people for hundreds of years, have long been known by local adventurers and foreign travelers because of the fields’ spectacular beauty.
Terraced fields in Mu Cang Chai are beautiful all the year round. Visitors in March are treated to the sight of glittering ponds. Locals transplant rice seedlings from April to May. After that, all hills are covered by an everlasting green. The fields start to turn yellow with ripe rice from early September.
The fields are visible from virtually everywhere in the district as they expand over 2,200ha, including around 500ha in Che Cu Nha, La Pan Tan and De Xu Phinh communes. Those in these villages were recognised as a national heritage in 2007 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Journeying to Mu Cang Chai, tourists will be dazzled when they witness the breathtaking scene of immense terraced fields. Apart from the fields, they can watch daily activities of ethnic minority people in the mountainous region. Women usually sit on pathways to sew and look after their cows grazing nearby.
Mu Cang Chai, which is itself a quiet district on the bank of the Nam River, is blessed with beautiful flora and fauna and outstanding geographic features, including vast mountain ranges with high peaks which have protected the people for ages.
Tran The Dung, deputy director of Young Generation Travel Co., was quoted by Vietnam Net newspaper as saying that the firm has taken many groups of tourists from Ho Chi Minh City to Hoang Su Phi, Mu Cang Chai and Ban Gioc Waterfall (Cao Bang province) in the past 20 days.
At Fiditour Co., the number of tourists buying the five-day tour to Viet Phu Thanh Chuong, Muong Lo, Mu Cang Chai, Sapa and Muong Hoa has also increased by around 25 percent year-on-year.
According to Pham Viet Phuong, head of the travel office at Yen Bai province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the number of tourists visiting terraced rice fields at this time of the year is higher than last year. “Hotels have more tourists, local people sell more souvenirs,” he told Vietnam Net.
Yen Bai has yet to have official statistics on the number of tourists, but there were around 3,000 tourists flocking to Mu Cang Chai in late last month to admire terraced rice fields and join activities of the Culture, Sport and Tourism Week of Mu Cang Chai Terraced Field held in Mu Cang Chai district from September 26-29 to mark 55 years since President Ho Chi Minh visited the province.-VNA
 
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Bản in : Terraced fields, ladders to heaven appealing to tourists

Bản in : Terraced fields, ladders to heaven appealing to tourists The magnificent terraced rice fields, also called ladders to the heaven, w...

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Bản in : Vietnam named top golf spot in Asia

Bản in : Vietnam named top golf spot in Asia
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Vinpearl Golf Phu Quoc (Source: vietnamgolf.vn)
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Vietnam earlier this month, for the second time in four years, was named Golf Destination of the Year for Asia & Australasia by the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO).
The announcement was made at the International Golf Travel Market, the global golf travel industry’s annual trade show, held in Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands.
In the last 12 months, several courses have opened, including Vinpearl Golf Phu Quoc on the island of Phu Quoc, Sky Lake Golf Club near Hanoi, and the 27-hole Tan Son Nhat Golf Club next to the airport in HCM City.
In December, the Bluffs Ho Tram Strip, a links-style layout two hours southeast of HCM City, will host the Ho Tram Open, a 1.5-million-USD Asian Tour tournament – the richest sporting event in Vietnam’s history.
Vietnam’s rise as a golf destination unofficially began in 2007, when some of the country’s top courses and hotels prompted IAGTO to vote it Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year.
Soon thereafter, several international-standard courses were built, including the Colin Montgomerie-designed Montgomerie Links and Norman’s Dunes Course at Danang Golf Club.
The addition of those courses, as well as Nick Faldo’s stunning Laguna Lang Co just north of Da Nang, helped Vietnam garner Golf Destination of the Year for Asia & Australasia for the first time in 2012.
The IAGTO awards were established in 2000 to reward exceptional contributions to golf tourism. IAGTO’s 450-plus golf tour operators from 60 countries voted for five regional winners around the world based on criteria such as customer satisfaction, quality of golf courses and accommodation, value for money, professional conduct of suppliers, amount of support from the local tourism industry and accessibility to tee times.-VNA
 
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Bản in : Vietnam named top golf spot in Asia

Bản in : Vietnam named top golf spot in Asia Vinpearl Golf Phu Quoc (Source: vietnamgolf.vn) Vietnam earlier this month, for the second t...

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Bản in : Vietnam’s museums learn to think outside the box

Bản in : Vietnam’s museums learn to think outside the box
The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh city is filled with the fragrance of grass and rice, punctuated by the lingering smoke of cooking fires. Foreign visitors watch on as old women – once guerrilla fighters – cook the rice which will then be pressed into balls.
There in the museum they can also try various kinds of foods popular during the war years, liked baked sweet potatoes for soldiers who went out to crawl among deadly munitions, or dried banana skins – a rather unusual ‘specialty’ consumed by revolutionary prisoners of war.
Such aspects of the recent wars in Vietnam are easily overlooked but are now experienced at one of the most popular museums in Ho Chi Minh city.
“We invited former prisoners to come over and make dry provisions from banana peel, and former guerrillas to make rice balls and baked fish,” says Huynh Ngoc Van, director of the museum.
The event of sharing food with the veterans in a cosy fire-side chat is considered a unique specialty by the museum. “While making food, these former soldiers also tell stories about the miserably hard war days,” she says.
This special event focusing on the stories of soldiers’ food has attracted a large number of foreign visitors to the museum in order to experience what has been termed “heritage tourism” – a type of interactive exposition that many museums now offer.
“The museum’s revolutionary war banquet ended with no leftovers, and with 500 foreign visitors all left feeling quite satisfied,” Van adds proudly.
There are 134 museums at national and provincial levels nationwide in Vietnam, including specialised and private museums, in addition to over 3,000 historical relics sites to be visited.
In direct relation to the fast increase in the number of museums is the number of visitors, which illustrates not only the popularity of the institutions but also highlights how museums remain an important part of society, not only culturally but also economically.
According to Nguyen Van Cuong, director of the Vietnam National Museum of History, museums, together with cultural and heritage tourism, contribute significantly to the tourism industry. He says he believes the relationship between museums and tourism is a strong and sustainable one.
“The museums and their artefacts not only preserve the essence of the past, but also attract both domestic and foreign visitors, contributing to the growing industry,” Cuong says.
He expresses hi belief that museums can help express and maintain national pride in traditions, culture and history. According to many tour agencies, museums and relic sites are the most attractive destinations for tourists, especially foreigners.
“Most domestic and foreign travel agents have led their customers to the War Remnants Museum,” says museum director Van, adding that many tourists have confirmed that they have visited the museum more than once.
However, currently not all museums and places displaying relics have been able to manage the demand on their collections. The Vietnam National Museum of History preserves the largest number of precious artefacts in the country, over 200,000.
Even though the objects are beautiful, the way of displaying them is still boring, so keeping the exhibitions fresh and rotating the objects from the storages vaults to the display room remains a challenge for their staff.
Then there are days when special objects are displayed the halls are packed with crowds, further deterring tour guides from leading their groups through the doors of the museum.
“That explains why many tour guides hesitate to lead the tourists to the Vietnam National Museum of History,” says Luu Duc Ke, director of Hanoitourist Travel Company.
Vietnam has just had three museums ranked among the most attractive in the world, namely the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum and especially the stand-out Vietnamese Women’s Museum, which is rated as one the 25 most attractive museums in Asia.
Despite these accolades the museums and heritage tourism operators have not co-ordinated with one another in a mutually beneficial way, so there remains a glaring opportunity left unrealised.
Heritage tourism is gradually becoming another string to Vietnam’s tourism bow. According to Vu Manh Ha, deputy director of the Vietnam National Museum of History, co-operation between the museums and tour operators offers opportunities for visitors to learn about Vietnam’s culture and history, but he sees it as a mutually beneficial relationship for all parties involved.
“Vietnam’s museums contain many rooms with many objects, which take up to several hours to contemplate. But tour guides allow only two hours, even one hour, so it is important that the tours are tailored specifically to these groups of tourists,” Ke agrees. “After each tour, feedback is sent to us, then the travel agents and museums will discuss this with each other.”
To turn museums into key destinations on any travel itinerary – and importantly for tourists in general – it is necessary to know the potential heritage treasure preserved within museums, this includes renovating museum lay-outs, displays, content, as well as their services.
Ha says the museums in Vietnam are trying to innovate and upgrade the displays in order to attract more visitors, this includes building a pilot 3D museum. “The visitors come to the museums not only to contemplate and study the exhibits but also to enjoy an atmosphere with interesting information booths, souvenir shops or restaurants. They will not consider trips to museums that may be a tedious activity,” he says.
But the most important factor is that the museums have to possess a key point that can draw the attention of the visitors, like a themed exhibition or collection. For example, the War Remnants Museum has held many special exhibitions with probing and interesting content, such as the exhibition highlighting women’s activities during wartime and love in a time of war.
“In 2007, the Love During War exhibition, brought in 160,000 visitors in over two months, and early this year, the Wartime Children exhibition attracted 265,000 visitors after five months,” says Van.
Tour guides play an important role in helping visitors to comprehend the museum’s content and to get a more thorough understanding of the cultural context that the artifacts come from. Not only understanding their own history, culture and society, the guides also have to be fluent in the foreign languages and confident at conversing with a wide range of people.
This is why the Vietnam National Museum of History has paid special attention to the training of its curators. So far 20 people have been selected from specialised universities to work in the museum. “When they start to work in tourism, they will certainly have opportunities to widen their specific knowledge through interacting with the working environment,” says Cuong, National History Museum director.
Another important aspect of spreading information and popularising the museums is the use of the internet. The Vietnam National Museum of History website has had over 8 million hits. The museum produces leaflets and post-cards to show off its unique artefacts, like its collection of colourful glaze porcelain, as well as publishing its own scientific research.
“In the years to come, the museum will improve advertising, and will especially co-operate more closely with top-notch Vietnam travel agents to broadcast its image both on both the domestic and international front,” Cuong finishes. He is confident that museums are moving in a positive direction and are taking into account the needs of its changing audience.
“The collaboration between museums and heritage tourism is a sound direction for our development, it confirms the role of the museums and works to achieve our goal of turning them into desirable spots for visitors taking a journey to discover the country’s history and culture”.-VNA
 
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Bản in : Vietnam’s museums learn to think outside the box

Bản in : Vietnam’s museums learn to think outside the box The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh city is filled with the fragrance of grass ...

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Banyan Tree and Angsana Lang Co among Top 40 resorts in Asia

Banyan Tree and Angsana Lang Co among Top 40 resorts in Asia
Banyan Tree and Angsana Lang Co among Top 40 resorts in Asia
The Saigon Times Daily
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A Lagoon Pool Villa at Banyan Tree Lang Co
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Banyan Tree Lang Co and Angsana Lang Co have been chosen among the Top 40 Best Resorts in Asia by the Condé Nast Traveler – Readers’ Choice Awards, released in February 2017, becoming the first ever integrated resort in Vietnam to enter the list.
Located in central Vietnam, Banyan Tree Lang Co is nestled in a crescent bay framed by a three kilometer beach on the central coast of Vietnam, an area renowned for its pristine coastline, tropical jungles and rugged mountain peaks. The all-pool-villa resort including 62 rooms makes a dip part of the destination. Each villa is furnished with Vietnamese details like pitched roofs and lacquered wooden furniture.
Meanwhile, Angsana Lang Co is set in the midst of not one but three UNESCO World Heritage Sites in central Vietnam – the ancient town of Hoi An, the Imperial City of Hue, and My Son Sanctuary. All 222 rooms have a contemporary and stylish design with a Vietnamese twist, and views of either the surrounding Truong Son mountains or ocean.
Banyan Tree Lang Co and Angsana Lang Co are located in Cu Du Village, Loc Vinh Commune, Phu Loc District, Thua Thien-Hue Province.
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Angsana Lang Co – PHOTOS: COURTESY OF BANYAN TREE LANG CO AND ANGSANA LANG CO
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Banyan Tree and Angsana Lang Co among Top 40 resorts in Asia

Banyan Tree and Angsana Lang Co among Top 40 resorts in Asia Banyan Tree and Angsana Lang Co among Top 40 resorts in Asia The Saigon Times ...

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