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Ninh Thuan province works to develop cultural tourism

Ninh Thuan province works to develop cultural tourism
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<div>Po Klong Garai tower in Ninh Thuan province 
(Photo: VNA)</div>
Ninh Thuan (VNA) – The south central coastal province of Ninh Thuan is calling for investment in infrastructure and restoration and upgrade of cultural historic relic sites in a move to sustainably develop cultural tourism.
The province’s tourism sector is working to improve quality of tours connecting Phan Rang-Thap Cham and districts to promote local tourist products, and build up its outstanding tourism brand.
According to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the province has 149 cultural heritages, including two special national relic sites, and 12 national relic sites. Particularly, the local Don Ca Tai Tu (southern folk music) was recognised as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humankind by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Cham pagodas with unique architecture have been an icon of Ninh Thuan province for centuries. Especially, it must be a fascinating experience when visiting well-preserved Cham tower complex, including Po Klong Garai and Hoa Lai towers which were recognised as special national architectural relic sites.
In addition, the province has been renowned for a line-up of festivals such as the Whale Worshipping, leaving tomb, and cremation ritual of the ethnic Cham Brahman people.
The most important event of the Cham ethnic must be the Kate festival, with major activities taking place in temples, towers, and central areas in villages and towns. Falling in the seventh month of the Cham calendar, the festival reminds the ethnic Brahman community of their ancient gods and delivers wishes for bumper harvests and the growth of all beings. During the festival, people wear traditional clothes to join rituals and cultural activities, folk dances, musical performances with traditional instruments.
Besides organising traditional festivals, the province has developed tours of craft villages, with two famous villages of Bau Truc and My Nghiep.
Bay Truc pottery village, a national intangible heritage, is the oldest pottery village in Southeast Asia. Some 85 percent of the village’s 400 households make pottery. Every stage of the pottery-making process is done by hand.
Meanwhile, tourists should not miss My Nghiep village in their tour to local craft villages. The village is popular for its traditional craft of weaving brocade. Visitors can see locals weaving and making various products from brocade such as handbags, wallets, and backpacks.-VNA
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Ninh Thuan province works to develop cultural tourism Po Klong Garai tower in Ninh Thuan province (Photo: VNA) Ninh Thuan (VNA) – The so...

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More than 2,000 tourists evacuated after Indonesia quake kills 98

More than 2,000 tourists evacuated after Indonesia quake kills 98
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<td>Hospitals on Lombok were also hit hard by the quake, with doctors forced to tend to patients outside AFP/ADEK BERRY</td>
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The shallow 6.9-magnitude quake sparked terror among tourists and locals alike, coming just a week after another deadly tremor surged through Lombok and killed 17 people.
Rescuers used diggers and heavy machinery to clear debris and search for survivors on Monday.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said it expected the death toll to rise once the rubble of more than 13,000 flattened and damaged houses was cleared away.
Power and communications were severed in some areas, with landslides and a collapsed bridge blocking access to areas around the quake epicentre in the north – forcing rescue teams to bring in the heavy machinery.
The military said it would send a ship with medical aid, supplies and logistics support.
National disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said there were fears a number of people were trapped in the ruins of a collapsed mosque in the northern village of Lading-Lading. Footage he posted on Twitter showed the large concrete mosque had pancaked.
Shattered roads were hampering efforts to reach survivors in the mountainous north and east of the island, which had been hardest hit.
Najmul Akhyar, the head of North Lombok district, estimated that 80 per cent of that region was damaged by the quake.
“We expect the number of fatalities to keep rising,” Nugroho said. “All victims who died are Indonesians.”
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He said up to 20,000 people may have had to quit their homes on Lombok and paramedics, food and medication were badly needed.
The spokesman said search and rescue teams also rescued between 2,000 and 2,700 tourists from the Gili Islands, three tiny, coral-fringed tropical islands a few kilometres off the northwest coast of Lombok.
Michelle Thompson, an American holidaying on one of the Gilis, described a “scramble” to get on boats leaving for the main island during which her husband was injured.
“People were just throwing their suitcases on board and I had to struggle to get my husband on, because he was bleeding,” she said.
Footage posted online by Nugroho showed hundreds crowded onto powder-white beaches desperately awaiting transport off the normally paradise Gilis.
“We cannot evacuate all of them all at once because we don’t have enough capacity on the boats,” Muhammad Faozal, the head of the tourism agency in West Nusa Tenggara province, told AFP, adding two navy vessels were on their way.
“It’s understandable they want to leave the Gilis, they are panicking.”
By early afternoon, hundreds of weary tourists had arrived with their baggage at Bangsal harbour, the main link between Lombok and the Gilis.
Margret Helgadottir, a holidaymaker from Iceland, described people screaming as the roof of her hotel on one of the islands collapsed.
“We just froze: thankfully we were outside,” she told AFP tearfully from a harbour in Lombok to where she had been evacuated. “Everything went black, it was terrible.”
Seven Indonesian holidaymakers died on the largest of the three islands, Gili Trawangan, while another local woman died on nearby Bali.
NIGHT OF AFTERSHOCKS
But it was Lombok which bore the brunt of Sunday evening’s quake.
The shallow tremor sent thousands of residents and tourists scrambling outdoors, where many spent the night as strong aftershocks including one of 5.3-magnitude rattled the island.
The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) said more than 120 aftershocks were recorded after Sunday evening’s quake.
The quake knocked out power in many areas and parts of Lombok remained without electricity on Monday.
Hundreds of bloodied and bandaged victims were treated outside damaged hospitals in the main city of Mataram and other hard-hit areas.
Patients lay on beds under wards set up in tents, surrounded by drip stands and monitors, as doctors in blue scrubs attended to them.
Among the devastation, the Indonesian Red Cross said on Twitter it had helped a woman give birth at a health post after the quake. One of the names she gave the baby boy was “Gempa”, which means earthquake.
Anguished relatives were huddled around loved ones in front of the main clinic in Mataram, as medical staff struggled to cope with hundreds of patients. Many were yet to be attended to despite spending the night out in the open.
“I feel restless sleeping in a tent, I can’t be at peace,” Nurhayati told AFP outside one hospital where she had brought her sick 70-year-old mother.
“What we really need now are paramedics, we are short-staffed. We also need medications,” Supriadi, a spokesman for Mataram general hospital, told AFP.
Singapore’s Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who was in Lombok for a security conference when the earthquake struck, described on Facebook how his hotel room on the 10th floor shook violently.
“Walls cracked, it was quite impossible to stand up,” he said.
American model Chrissy Teigen, who is in Bali with her children and singer husband John Legend, live-tweeted the quake.
“Bali. Trembling. So long,” she told her 10.6 million followers.
“We are safe, up high and nothing around us. Thinking about everyone around us and in Lombok especially,” she added.
The main tourist areas of Lombok in the south and west of the island appear to have been spared the worst of the damage.
Lombok’s beaches and hiking trails draw holidaymakers from around the world.
But some afraid tourists were already trying to leave.
A French tourist, who gave his name as Jina, told local broadcaster Metro TV, he had tried to rush to Lombok’s main airport.
“But there was no taxi, no transport, no plan for evacuation.”
“Later I stopped a car and I asked a local please take me and my family to the airport and he said ‘okay no problem’.”
“THIS IS IT FOR ME IN INDONESIA”
Long lines formed at the airport of Lombok’s main town, Mataram, as foreign visitors cut their holidays short.
The Garuda Indonesia airline said it was adding extra flights from Lombok to help tourists leave.
AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted that the budget airline would try to lay on extra flights, while Indonesian budget carriers Lion Air and Citilink said there had been a jump in demand for outbound flights from Lombok and Bali.
“I was at the rooftop of my hotel and the building started swaying very hard. It felt like two metres to the left, then two metres to the right, I could not stand up,” said Gino Poggiali, a 43-year-old Frenchman, who was with his wife and two children, at the Lombok airport.
His wife Maude, 44, said the family were on Bali for the first quake and Lombok for the second.
“This is it for me in Indonesia,” she said. “Next time we will stay in France or somewhere close.”
Carlos Romartinez, a 24-year-old Spaniard who was also waiting for a flight out of Lombok, said he had decided to head instead to the island of Flores to the east.
“All the activities are shut down. We can’t dive, we can’t do anything so we will go to another island,” he said.
Dutch tourist Marc Ganbuwalba injured his knee as a stampede of diners rushed from a restaurant after the quake.
“We are cutting short our holiday because I can’t walk and we’re just not in the mood anymore, more in the mood to see our loved ones,” said the 26-year-old, sitting on a trolley with his leg bandaged.
“We are just thankful to god and also to the hotel staff who really helped us. Some of them said their own houses had been destroyed but they were still helping us.”
Most of the victims in the latest disaster died in the north and east of Lombok. Thousands of people were evacuated to outside shelters.
Bali’s international airport suffered damage to its terminal but the runway was unaffected and operations had returned to normal. Disaster agency officials said. Lombok airport was also operating.
Indonesia, one of the world’s most disaster-prone nations, straddles the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and many of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.
In 2014, a devastating tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in western Indonesia killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.
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More than 2,000 tourists evacuated after Indonesia quake kills 98

More than 2,000 tourists evacuated after Indonesia quake kills 98 Hospitals on Lombok were also hit hard by the quake, with doctors f...

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New transport facilities to bring more tourists to Quang Ninh

New transport facilities to bring more tourists to Quang Ninh
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<div>Bach Dang Bridge under construction (Photo: VNA)</div>
Quang Ninh (VNA) – Northern Quang Ninh province expects to welcome more tourists after new transport facilities are put into use later this year.
Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Long has decided that Bach Dang Bridge, linking Quang Ninh and Hai Phong city, will be inaugurated on September 2 this year to fully put into use the Ha Long – Hai Phong Expressway.
The 5.4km-long bridge, spanning over the Bach Dang River, will help shorten the distance from Hai Phong to Quang Ninh’s Ha Long city from 75 km to 25 km, and from Hanoi to Ha Long from 180 km to 130 km.
As a result, it will take travellers less time to reach Ha Long and Mong Cai cities and Van Don district – three popular destinations in the province.
Additionally, Van Don International Airport has successfully handled test flights and will begin serving commercial flights in late 2018, a move expected to attract more foreign holidaymakers to the province.
The airport is set to cater for nine air routes and be capable of serving some 7,000 passengers per day. It is hoped to have annual capacity of 2 – 2.5 million passengers by 2020 and 5 million by 2030. 
Despite poor weather in July, Quang Ninh recorded 916,000 tourist arrivals and more than 1.7 trillion VND (73 million USD) in tourism revenue.
More than 8.4 million vacationers, including more than 2.8 million foreigners, visited the province in the first seven months of this year, respectively up 26 percent and 17 percent year on year.
Total tourism revenue during the period surpassed 14 trillion VND (602 million USD), up 30 percent from a year earlier.
The sharp rise in the figures was attributable to diverse activities as part of the National Tourism Year 2018 hosted by Quang Ninh. The province is also taking action to improve the tourism business environment and its image in visitors’ eyes. It aims to welcome 12 million visitors in 2018.
Quang Ninh is home to a coastline of more than 250 kilometres and some 2,000 islets, two-thirds of the total in Vietnam. The spectacular stretch of coast connects the UNESCO-recognised World Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay with majestic natural scenery, Bai Tu Long Bay, Van Don and Co To islands and Tra Co beach with Cat Ba National Park in Hai Phong city. –VNA
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New transport facilities to bring more tourists to Quang Ninh Bach Dang Bridge under construction (Photo: VNA) Quang Ninh (VNA) – Norther...

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44 new caves found in Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park

44 new caves found in Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park
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<div>Inside Phong Nha -  Ke Bang National Park (Source: VNA)</div>
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<div>Quang Binh (VNA) – Additional 44 caves have been discovered in Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh, raising the total caves found so far in this area to 405, according to the park’s management board.
Of those, 33 are located in Dan Hoa, Hoa Son, Trung Hoa and Thuong Hoa communes in Minh Hoa district, nine are in Son Trach commune, Bo Trach district and the remaining in Truong Son and Truong Xuan communes, Quang Ninh district.
As part of the six geological strata of La Khe, Bac Son, Mu Gia, Cat Dang, Muc Bai and Le Ninh, mostly in La Khe and Bac Son that cover the largest area, the caves are 44-602m from the seawater level.
Stalactites of different shapes have also been recorded there.
Vo Van Tri, head of the park’s Science and International Cooperation Office, said it is necessary to conduct an in-depth study to better understand values of newly-found caves, contributing to their sustainable preservation and exploitation.
Dubbed the “Kingdom of Caves”, Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park was declared a World Natural Heritage by UNESCO twice in July 2003 and July 2015 thanks to its impressive scenery and archeological value.
It is also home to Son Doong cave, which was recognised in 2016 as the largest of its kind by three international organisations, including the UK-based Guinness World Records, Hong Kong-based World Record Association, and the US and India-based World Kings.
As of mid-July, tourist arrivals in Quang Binh reached nearly 1.9 million, up about 17 percent year-on-year, bringing an estimated revenue of 2 trillion VND (88.8 million USD), marking a year-on-year increase of 15 percent.
In 2018, Quang Binh strives to greet 3.5 million tourists by the end of the year, including 120,000 foreigners.-VNA
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44 new caves found in Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park

44 new caves found in Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park Inside Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (Source: VNA) Quang Binh (VNA) – A...

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Seminar discusses Khanh Hoa tourism development

Seminar discusses Khanh Hoa tourism development
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<div>A beach in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province. (Photo: VNA)</div>
Khanh Hoa (VNA) – Some 200 businesses and experts discussed developing tourism in the central province of Khanh Hoa at a seminar in Nha Trang city on August 4.
Speaking at the event, Tran Son Hai, Vice Chairman of the Khanh Hoa People’s Committee, said local tourism has recorded high growth over the past year but shortcomings remain.
According to him, these shortcomings included tourism products lacking diversity, service quality not meeting tourists’ demand, restrictions in tourism promotion and low quality human resources.
Hai asked the provincial Tourism Department to work with relevant agencies to restructure the sector to make Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa a mark in Vietnamese and global tourism maps.
Nguyen Truong Son, a business development executive at the Crystal Bay group, shared solutions to connecting natural heritage areas between the northeast and central regions, and between Ha Long Bay and My Son Sanctuary as well as the Champa cultural regions of Nha Trang and Ninh Thuan province.
Son said despite differences, once these areas are successfully connected they will bring more diverse experiences for visitors, particularly foreigners. He added the solution also helps localities involved in capitalising on their tourism potential and improves competiveness and added value.
Participants discussed matters including how to increase environmental quality and service quality for maximum exploitation of local tourism.
They suggested carrying out market research on foreign tourists, tourist markets and tourism products.
In the first six months of 2018, Khanh Hoa welcomed 3.2 million staying visitors, of which more than 1.5 million were foreigners, up nearly 60 percent year on year.
The entire province currently runs 684 accommodation facilities with about 31,700 rooms.-VNA    
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Seminar discusses Khanh Hoa tourism development A beach in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province. (Photo: VNA) Khanh Hoa (VNA) – Some 200 bu...

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Hai Phong: Modern infrastructure deemed prerequisite for tourism growth

Hai Phong: Modern infrastructure deemed prerequisite for tourism growth
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<div>A beach on Khi (Monkey) Island of Cat Ba archipelago in Hai Phong (Photo: VNA)</div>
Hai Phong (VNA) – After the sea-crossing bridge of Tan Vu – Lach Huyen opened on September 2, 2017, tourist arrivals in Cat Ba island district of northern Hai Phong city surged by 150 percent year on year from then to May 2018.
In the first half of this year, Cat Ba Island welcomed more than 1.5 million visitors. Holidaymakers arrived even in the winter, said Vu Tien Lap – head of the culture, sports and tourism division of Cat Hai district.
This sharp rise was partly attributed to the considerable improvement in local infrastructure, which also saw the opening of Cat Bi International Airport and Ha Noi – Hai Phong Expressway in recent years.
With tourism considered a key economic sector, the city has been working to attract big investors to develop tourism facilities.
At a recent meeting of municipal officials, Secretary of the Hai Phong Party’s Committee Le Van Thanh reiterated the necessity of building infrastructure serving tourism development. 
He noted that the city hopes to attract 7.5 million tourists by 2020. This figure rose from 5.96 million in 2016 to 6.71 million in 2017. It reached 3.41 million between January and June and is expected to hit 7.79 million this year.
<a>[Photos: Lively experience at Cat Ba World Biosphere Reserve]</a>
Major developers like SunGroup, Vingroup and Flamingo have been building five-star hotels and other tourism facilities in Cat Ba and other places in the city. In 2019, Sungroup plans complete a 5.1km-long cable system from Cat Hai town to Phu Long commune and carry out a tourism project in Cat Ba.
The city sees beautiful landscapes, world-class tourism facilities and modern infrastructure as key to luring vacationers. Meanwhile, ensuring security and safety for tourists and service to their satisfaction will persuade them to return to Hai Phong.
Local tourism has also benefited from the city’s investment attraction policy, which has resulted in a big number of foreign workers arriving. About 2,000 experts have come to build automobile and mobile phone factories in Cat Hai. Many others from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the US and Europe have also stayed here to work on other investment projects.
In its development plans, the tourism sector of Hai Phong hopes to increase coordination with relevant agencies to improve tourism quality. It will also try to attract investors to make the city a key tourism destination of Vietnam.–VNA
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Hai Phong: Modern infrastructure deemed prerequisite for tourism growth A beach on Khi (Monkey) Island of Cat Ba archipelago in Hai Phong (...

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Hanoi – ideal place for backpacking adventure

Hanoi – ideal place for backpacking adventure
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<div>Hoan Kiem (Sword) Lake – one of the most attractive destinations in Hanoi (Source: VNA)</div>
Hanoi (VNA) – Hello, a UK weekly magazine, has named Hanoi among seven best backpacking destinations in Asia.
Ideal for travellers on a tight budget, Vietnam’s capital city is one of the cheapest destinations for backpackers.
“Not only is accommodation and food remarkably affordable, but you’ll be spoiled for choice of things to see and do in the city, which has a mix of Southeast Asian, Chinese and French influences,” the magazine wrote.
Apart from the many popular places like Sword Lake, Hai Ba Trung Temple and Hoa Lo Prison Museum, the magazine highlights a special attraction – bia hoi. It notes that “backpackers often spend their evenings gathered at bia hoi bars across Hanoi, where you’ll find the cheapest beer in the world at around 25p a glass.”
In the first half of this year, Hanoi welcomed 13.19 million tourists, up 10 percent year-on-year, according to the Hanoi Tourism Department.
The number of foreign visitors to the capital city surpassed 3 million, marking a year-on-year increase of 26 percent. Meanwhile, domestic visitors rose by 6 percent to more than 10.1 million.
Foreign visitors were from about 190 countries and territories worldwide, with China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, France and the US remaining key markets.
Hanoi is striving to welcome more than 25.4 million tourists, including 5.5 million foreigners, in 2018, confirming itself as an attractive destination in the region and the world. To realise the target, the city aims to develop various kinds of tourism, including culinary tourism.
The year 2017 was considered a success for the city’s tourism sector with 5 million foreign vacationers arriving in Hanoi, up 23 percent against the previous year, surpassing the target of 15 percent.-VNA
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Hanoi – ideal place for backpacking adventure

Hanoi – ideal place for backpacking adventure Hoan Kiem (Sword) Lake – one of the most attractive destinations in Hanoi (Source: VNA) Hano...

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