The 6 millionth foreign visitor to Vietnam.

The six millionth foreign tourists is a French man, Curvalle Bernard Francois who arrived in Ha Long Bay on the SuperStar Aquarius cruise ship, which departed from Hainan, China, with more than 1,000 visitors and sailors. The ship will then go to Hue City. The tour is organized by Saigontourist.

Vo Anh Tai, director of Saigontourist presented the lucky man with a ticket for two persons to visit Hoi An ancient town – My Son holy land – Da Nang city in central Vietnam for two days.

Officials of the VNAT and Quang Ninh province also presented a campaign medal and gifts to the 5,999,999th foreign visitor to Vietnam, Zhang DongMei, a Chinese tourist and to the 6,000,001st visitor Jonson Tjaij, from Indonesia.

Zhang DongMei received a ticket to tour Ha Long Bay and a dinner voucher at the Press Club in Hanoi for two persons.

Jonson Tjaij received a voucher for a three-night stay at a luxury room in Melia Hotel in Hanoi.

Jorgen Stor, the captain of SuperStar Aquarius, said that it is a big surprise for him that a visitor on his cruise ship became the 6 millionth foreign tourist to Vietnam.

At the ceremony, tourists from the SuperStar Aquarius cruise ship enjoyed a special traditional music show performed by Quang Ninh province’s artists.

Most foreign tourists to Vietnam in 2011 came from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and America.

The tourism sector expects to earn a revenue of VND130 trillion ($6.2 billion) this year. The figure was 96 trillion VND ($4.6 billion) last year.

Vietnam looks to welcome 10 million foreign arrivals by 2020.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/travel/17009/six-millionth-foreign-tourist-welcomed-in-vietnam.html

The Thang Long Royal Citadel has been named a World Heritage site by UNESCO, the UN cultural and scientific body, according to a statement on the government website Sunday.

The decision was made Sunday morning (Vietnam time) during a 10-day meeting in Brasilia where the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization revised its list of environmentally or culturally unique sites.

“This is an invaluable and meaningful gift for Vietnamese and the people of Hanoi just ahead of the millennium anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi,” the statement said.

The Thang Long Royal Citadel met three out of six selection criteria, including exhibiting an important interchange of human values over a span of time; bearing a unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization; and being associated with events or living traditions.

Nearly 900 environmentally or culturally unique sites have been named in the World Heritage list so far.

Vietnamese entries in the list prior to the latest recognition are: the Complex of Monuments in the old imperial capital of Hue; Ha Long Bay; Hoi An Town; My Son Sanctuary and Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.

This new service is supplied by Dong Xuan Joint Stock Company, with 12 electric tramcars with 8 seats.

With 15,000 dong, visitors can sit on a tramcar to tour ancient streets like Hang Khoai, Hang Chieu, Hang Non, Ma May, Luong Van Can, Le Thai To to Hoan Kiem Lake. They run silently at average speeds of 12 kilometer per hour.

As a new service, the tramcars have not attracted many visitors yet. However, many people are anxious to test this new vehicle.

A tour on tramcar:

Source: VNE

The theatre will launch its “Spring Festival” show on July 30, performing every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for tourists.

This show emphasizes entertainment rather than just the classical cheo art, advertising the unique features and beauty of various forms of Vietnamese music, song, and dance.

“Spring Festival” is a variety show, introducing quan ho, hat xam, ca tru, chau van and cheo through a story. Before the show, pamphlets in Vietnamese and English will be delivered to audiences to provide them with information about the history of Vietnamese traditional arts.

The show will not be performed by the theatre’s senior artists, but rather by young talents.

To celebrate Hanoi’s 1000^th anniversary, the Hanoi Cheo Theatre is also arranging a cheo drama about a historical character named Cao Ba Quat.

Cheo is a form of generally satirical musical theatre, often encompassing dance, traditionally performed by Vietnamese peasants in northern Vietnam. It is usually performed outdoors by semi-amateur touring groups, stereotypically in a village square or the courtyard of a public building, although it is today increasingly also performed indoors and by professional performers.

Cheo origins date to the 12th century during the Ly Dynasty and has existed in its present form since roughly the 16th century. It derives from folk traditions, and was orally transmitted; unlike courtly theater traditions, it employs no scenery and sparse costumes and makeup. It involves a combination of traditional set pieces and improvisational routines appropriate to amateur theatre. It often carries of a message of satirical criticism of the existing social order. The traditional musical ensemble consisted of fiddle, flute, and drum, though in modern recreations more instruments are used.

PV

Discovering an eco tourist park in Lai Thieu

HCM City to develop riverside tours

Ten million tourists visit Mekong River Delta

Jungle safari: Visitors take boat ride along a coconut tree-lined canal.

Under the city government’s instruction, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will draft an action plan this year to develop the river tour taking tourists from HCMC to the Mekong Delta province of An Giang and Cambodia.

The department is responsible for planning river routes for tourists, and discussing details as such with relevant departments and tour operators before submitting the plan to the city’s government.

The city’s tourism department said it would launch surveys next month to find suitable routes for tourists and consider services needed for the city’s river tourism.

Earlier, the department ascertained huge potential in river tourism after making surveys on two short routes, with one starting from Bach Dang Wharf to the confluence of Nha Be, and from the wharf to Tau Hu Canal.

Asked to comment on the expanded river tourism, most tour operators told the Daily they supported the scheme, but decried the lack of a wharf for tourist boats. They called for quick development of such a wharf.

There are around 20 tourist boats, floating restaurants, and canoes operating at the Bach Dang Wharf in the city’s District 1. At the wharf, such boats can drop anchor at the end of Nguyen Hue Boulevard and the end of Hai Ba Trung Street to receive guests but cannot be moored there for a long time because space is limited.

Furthermore, as Bach Dang Wharf is not a tourist wharf so it lacks services for guests as well as places for tourist buses to drop by.

Chiem Thanh Long, director of Binh Quoi Tourist Village, told the Daily that Binh Quoi had canceled its plan to build a big floating restaurant due to the lack of a venue to anchor.

“There is no place for new tourist boats. I think that the most important activity for the river tourism development plan is to build a tourist wharf in the city,” he said.

Binh Quoi currently has six boats and canoes operating on the river section between Binh Quoi and Bach Dang Wharf.

The tourism department estimated foreign arrivals in the city this month at around 188,000, up 20% year-on-year but down around 12,000 compared to June as now is the low season of the inbound sector. Tourism revenue is expected at VND2.7 trillion this month, up 15% year-on-year, bringing the total in the January-July period to over VND21.2 trillion.

VietNamNet/SGT

The HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will draft a plan to develop a river tour to the Mekong province of An Giang and Cambodia. After conducting a survey of short routes, the department found that there was huge potential in river tourism. They studied the routes from Bach Dang Wharf in District 1 to the confluence of the Sai Gon and Nha Be rivers, and from the wharf to Tau Hu Canal.

Cheo Theatre designs special Spring Festival show for tourists

The Ha Noi Cheo Theatre (traditional opera) has signed contracts with travel firms and introduced new shows that feature Vietnamese musical genres. The theatre will launch its Spring Festival show today, performing every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for tourists. This show emphasises entertainment rather than just the classical cheo art, advertising the unique features and beauty of Vietnamese music, song, and dance.

The show introduces quan ho (love duets) and cheo through a story. Pamphlets in Vietnamese and English will be delivered to audiences to provide them with information about the history of Vietnamese traditional arts. The show will be performed by the theatre’s young talents.

HCM City to host festival for Singaporean National Day 2010

Singapore Business Group (SBG) in collaboration with the Singapore Consulate General in HCM City will organise the Celebrate Singapore 2010 at Sedona Poolside Garden, Sai Gon Centre, 65 Le Loi Street in District 1 tomorrow, for their citizens and friends to celebrate Singaporean National Day (August 9).

This is a fun event with entertainment for adults and children, including dances, a dog show and contests. Local and Singaporean food will be served. Ticket costs VND60,000 for adult SBG members and VND30,000 for children, VND80,000 for adult non-members and VND40,000 for children.

Saigontourist launches tours to celebrate the summer holiday

Saigontourist Travel Service Co has introduced a series of new summer tours with many attractive options for tourists, taking advantage of new flights launched by Vietnam Airlines and big festivals around the country.

The new HCM City-Hai Phong flights help Saigontourist to launch new tours, including a three-day tour to Ha Long Bay, Cat Ba Island and Hai Phong City.

Central province awaits Gov’t nod to host Miss Earth 2010

The organisers of Miss Earth 2010 have met with Khanh Hoa provincial authorities to discuss hosting the final round of the Miss Earth 2010. The executive deputy president of the pageant organiser Carousel Productions said 90 beauty queens from over the world would arrive in Viet Nam on November 4 if the plan was approved by the Government, according to VietnamPlus online newspaper. With the Government’s approval, Khanh Hoa would work with Vinpearl Land and Thanh Nien Communications Corp to prepare for the pageant.

Phan Thiet to develop huge multi-use tourism project

The provincial authority of Binh Thuan has approved a new US$465 million tourism project. The Bach Duong Hill Resort in Phan Thiet City’s Tien Thanh Commune will cover 265ha and includes sea villas, hotels, restaurants, urban zones, a cultural centre, shopping centres, healthcare stations, and a museum. The project will kick off next month.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Farmers need to be trained as tour guides

Exciting attractions not exciting

In the footsteps of the Cham

A local tour guide (C) accompanies international tourists in HCM City. (Photo: SGT)

The official of the Travel Division under the department said that of the total, over 900 are holders of cards that allow them to guide international tourists, and over 400 tour guides who are serving local travelers without cards.

Under the law, the tour guide will receive the new card within 15 working days, though the official said, “We have yet to issue any new cards to the tour guides.”

According to the division, the city had 1,680 tour guides for foreign tourists and a big number of tour guides for domestic travelers. Under the new tourism law, these tour guides have to apply for new cards or lose their operation permits.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) early this month told provincial departments of culture, sports and tourism to issue new cards for professional tour guides to replace paper-based cards, and the change should be completed by August.

* In related news, the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism this Friday and Sunday will organize the final round of a contest to select best tour guides of the city.

A total 21 tour guides from 11 travel companies along with two freelance tour guides will compete in the final round. These tour guides have been selected from those of 300 travel companies in HCMC, and ten best tour guides of the city will compete in the national tour guide contest in Hanoi next month.

VietNamNet/SGT

Tourism promotion in 2010 needs close co-operation and association

Travel firms evaluate “Vietnam: Your Destination”

The number of travelers arriving in Vietnam for work increased by 46 percent, followed by vacationers, up more than 44 percent, according to VNAT.

Chinese tourist figures grew 95.4%, followed by Cambodia, 93%, Thailand 32% and South Korea over 31%.

HCM City attracted over 1.6 million tourists, making it the leading destination for tourists, up by 13% over the same period of 2009.

Tourism experts attributed the rise to the worldwide economic recovery that has boosted tourism.

Vietnam has organized tourism promotions and cultural exchanges in China, Japan, South Korea and Cambodia, as well as traveling promotions in Australia, Norway and West European countries. VNAT expects to reach its target of 4.5-4.6 million foreign tourists for 2010, a year-on-year increase of nearly 18 percent.

Travel agencies will continue their promotions and discount programs in August and September for a number of key tourism cities and provinces.

At the same time, Hanoi plans to organize tours to a number of ancient Vietnamese capitals, museums and also home stays to attract more visitors as it celebrates its 1,000th anniversary.

PV