Vietnam Travel Articles & Vietnam News

The successes and failures of Italy’s tourism industry can be very valuable for the policy-making process to develop Vietnam travel industry.

This was assessed by a Vietnamese cadre delegation in a refresher course on tourism management run by Fondazione Campus University in Italy on December 3-18.

The 22-member delegation was led by Pham Minh Chinh, member of the Party Central Committee and General
Secretary of the Quang Ninh Provincial Party Committee.

Most towers in the My Son sanctuary, a world cultural heritage site in central Quang Nam Province, are in danger of collapse, an official said.

“Only three towers out of 20 are still intact, the others having seriously deteriorated,” said Nguyen Cong Khiet, deputy head of the My Son Management Board.

He added that inspections were carried out annually to assess the towers’ state, emphasising that flooding in October, which inundated the towers by up to 2m, had further worsened the situation by weakening foundations.

The tourism sector is looking to cash in on a proposal from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to give Government workers an extra long Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday next January.

Travel bookings have already increased following the announcement of the ministry’s proposal, which hopes to give Government workers nine days off from 21 to 29 January, instead of the usual four days of holidays. The ministry’s proposal is currently under consideration.

In early December 2011, Vietnam’s first licenced private airline VietJet Air announced its official entry into local aviation market and fly from December 25. At the inception, the airline will fly between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) deputy chief Luu Thanh Binh said VietJet Air had great potential.

However, industry insiders assumed it would not be easy for new comers like VietJet Air to jump into the aviation market.

The decision to increase the price of the excursion ticket to Halong Bay, commencing from December 1, just a couple of weeks after Halong Bay was recognized as one of the seven natural wonders, has surprised travelers.

The excursion ticket price has unexpectedly increased by 100 percent since December 1, 2011. Companies of Vietnam tour have complained that they were not warned about that before, and they could not prepare for the changes,

The shocking decision

Almost 6,000 objects will be displayed at the spring flower festival 2012 held from January 18th - 28th, 2012 in District 1 and District 3 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The information was released by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee on November 30th.

The festival will include three main displays. One for showcasing bonsai art, stones and flowers from abroad; one for bonsai flowers from domestic clubs and one for art activities and folk games.

Although cultural heritage has been proven to play an important role in contemporary life, the preservation and promotion of such heritage in Vietnam has faced many challenges and difficulties. Nhan Dan Online interviewed Nguyen Huu Toan, Deputy Director of the Culture Heritage Department of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, about this issue.

Vietnam possesses a large number of heritage sites and relics but it is undeniable that few of them are being properly preserved and many have degraded significantly. How do you explain this?

The Vietnamese business circle has geared up to prepare to grab the new opportunities to be brought when Halong Bay has been recognized as one of the seven new wonders of the world. Experts have urged management agencies to draw up long term development plan to effectively exploit the wonderful landscape.

With 14 consecutive exchange rate adjustments within one month, companies of Vietnam tour fear that they may lose travelers because they cannot keep the tour fees stable.

Since the beginning of October, the State Bank of Vietnam has adjusted the dong/dollar exchange rate 14 times, making the Vietnam dong depreciate by 160 dong per dollar. If comparing with September 7, when the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam stated that it will not devalue the dong by more than one percent by the end of the year, the interbank exchange rate has increased by 0.78 percent.

A tourism culture week on the heritage of the northcentral region will be held at the Vietnam Culture and Arts Exhibition Center in Hanoi from November 21-23.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will co-ordinate with other central agencies and local departments of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue and Hanoi to organize the event.

The event is part of activities to mark Vietnam Cultural Heritage Day (November 23) in the lead-up to the National Tourism Year for north-central region-Hue 2012.