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Homestay - attractive tourism type in Da Lat

In a short time, visitors have the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the romantic highlands of Da Lat (Lam Dong) and are also able to approach, understand, learn more about culture, custom, and people… of the locals there. That is the reason for homestay tourism type in Da Lat is attracting many visitors, especially international ones.

Da Lat has been considered as a Litt

Paris in Vietnam for a long time. Besides the types of tourism that have become familiar to visitors in Da Lat such as outdoor tourism, eco- tourism, adventure tourism, culture tourism..., the homestay tourism is emerging as an innovative and attractive type.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nam - Branch Director of Grand Circle Corporation (an American company specializes in developing cultural tourism) in Vietnam explains that customers participating in homestay tourism are often the old ones and desire to enjoy the tranquil and happy atmosphere, while families in Da Lat have a warm and emotional style of living, and are very hospitable, therefore this type of tourism has attracted these customers.

Homestay tourism has attracted more and more international visitors to Da Lat, and also increasingly contributes to the goal of "every Da Lat citizen is a tourist guide." Joining homestay tour, visitors have opportunity to learn about daily life, custom of the locals, participate in their daily activities such as shopping, cooking, farming... while being guided by the locals to visit landscapes,cultural and historic relics of Da Lat and the surrounding areas in their trips.

Ms. Mae Thu, a Chinese American tourist said, she was pleased with the homestay tours in Da Lat. Da Lat City in Vietnam has many similarities with China and the locals here are very close and friendly. While the couple from the United States - Maken and Tim, revealed that Da Lat was real great. They felt living in Da Lat as at home. In addition, information on travel services to reference, such as tours, sightseeing routes in the surrounding areas, air booking offices, foreign newspapers,... are very adequate.

Right from homestay tourism begin to be developed in Da Lat, the local tourism-related businesses have been aware that this is a type of tourism associated with environmental protection. This is one of the criteria that visitors are very cared. To more and more develop homestay tourism, Lam Dong tourism authorities will organize training courses on communication and reception skills, tourism knowledge... for organizations and individuals working in community tourism in Da Lat.

Ho Chi Minh City to host Southern Fruit Festival

The Southern Fruit Festival will open at the Suoi Tien Park in HCM City’s District 9 on June 1. The annual event, held by the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development aims to introduce domestic and foreign visitors wide range of fruit from the South and other regions of the country.

The festival will begin on May 25 with a floating fruit market, selling famous fruits from around Vietnam.

The highlight of the event will be the “safe and delicious fruit” contest with nearly 600 artisans from 21 provinces and cities competing. The contest aims to encourage farmers to apply advanced technology to produce high quality varieties and introduce safe and delicious fruit.

A variety of activities will be held during the event, including a contest for making things from fruit, fruit cuisine, an exhibition, a fruit parade, artistic displays, traditional music and folk games.

Nguyen Thanh Rum, Director of the HCMC’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and head of the organizing board, said that the festival will promote the reputable trademarks of southern fruit.

The week-long festival is expected to attract around 5 million domestic and foreign visitors.

Fun summer at Vinpearl Land Nha Trang

Vinpearl Land Nha Trang goes all out to make it a great summer for the kids with a special program from June 1.

Highlights from the summer of fun will be the “Happy Children’s Day” on June 1 and “Full-moon Festival” on September 11 with both promising lots of entertainment for children and their parents.

On “Happy Children’s Day” kids will receive gifts and free coupons to savor fast food at any restaurant and food stalls in Vinpearl Land.

Lion dances, an offering ceremony and special gifts are awaiting the kids at the “Full-moon Festival”.

On normal weekdays from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. children have the chance to join in team building activities instructed by the Vinpearl Land’s coaches.

Other interesting entertainment programs like water puppetry will be performed during the week and weekends; there will be outdoor music performances and a music fountain stage seven days a week with extra shows on weekends.

The Vinpearl Underwater World has added over 600 new sea creations to serve visitors who love to discover the ocean. The orchid garden is another special area worth exploring with its precious orchids.

Additionally, Vinpearl Land also runs its new service of taking pictures of travelers to turn into cute souvenirs.

Vietnam Travel News (Source: SGT)

Jetstar Pacific to re-open Hanoi-Nha Trang route

The local low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific will re-open its Hanoi-Nha Trang air route from May 24 to October 29 to meet the increasing demand for air travel to central Vietnam during summer.

Between May 24 -31, there will be one daily return flight every morning. Then, from June 1 to October 29, it will increase to two flights per day. Currently, Vietnam Airlines is the only carrier operating Hanoi – Nha Trang air route.

The estimated flying time for this route is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Passengers can travel by car/taxi from Cam Ranh airport to the centre of Nha Trang city for around 35km distance. A one-way ticket will cost over VND1 million.

Jetstar Pacific is selling tickets for the new flights via its website at http://www.jetstar.com and at its booking offices and agents nationwide.

The carrier also accepts online payment from the E-Partner debit card issued by Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) in addition to Vietcombank’s Connect 24 card and credit cards including Visa, Master and JCB.

Vietnam Travel News (Source: CPV)

Southern Land Food Festival 2011

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will coordinate with the representative agency of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in HCM City, the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association, and Phu Tho Tourist Service Limited Company to organize the Southern Land Food Festival at Dam Sen Cultural Park from May 27 to 29, 2011.

This is one of the traditional culture - tourism events held annually by the tourism sector of the city to promote the excellent cultural values of Vietnamese gastronomy, especially Southern gastronomy.

According to the organization board, about 60 businesses including restaurants, hotels and the well-known Food and Beverage (F&B) businesses in the city and surrounding provinces have registered to participate in the festival up to now. The food pavilions will be designed according to culture of each region and arranged in topics such as: Central coast gastronomy, Highlands gastronomy, Southern gastronomy, Saigon gastronomy.

Coming to the festival, visitors will have opportunity to contemplate the specialists’ presentations of cooking arts, decorative arts of fruit & vegetable carving and enjoy the special performances such as amateur traditional music (don ca tai tu), classical theatre (hat boi), coastal chanty, bamboo dance (mua sap), Central Highlands gongs and traditional folk games of the South...

The Southern Land Food Festival 2011 creates favorable conditions for F&B related businesses in the city and the southern provinces to introduce to visitors their specialties. This is also an opportunity to exchange, share experiences as well as contribute to boosting the cooperation relations between tourism related businesses throughout the country.

More information:
- Location of the festival: Dam Sen Cultural Park.
- Address: No. 3 Hoa Binh Road, Ward 3, District 11, Ho Chi Minh City.
- Price: VND 150,000 per person (including food coupon and entrance fee).

Complied by Phuong Anh – Pham Phuong (TITC)

Exhibitors happy with HCMC Tourism Day

Travel companies joining the exhibition HCMC Tourism Day wrapping up on Sunday, April 10 say they are happy with the three-day event as many customers have queued up to ask for information or book services.

Many companies such as Ben Thanh Tourist, Saigontourist Travel Services Co., Lien Bang Travelink, and TST Tourist said the number of people buying tours or planning to buy tourism services grew strongly compared to last year’s event.

Tu Quy Thanh, managing director of Lien Bang Travelink, told the Daily that around 5,000 visitors have visited the company’s booth. Of them, 160 people have bought domestic and outbound tours, while 200 other customers have made reservations and promised to pay at the company’s office after the event.

“The number of customers to buy tours was up 50% compared to last year’s event. We had promoted services to customers before the Tourism Day opened to attract them to our booth, and the careful preparation helped us sell products,” he said.

At Saigontourist, around 700 guests have booked outbound and domestic tours compared to slightly over 100 people doing so in the last event.

In addition, about 1,600 people have sought the company’s advice about services especially free & easy tours, promotion programs, and tours for Reunification Day on April 30, said Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing director of Saigontourist.

Lai Huu Phuong, director of Ben Thanh Tourist Travel Service Center, said the company is pleased with the event. “We were able to spread our image to potential customers and sell products there.”

He added that in the past, many people just dropped by the company’s booth to take brochures, but this time many visitors booked tours even after the exhibition.

The city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized the annual event from last Friday to Sunday, featuring more than 170 booths for 80 travel companies, hotels and restaurants in the city as well as other provinces and cities.

Vietnam Travel News (Source: SGT)

Fun summer at Vinpearl Land Nha Trang

Vietnam Travel News (Source: SGT)

Homestay - attractive tourism type in Da Lat

Da Lat has been considered as a Little Paris in Vietnam for a long time. Besides the types of tourism that have become familiar to visitors in Da Lat such as outdoor tourism, eco- tourism, adventure tourism, culture tourism..., the homestay tourism is emerging as an innovative and attractive type.

Homestay tourism has attracted more and more international visitors to Da Lat, and also increasingly contributes to the goal of "every Da Lat citizen is a tourist guide." Joining homestay tour, visitors have opportunity to learn about daily life, custom of the locals, participate in their daily activities such as shopping, cooking, farming... while being guided by the locals to visit landscapes, cultural and historic relics of Da Lat and the surrounding areas in their trips.

Right from homestay tourism begin to be developed in Da Lat, the local tourism-related businesses have been aware that this is a type of tourism associated with environmental protection. This is one of the criteria that visitors are very cared. To more and more develop homestay tourism, Lam Dong tourism authorities will organize training courses on communication and reception skills, tourism knowledge... for organizations and individuals working in community tourism in Da Lat.

Vietnam Travel News (TITC)

Ho Chi Minh City to host Southern Fruit Festival

The festival will begin on May 25 with a floating fruit market, selling famous fruits from around Vietnam.

Nguyen Thanh Rum, Director of the HCMC’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and head of the organizing board, said that the festival will promote the reputable trademarks of southern fruit.

The week-long festival is expected to attract around 5 million domestic and foreign visitors.

Vietnam Travel News (Source: VOV)

Jetstar Pacific to re-open Hanoi-Nha Trang route

Vietnam Travel News (Source: CPV)

More than 60 activities during Nha Trang Sea Festival 2011

Before the opening day of the Nha Trang Sea Festival 2011, about 20 activities will take place since June 2^nd such as organizing tours of fishing and sea sightseeing by night; Khanh Hoa sea-bathing festival; beach sepak takraw; seminar on cave swallow populations development and salangane nest resources in coastal provinces of Vietnam; XQ Nha Trang festival; seminar on history and traditional culture of Khanh Hoa salangane nest; traditional festival of Khanh Hoa salangane nest - 20 years of construction and development...

During the festival, there will be nearly 50 activities, including film festival presenting Vietnamese and French films and films on Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago; Lu Cam pottery and sand paintings exhibition; Cham pottery and brocade exhibition; street photo exhibition of "Aloe-wood land beauty"; photo exhibition on Truong Sa archipelago; map of Truong Sa archipelago coupled by coffee bean; "The beauty before the sea" exhibition; Cau Ngu (fish worshipping) ceremony; wine festival; kite festival; lantern festival; food street, cooking contest... Especially, there will also be a seminar about Truong Sa archipelago and coastal culture in Khanh Hoa.

The highlights of the festival are the opening ceremony in the evening of June 11^th and the closing ceremony in the evening of June 15^th with art performances and firework displays; street carnival festival; fashion show and music programme with the participation of both Vietnamese and foreign artists from the Republic of Korea (RoK), China, France and Cuba.

Taking place every two years since 2003, the Nha Trang Sea Festival has become a cultural, festival event reflecting traditional and contemporary cultural values in order to preserve and promote the cultural cream of Vietnam, especially the land of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa.

The Nha Trang Sea Festival 2011 expects to attract about 100,000 visitors to participate.

Complied by Phuong Anh (TITC)

Vietnam Travel News (Source: toquoc.gov.vn)

Southern Land Food Festival 2011

Complied by Phuong Anh – Pham Phuong (TITC)

Poland gives USD25,000 to restore Hue Temple of Literature gate

The Hue Centre for Relics Conservation said funding would be implemented through the Embassy of Poland in Vietnam.

The project to preserve the Linh Tinh Gate has been approved by the provincial government.

The project, expected to kick off in June for completion in early 2012, will involve restoring four downgraded decorative columns made of mortar, at a total cost of VND1.6 billion (USD80,000).

Linh Tinh Gate, built in the early Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), serves as the front gate of the Temple of Literature in Hue City, a landmark closely linked to the boat marina on the bank of the Perfume River.

The structure comprising four mortar pillars with the upper sections decorated with enamel has deteriorated during the war and the post-war period. Currently, only four stone bases of the columns remain intact.

Vietnam Travel News (Source: VNS)

Biennial drama festival kicks off

To encourage talented youths, only artists under the age of 40 are allowed to take part in the festival this year.

"The regulation is set to give young artists an opportunity to perform on the stage, as well as to ensure that youths have enough opportunities to take main roles," said Vuong Duy Bien, Director of the Art Performances Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Director of Vietnam Tuong Theatre Hoang Khiem expressed his approval of this regulation: "The board limits the participating age so that the theatres give main roles for young generation. Even young artists have to strive for promotion in their careers. At the moment, there are many talented youths in the theatre, such as actresses Loc Huyen and Phuong Thanh and actors Dinh Long and Duc Manh."

The jury will grade the artists based on their performances, not based on the quality of the plays.

Two plays that the Vietnam Tuong Theatre will bring to the festival are Son Hau and That Hien Quyen. Son Hau is about fighting for power in an ancient Chinese royal court. That Hien Quyen focuses on describing social ethics through stories shared among members in a family.

The festival, organised by the Arts Performances Department, takes place every two years.

LienBang Travelink RSS feed

Homestay - attractive tourism type in Da Lat

Ho Chi Minh City to host Southern Fruit Festival

Fun summer at Vinpearl Land Nha Trang

Jetstar Pacific to re-open Hanoi-Nha Trang route

Southern Land Food Festival 2011

Exhibitors happy with HCMC Tourism Day

Fun summer at Vinpearl Land Nha Trang

Homestay - attractive tourism type in Da Lat

Ho Chi Minh City to host Southern Fruit Festival

Jetstar Pacific to re-open Hanoi-Nha Trang route

More than 60 activities during Nha Trang Sea Festival 2011

Southern Land Food Festival 2011

Poland gives USD25,000 to restore Hue Temple of Literature gate

Biennial drama festival kicks off

Maritime festival to be held in Hai Phong

Fireworks to be set off in Halong and Nha Trang festivals

Another electric car service to open in Hanoi

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Vietnam Travel News (Source: VOV)

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