First ÊMM hotel opened in Saigon

Thien Minh Group opened the first three-star hotel bearing ÊMM brand with 56 rooms and serviced condos at 157 Pasteur Street in HCMC’s District 3 last Friday night.

Tran Trong Kien, chairman and CEO of Thien Minh, said his company would have more hotels of the ÊMM hotel brand by acquiring hotels or buildings from other developers before remodeling them suitable with the brand’s criteria. The company will not choose to manage hotels for other investors, he said.

“We will acquire the existing hotels and then give them facelifts because this way will be faster than purchasing land for building new hotels. We plan to develop 11 hotels under the brand of ÊMM in the next five years,” he said.

Thien Minh is looking to develop the three-star hotel brand in other tourist destinations in the country after HCMC like Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An, Halong and Cat Ba. After establishing stable business at home for this hotel segment, the company will tap other foreign destinations in Laos and Cambodia among others.

Besides announcing to join the hotel segment of three-star criteria, Thien Minh is also preparing to launch hydroplane service in the middle of next year to serve the local tourism industry.

Established 19 years ago, Thien Minh specializes in the tourism, hotel and transport industries. The group now is operating many hotels in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, with plenty of popular brands in the tourism industry including Victoria Hotel & Resorts and Buffalo Tours.

The firm serves around 90,000 visitors and 250,000 customers of hotel services annually with total revenue of roughly US$70 million.

Bicycle touring goes digital

An environmentally-friendly digital bicycle tour describing destinations in Viet Nam has been made public.

A device, consisting of a bicycle, a 3-dimensional screen and a sensor system, will provide full images, information on destinations for those touring by bicycle.

"A group of eight engineers took one year to complete the project. We set up a series of 3D pictures of the most visited sites in Hoi An's ancient town, streets, and shops, including the Japanese Bridge and old quarter, pagodas, wharfs and buildings," said director of Viet Nam Advanced Systems (Novas), Pham Thanh Hoa.

"Tourists can ride on a bike, winding through corners of streets in Hoi An as they are cycling in the town. The 3D screen will show them live images of life in Hoi An," Hoang said.

He stressed that tourists can check a destination with live pictures and action, instead of reading a guidebook.

Japanese tourism promoted in HCM City

A wide range of activities to popularise Japanese culture, land and people took place in Ho Chi Minh City on December 8.

The tourism promotion programme was among events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Vietnam–Japan diplomatic ties.

The programme was co-organised by the Japan National Tourism Organisation, the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam and its Consulate General in HCM City .

It helped people in the city, particularly youngsters, get an insight into the Northeast Asian country’s distinctive features, and its cultural similarities with Vietnam .

Outstanding cuisine and traditional arts performances from Japan were offered to visitors. The country left a deep impression with its special cultural identities and places of interest presented.-

Japanese airline opens Tokyo-Hanoi route

All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced on December 9 that it will operate direct flights from Tokyo to Hanoi and Vancouver in addition to others to London, Paris, Jakarta and Manila.

Its Tokyo-Hanoi flights will start from March 30 next year, using Boeing 767-300ER aircraft.

The national carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) will also have new direct flights from Danang to Narita as of late 2013.

Chinese tourists to arrive in droves in Danang at Tet

The central coastal city of Danang during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, is expected to attract around 4,000 Chinese tourists a day, with most of them flying in on chartered flights.

Danang in November had two more chartered flights a week from neighboring China. By the end of this year, the city will welcome an extra two chartered flights a week from

China using Airbus planes, taking its total number of weekly chartered flights to 16.

The chartered flights mainly come from China’s provinces and cities like Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Xian and Shanghai.

“Chinese visitors to Danang are expected to rise further in the forthcoming Lunar New Year holiday. From the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month to the seventh day of the

first lunar month, the city will serve about 4,000 travelers from China a day,” said Tran Chi Cuong, deputy director of the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

At present, most Chinese visitors arrive in Danang on chartered flights and stay at hotels and resorts of four- to five-star standards for touring the city and other destinations like Hoi An and Hue while others are taken to the city by the cruise line StarCruises.

China has already become the leading visitor-generating market for Danang’s tourism industry, Cuong said. Danang has welcomed over 743,000 foreign visitors this year, with those from China accounting for some 15%. A group of 30 members including tourism companies’ representatives and officials from China’s Guangdong Province has recently come to make surveys and set up business links with local partners for tour arrangements.

“Many Chinese firms inform that Danang has become one of the most attractive destinations to Chinese tourists and that the market’s growth must be stronger as businesses of the two sides are cooperating to bring in more visitors,” Cuong added.

Ha Giang province’s tourism fulfils yearly target

The northernmost province of Ha Giang has fulfilled this year’s tourism target with more than 500 billion VND (23.8 million USD) in revenue so far, a year-on-year rise of 15 percent.

The province has welcomed 440,000 tourist arrivals, up 5.3 percent from 2012, including 130,000 foreigners.

Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Trieu Thi Tinh said that to reap such an outcome, Ha Giang has worked hard to preserve the Dong Van Old Quarter in Dong Van district and the Dong Van Stone Plateau, which is a World Geological Park.

It has revived numerous festivals specific to local ethnic minority groups and successfully organised a Cultural Heritage Tourism Week for Ethnic Minority Groups, she noted.

The deputy director added that the sector has also implemented various tourism promotion programmes, while enhancing service quality, tourism facilities and invested more in craft villages and community-based tourism.

The number of tourists visiting Ha Giang, particularly the Dong Van Stone Plateau, is forecast to surge next year, especially during the Lunar New Year holiday which falls in late January.-