Visitors born on March 20 visiting Hoi An City on the same day will get free admission to the old quarter and all destinations within the city.

Tourists drink coffee on the terrace of an old house in Hoi An City’s old quarter. 

The city’s Culture and Sports Centre said the free ticket offer marks the International Happiness Day (March 20). A series of cultural performances and photo exhibitions will be held from this weekend till next Monday (March 20) on the banks of the Hoài River.

Local photographers are presenting their photos of landscapes and people in Hội An in an exhibition titled, Love and Share, that opened on March 15  and will run until March 20.

Hội An often offers free tickets for tourists on the occasion of Heritage Day, the  anniversary of the city’s recognition as a world heritage site by UNESCO.

The city hosted more than 2.6 million tourists last year, 1.3 million of them foreigners.

A 2014 survey found 11.2 per cent of all international tourists returned to the city on their second visit.

Hội An was chosen for the 2013 Townscape Award by the UN-Habitat Regional Office in Asia, and it featured in the list of 10 most-famous canals in the world compiled by the US-based travel website www.touropia.com in 2014.

Of its total area of 60sq.km, the city has dedicated 22.5sq.km to agriculture and forestry, and 11sq.kms are taken up by lakes and canals.

The central city was the first in Việt Nam to hold a Car Free Day and the first location in the central province to launch the 3-R (reduce, reuse and recycle) programme while promoting the use of reusable bags.

The city has successfully organised a pedestrian street in the old quarter since 2002 and installed a solar-powered lighting system in its Hoài River Square. 

VNS