An extravaganza of activities is scheduled for the year, including an opening ceremony, sea festival week, beer festival, Miss Universe and Hong Kong-Nha Trang yatch race.

Fifteen cities and provinces nationwide have confirmed to join the year.

The Department of Culture and Sports of Khanh Hoa province is responsible for organising a ceremony to announce the Visit Vietnam Year 2019 and welcome New Year 2019 on December 31, and the closing ceremony.

It is assigned to make preparations for the event’s logos, while joining hands with the Departments of Tourism and Information and Communications to choose images for Nha Trang-Khanh Hoa tourism.

Also, the department will upgrade its website nhatrang-travel.com to popularise the Visit Vietnam Year 2019.

According to the provincial Department of Tourism, number of tourist arrivals to the locality has increased substantially in the past years. The province welcomed 2.3 million visitors in 2012, and the figure rose to 5.5 million people five years later. In the first nine months of this year, more than 5 millions chose Khanh Hoa to spend their holidays, including 1.7 million foreigners and up more than 116 percent as compared to the same time in 2017.

Khanh Hoa is the only Vietnamese locality that has hosted the Sea Festival every two years since 2003, which has drawn a large number of visitors.

Boasting 180 kilometres of coastline, stunning natural landscapes with Van Phong, Nha Trang and Cam Ranh bays listed as the world’s most beautiful bays, together with many exciting festivals such as Ponagar Temple festival, whale worshipping festival, and Salanganes Festival, Khanh Hoa province poses huge potential to develop tourism.

Since 2006, Khanh Hoa province has hosted many large-scale beauty contests, including Miss Vietnam World, Miss Vietnam, Miss Earth, and Miss Universe Vietnam.

Currently, the locality has 680 accommodation facilities, with 31,700 rooms. 

The province eyes to welcome 8.5 million tourists, including 3.5 million foreigners by 2020, and earn 70 trillion VND (2.99 billion USD) in tourism revenue.-VNA