Nha Trang offers walk on seabed

A dive operator in Nha Trang Bay is offering a walk on the seabed for tourists to experience the beauty of the underwater world like marine plants and colourful corals and fish.

Holiday Diving Co., Ltd has been allowed to offer the seabed walk on a trial basis for 90 days by the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa Province where Nha Trang is situated.

One needs to wear a weighted helmet that supplies oxygen to walk in an area of about 50sq.m for 20 minutes.

Nha Trang Bay, one of Viet Nam's most beautiful, has pristine beaches and beautiful large and small islands.

Con Au islet a picturesque getaway

With its fruit trees and pristine and quiet setting, Con Au in the Cuu Long (Mekong) city of Can Tho is considered the most beautiful islet in the Hau River, a tribute of the Mekong.

Located in Cai Rang District, the 130ha island is surrounded by ban (Sonneratia pagatpat), a kind of tree that grows in wetlands.

Inside are orchards with various kinds of fruits and vegetable farms.

The islet's roads are cool under the fruit trees that line them.

Around 70 families, mostly farmers, live on the islet. Most locals begin their morning very early to harvest their vegetables and fruits before taking them to Can Tho Market to sell.

The islet is home to the 30ha Phu Sa eco-tourism area, an ideal place for weekend relaxation. Here, visitors can sit on small boats and course among ban trees, fish, and taste unique dishes made from ban fruits like ban sour and sweet soup.

Con Au is about 1km from Ninh Kieu Wharf in Can Tho, and it takes 10 minutes to get there by boat.

Tourism festival aims to promote heritage sites

The 11th annual HCM City Tourism Day Festival to be held this month will seek to promote World Heritage sites in Viet Nam beginning on March 26.

The event, to be held at the September 23 Park in District 1, will be hosted by the Department of Tourism and the HCM City Tourism Association.

"This four-day event will be an occasion to honor city tourism brands, and tourism enterprises that have made great contributions to city tourism," said a representative of the department.

"The event will be a bridge between travel companies and customers, a place for enterprises to introduce new products and co-operate with others," he added.

Titled Impression of World Heritage Sites in Viet Nam, the festival will feature mock-ups of the country's eight sites and performances in nine art forms that are considered a "tangible and intangible world heritage" by UNESCO.

It will feature a travel fair with 150 booths, a photo exhibition on 40 years of city tourism, programmes to stimulate tourism demand, ceremonies to honor tourism brands and enterprises, and southern tai tu traditional music performances.

"Most of the participants are transport companies, hotels, restaurants, tourism localities , representative offices of tourism promotion organisations and tourism company from overseas," La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the department, said.

This year tourism on the railroad sector will be highlighted, Khanh said.

Jetstar will join the event this year as well as Vietnam Airlines and VietJetAir.

"The event aims to foster tourism co-operation, and attract local travelers by discounts of 20 to 30 per cent on travel services for the coming April 30 Liberation holiday and the summer season."

The organiser expects 300,000 people to attend the HCM City Tourism Day.

Malaysia lures more Vietnamese tourists

Malaysia expects an upsurge in Vietnamese tourists this year to more than 275,000 as tourist operators and the country promotes its attractions in Vietnam.

Participation in tourism fairs in Vietnam, various promotional activities by Tourism Malaysia, and an increase in the number of flights by Malaysia Airlines and Air Asia are poised to have an impact.

ASEAN member countries continued to be the dominant market for Malaysia’s tourism industry, accounting for 74.3% (20.37 million) of arrivals last year.

The country received 27.43 million visitors, an increase of 6.7% over 2013.

This month Tourism Malaysia is promoting the Malaysia Year of Festivals or MyFest 2015 in HCM City in conjunction with the HCM City Tourism Festival at 23/9 Park in District 1.

This event, besides promoting awareness of Malaysia as an ideal holiday destination, is also expected to foster closer cooperation between tour operators and members of the tourism fraternity.

Hue’s tourism potential promoted at int’l tourism fairs

The central province of Thua Thien Hue is set to join two major international tourism fairs- annual Korea World Travel Fair (KOTFA) and JATA Tourism Expo-Japan.

The 30th KOTFA 2015 to take place from June 11 to 14 at COEX Convention & Exhibition Center, Seoul, Korea is expected to attract more than 500 travel agents from over 60 countries across the world and 120,000 visitors.

JATA Tourism EXPO Japan- one of the largest travel events in Asia slated for September 24-27 at Tokyo Big Sight aims to display tourism items in1,400 booths from 155 countries and lure 160,000 visitors.

The two fairs will provide a golden chance for domestic and foreign travel operators to set up new business partnerships, and seek investment opportunities.

Over recent years, Thua Thien-Hue has been one of the most attractive tourism sites for visitors from Japan and the Republic of Korea that serves as a promoter of local tourism products and images to international friends, thus developing Hue into a city with unique culture and heritage in Southeast Asia.

HCM City to launch aerial tour with seaplane

Ho Chi Minh City and a seaplane operator are in discussions on a new tourism product that will allow tourists to tour the city from the sky.

Tourists can board the seaplane at Tan Son Nhat International Airport to enjoy the aerial sightseeing tour, La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the municipal tourism, said on March 12.

The aircraft can land either on the Saigon River or in the outlying district of Can Gio to give tourists more chances to explore the city, he added.

“We have recently met with a private carrier to discuss the launch of this new service in Ho Chi Minh City,” Khanh was quoted by newswireVnExpress as saying. “This will help diversify the tourism products of the city.”

The seaplane operator the city is seeking cooperation with is Hai Au Aviation, which runs two such services in Vietnam, according to The Saigon Times Online.

Last year Hai Au Aviation inaugurated its seaplane services on the Hanoi – Ha Long route in the north and Ho Chi Minh City – Phan Thiet route in the south.

Tourists depart from Hanoi to have an aerial view of the iconic Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the northern province of Quang Ninh, and from Ho Chi Minh City to visit the famed resort city of Phan Thiet in the south-central province of Binh Thuan, home to the famous Mui Ne beach.

The southern Vietnamese megacity is working to develop its tourism industry at a time when most tourists stay in town for a short amount of time. Ho Chi Minh City also faces competition from other localities which have more places of interest.

The average stay of holidaymakers in Ho Chi Minh City is only three days, according to The Saigon Times Online.

The city is slated to host the 11th annual Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival at 23/9 Park from March 26 to 29.

The event will attract around 150 booths run by 40 travel agencies and hotels, offering visitors a wide range of choices for their trips, Khanh said at a press meeting on March 12.

The organizers hope to attract 300,000 visitors for the festival.

Hanoi told to prioritise tourism-boosting policies

Ha Noi needs to develop its own brand of tourism, focusing on craft villages, eco-tourism and cultural tourism, said Nguyen Cong Hoan, the deputy director of Ha Noi Redtours.

Hoan said that compared with the sophisticated tourist development in Trang An in Ninh Binh Province, Ha Noi was considered only a transit point when it was potentially a potential hub.

He said that to become a tourist destination, the city needed to make major changes to its planning and attract investors.

To attract businesses, Hoan said Ha Noi should issue preferential policies and conduct administrative reforms to create tourism products. Moreover, special attention should be paid to the establishment of tourism resorts and recreation centres, he added.

Hoan also said it was necessary to focus on investing in establishing attractive shopping centres, tourism areas, and big tourism projects on the outskirts of the capital city, citing Bangkok in Thailand and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia as good examples.

Deputy Director of the Institute of Tourism Development Research, Pham Trung Luong, said regional tourism authorities had identified key tourist routes and tourism products that could create good conditions for participating localities.

However, he added, whether they were implemented in accordance with regional plans depended on the locality.

The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has completed planning for five of seven tourism development areas. These include midland and mountainous areas in North Viet Nam, the Red River Delta and coastal regions in the northeast, the north central region, the Central Highlands, and the Mekong Delta region.

"From now until the end of this year, VNAT will create mechanisms to attract enterprises to invest in tourism to serve development," said the vice-chairman of VNAT, Ha Van Sieu. He added that the Government had invested in basic infrastructure to encourage enterprises and the community to create products for tourism.

"Before investing in regions with high potential, we want to study the plans and preferential policies on tax and land lease so we can plan for long-term investments, especially in mountain regions," said one business representative.

Chairman of the Viet Nam Tourism Association, Vu The Binh, said enterprises should design tourism products because they were in contact with tourists and knew what visitors wanted.

He said State tourism agencies and localities should create favourable conditions for long-term investments and healthy competition, adding that many localities had successfully done this, including including Da Nang City and the provinces of Ninh Binh and Khanh Hoa.

In recent years, many tourism attractions in Viet Nam have been linked to investments made by enterprises, such as the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex in Ninh Binh Province, Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province, and Phu Quoc in Kien Giang. Among them, Trang An is considered an ideal example of such tourism attractions.

"One of the achievements of Ninh Binh Province since 2000 is the mobilisation of all sources. including the private sector, to invest in and restore heritage sites," said the deputy director of the management board of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, Bui Van Manh.

"Enterprises have positively participated in protecting and promoting its heritage value by dredging lakes, building infrastructure and joining tourism promotional activities. As a result, the number of tourists visiting Trang An is on the rise," he told Tin Tuc (News) newspaper.

Deputy director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ninh Binh Province, Duong Thi Thanh, said that businesses played an important role in the development of tourism in the province and that they worked with local authorities to prepare proposals.

In addition, enterprises had also involved communities. Together, Thanh said, they exploited heritage values to ensure the right of the State, enterprises and local people. 

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri