Da Lat to be introduced on Thai television

Da Lat city, dubbed as a “small Paris” or a “city of thousands of flowers”, in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong will be introduced to Thai people through their television channels in the coming time.

A fact-finding tour to film the city was made by reporters from the Thai Public Relations Department (PRD) from April 22-26 as part of its cooperation programme with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

They visited several artichoke and flower farms to learn about the supply of the flora to both domestic and foreign markets.

They also made a reportage promoting Da Lat city’s tourism at its renowned sites, including Prenn waterfall and Tuyen Lam lake.

Siriwan Dampreeda, head of the PRD delegation, said that mild weather, well-developed infrastructure and quiet atmosphere make Da Lat ideal for tourism development.

However, the city has not yet been advertised in Thailand and other countries, she said, suggesting local authorities intensify promotion campaigns abroad.

Bac Lieu conference seeks to boost tourism

A conference promoting investment and tourism development cooperation was held in the southern province of Bac Lieu on April 26, attracting over 400 participants from many provinces and travel agencies throughout the country.

The event, which was part of the ongoing “Don ca tai tu” festival in the locality, discussed how to further foster Vietnam’s tourism development, especially in the Mekong Delta.

Participants underlined the potential and strength of regional tourism, while discussing its sustainable development.

They said that regional localities should improve the quality of accommodation facilities and diversify products to serve tourists to improve their health in a clean and peaceful environment.

As the region has ample cultural history and beauty, it is well placed for the development of ecological tourism, participants recommended.

In the coming time, Bac Lieu should create links with other Mekong Delta provinces to make regional tourism more attractive, thus luring more holiday-makers to the locality, they suggested.

Foreign tourist arrivals on the rise in 2014

Vietnam welcomed over 3 million foreign tourists in the first four months of 2014, a surge of 27.3 percent over the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office.

Visitors from Hong Kong topped the list with the highest rise of 170.2 percent, followed by Germany (114.5 percent), and China (46.9 percent).

In April alone, the country greeted 745,980 overseas visitors, a year-on-year increase of 5.1 percent.

The tourism sector plans to serve 8 million foreign and 37.5 million domestic tourists this year, grossing 230 billion VND (10.8 million USD) in revenue.

In 2013, Vietnam received 7,572,352 foreign tourists, a yearly rise of 10.6 percent, paying 200 trillion VND (9.4 billion USD) to the state coffers.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has devised a plan on improving tourism products and service quality to be carried out this year. It is organising the National Tourism Year 2014, highlighting the Central Highland province of Lam Dong.

The ministry is also gearing up for the National Tourism Year 2015 in central Thanh Hoa province.

VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA