US luxury cruise ship sails in Vietnam waters

Travel operator Saigontourist welcomed US luxury liner, Azamara,and its 750 passengers and crew members to Vietnam, for the first time this year.

The Azamara ship is scheduled to dock at Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Ha Long on a six-day journey up the Vietnamese coast.

Saigontourist is also collaborating with Malaysia’s Star Cruises – the world’s third largest cruise company,in a bid tosecure future tourism ventures..

The Vietnamese travel company is expected to receive 58 StarCruises  to Vietnam from October 2013 to March 2014.

From  November 2011 to April 2013,Saigontourist welcomed 90SuperStar AquariusCruises and over 80 StarCruises.

Lam Dong urges quick road upgrade to draw tourists to Dalat

Lam Dong Province authorities have urged contractors to quickly upgrade National Highway 20 currently full of potholes to attract tourists to the resort city of Dalat during a festival scheduled for late December, said a provincial official.

Doan Van Viet, vice chairman of Lam Dong Province, told a press briefing to introduce the festival that the deteriorating highway linking Dau Giay Intersection with Dalat has hindered tourist arrivals in the city. Previously, it took visitors from HCMC around six hours to reach Dalat, but now the 300-km distance takes them up to ten hours due to bad road conditions.

“Therefore, the provincial government has required contractors to finish upgrading the road and give it a smooth facelift to ensure road safety for visitors, and all works must be completed prior to December 26,” Viet told reporters. It is expected that the traveling time by then will be reduced to seven hours, Viet said.

The Dalat Culture-Tourism Week 2013 will take place from December 27 to 31, featuring a flower festival, celebration of 120 years of Dalat development, and introduction of the National Tourism Year for Central Highlands-Dalat.

Vo Ngoc Hiep, chairman of Dalat City, said that the fifth Dalat Flower Festival is expected to help the city attract 3.6 million tourists this year compared to 3 million in the January-September period. There are some 15,000 hotel rooms in the city able to accommodate 40,000 visitors at one time, he said.

Doan Van Viet furthered that Lam Dong Province government is asking Vietnam Airlines to launch more flights connecting Dalat with other localities like Hanoi, HCMC, Hai Phong and Danang during the week-long festival. The private air carrier VietJetAir has recently launched flights connecting Dalat with HCMC and Vinh City.

In his further comments on National Highway 20, Viet said the road upgrade progress was slowing due to two major projects being executed simultaneously. These are the project to develop the Dau Giay-Bao Loc expressway section and the Bao Loc-Dalat expressway that are expected for completion in late 2014 and late 2015 respectively.

Thai tours still attract Vietnamese tourists despite chaos

Despite the current chaotic situation in Thailand’s Bangkok, visitors from Vietnam still depart for Thai tours while some other operators that have stopped Thai tours said they would monitor the situation before resuming the tours during Christmas and New Year holidays.

Many tourism companies in HCMC said their tours to Thailand still took place as scheduled. Plenty of Vietnamese visitors are in Bangkok at present but they remain safe while only a few tourist attractions in their travel programs have been changed as the tour operators want to avoid taking customers to venues with huge numbers of demonstrators.

“We still have daily tours heading for Thailand from HCMC. In Hanoi, two groups of our guests have just arrived in Thailand,” said Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing and public relations manager of Saigontourist Travel Service Company.

Lam Le Phan, tour guide of Fiditour, on Wednesday afternoon sent to the Daily a photo of a group of Fiditour customers who had just finished their tour in Thailand and were waiting for their return flight at Bangkok Airport to HCMC. Besides, Fiditour also has two other groups visiting Thailand now and they are still safe and sound.

According to Nguyen Minh Man, director of the communications department of Vietravel, his firm still run Thai tours daily. That is because there have been no warnings from the Tourism Authority of Thailand while tourism police officers are still working at tourism sites in Bangkok to protect visitors, Man explained.

“Normally, the Tourism Authority of Thailand will give warnings when the safety of tourists may be endangered but the authority has not given such a warning so far. Therefore, Thai tours still take place as usual,” he clarified.

However, several travel agencies have decided to halt Thai tours until the politic situation in the ASEAN country becomes stable.

“We have halted tours to Thailand set for departure from the end of this month until the middle of next month but the suspension is just temporary, meaning Thai tours will be back to business as soon as the situation changes for the better,” said Tu Quy Thanh, director of Lien Bang Travel Link.

Despite showing concern about the security situation in Thailand, numerous local customers have still continued booking tours to the nation for the forthcoming Christmas and New Year holidays, many tourism companies reported.

Vietnam’s leading low-cost carrier VietJet Air will officially open a new route from Vinh to Da Lat as of December 24 to mark the fifth Da Lat Flower Festival and 2013 Da Lat Culture and Tourism Week.

The new route will provide additional 1,080 seats for passengers on three flights per week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, according to a representative from VietjetAir. The 90-minute flight will depart from Vinh at 8:05am and arrive in Da Lat at 9:35am to meet the passengers’ travel demand.

The new route will help connect the two famous historic sites for the benefit of local trade and tourism developments.  

Tickets can be bought on the website www.vietjetair.com, and the hotline 19001886 as well as at booking offices and agencies nationwide.

VietjetAir now has more than 500 flights on 16 domestic and international routes.

Dong Van Stone Plateau development plan discussed

The Construction Ministry and the People’s Committee of northern mountainous Ha Giang province have agreed on the Dong Van Stone Plateau development plan to 2030, with an aim of turning it into a national tourism centre.

The master plan includes planning for the development of geo-cultural, geo-scientific and ecological parks in combination with preserving bio-diversity preservation.

Speaking at a working session with the Ha Giang provincial People’s Committee in Ha Giang city on November 28, Deputy Construction Minister Nguyen Dinh Toan stressed that apart from investing in urban development, the province needs to focus on maintaining and conserving its intactness and cultural identities of ethnic minority groups in the plateau.

Vice Chairperson of the provincial People’s Committee Sen Chin Ly stated that in the coming time, the province will mobilise all sources to develop infrastructure, promote the image of Dong Van Stone Plateau, and implement incentives so as to call for domestic and foreigner investors to the region.

Dong Van Stone Plateau, which has remained untouched for hundreds of millions of years, is spread over the four districts of Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Meo Vac and Dong Van.

The plateau is 80 percent limestone and contains the fossils of thousands of prehistoric species from 400-600 million years ago. It is now home to 250,000 people from 17 different ethnic groups.

Since the plateau’s recognition as a member of the Global Network of National Geo-parks in 2010, Ha Giang’s tourism sector has enjoyed rapid growth.

In 2012, the province welcomed more than 400,000 arrivals and earned 300 billion VND from tourism services.-

Thua Thien Hue taps spirital tourism potential

The central province of Thua Thien-Hue is one of only a few localities in Vietnam in a prime position to develop spiritual tourism – which can enrich the spiritual and cultural lives of people.

The province is home to over 55,000 Buddhist followers and boasts more than 100 pagodas, and Buddha worship places. Many pagodas are preserving precious artifacts that have both historical and artistic value.

The Hon Chen temple festival, which is held biannually, attracts tens of thousands of tourists from across the country.

Similarly, along with the Huyen Tran temple festival, an accompanying cultural centre established in 2008, receives thousands of visitors annually to offer incense in memory of the princess who expanded the border of Vietnam 700 years ago.

The spark in this tourism form is attributed to national policies of religion and belief, which have actively supported the central locality to develop tourism industry in a sustainable manner.

Provincial statistics show that during the January-October period, the province welcomed 2.12 million arrivals, including 784,000 foreigners.

The province is expected to raise the number of visitors to 3 million by the end of this year.

The revenue tourism services for 2013 is expected to account for 50 percent of provincial Gross Domestic Product (GDP).