Vietnam Travel in Brief 25/04
28/04/08 (GMT+7)
Sapa to host holiday tourism festival
 The northern resort town of Sapa (Sapa tours) is preparing for a colourful festival week of culture and tourism from April 30 to May 5. Visitors will have a chance to explore the culture of the region, with the Festival of Clouds at Ham Rong Mountain, which will introduce the distinctive culture of the minority groups Mong, Dao and Tay.
Visitors will also see a traditional love market where youth sing in search of a lover, as well enjoy a number of other activities, including a photo exhibition, music programmes, and flowers and food festivals.
Pilgrimage tours to celebrate Vesak
The Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietravel has launched a series of pilgrimage tours to the land of Buddhism in Vietnam in the north in celebration of the United Nations’ Day of Vesak (UNDV), one of the most important Buddhist festivals marking the birth, enlightenment and passing away of Gautama Buddha. The UNDV celebrations will take place in Hanoi from May 13 to 17.
Among destinations for these tours is the birthplace of Vietnam Buddhism, Mount Yen Tu. Eleven pagodas, hundreds of temples and 20 ancient architectural sites are located on this mountain 1,068m above sea level.
Dau Pagoda in Bac Ninh Province and Huong (Perfume) Pagoda in Ha Tay Province are must-see places that Vietravel has added to their stops for the tours.
In Ninh Binh Province, the Bai Dinh Pagoda contains a large bronze statue of Buddha weighing 100 tonnes, three bronze statues, one of which is the 52-tonne Goddess of Mercy, and most well-known, 500 Arhant statues plus two great bells.
Hoi An hosts annual kite competition
The Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort & Spa is sponsoring the fourth annual Kite Competition on May 31 to promote local tourism and culture. As many as 130 participants from the cities of Hoi An, Da Nang and other provinces are expected to participate.
The first prize is VND6mil, with two second prizes of VND3mil, three third prizes of VND2mil, two special prizes of VND1.5mil, and four encouragement prizes of VND1mil each.
The event, which starts at 1:00pm, attracts tourists from both Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort & Spa and other nearby resorts.
Hoi An is a picture-postcard traditional trading port which was at the crossroads of the Southeast Asian sea trade routes between the 15th and 19th centuries.
Caravan tours grow in popularity
The head of the Travel Department under the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, Vu The Binh, said recently that caravan tours were becoming a trademark of Vietnam tourism.
Binh said more than 2,000 international caravan groups visited Vietnam over the past three years. If the Government approved regulations to allow foreign road vehicles to travel in Vietnam, the number of tour caravans to the country would equal the total of all previous years.
Halong greets 3,200 cruise passengers
Saigontourist Travel Service Co welcomed 3,200 tourists from the five-star SuperStar Virgo cruise ship which docked in Halong Bay on Tuesday. The tourists attended an inland tour to explore the beauty of Halong Bay (Halong Tours) with stops at various islets, before heading off to Hong Kong on the same day. The stopover is a part of the cruise ship’s five-day itinerary covering the Hong Kong-Chengzhou-Halong Bay-Hong Kong route.
The SuperStar Virgo will return to Vietnam for a scheduled berth every Tuesday starting from April 22 until October 22. So far this year the company has organised tours more than 20,000 tourists arriving by sea from several countries, including China, the UK and France.
Mui Ne prepares for Liberation Day
Although the liberation holiday (April 30) and May Day (May 1) are still a few days ahead, coastal resorts in Mui Ne in Binh Thuan Province are almost fully booked.
According to Binh Thuan newspaper, the province’s tourism sector has prepared well to receive large groups of visitors during these holidays. Resorts and travel agencies have rolled up their sleeves to make sure the tourist sites in the region are in good shape. Beaches are being cleaned and wastebaskets are being installed. Meanwhile, vendors in Rom Islet and around the sand dunes have been told not to harass tourists with offers of goods and services.
(Source: Viet Nam News, URL: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/travel/2008/04/780257/)
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