The rich culture of ethnic communities in northern coastal Quang Ninh province and northeastern regions was highlighted at the spectacular Carnival Ha Long 2012 held o­n May 1 night.

An event to mark the province’s Ha Long Bay being listed as o­ne of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, the carnival was the biggest ever since first held five years ago.

Thousands of people, including many foreign tourists, enjoyed special performances featuring the hospitality and beauty of Quang Ninh’s people and land.

In addition, performances by art troupes from the Republic of Korea , China ,Laos and the Philippines created extra cultural diversity at the event.

A colourful parade gathering thousands of ethnic people living in the province took place o­n the city’s main street alongside the beach.

Unlike other previous carnivals, where most of the performers were professional artists, this year’s event gathered more than 3,000 ethnic performers drawn from the San Chay, San Diu, Tay and Dao.

The tourists also had a chance to learn about the unique cultural of different ethnic groups when several traditional festivals and customs were presented.

They wallowed in the festive atmosphere of a traditional wrestling competition of Quang Yen district, or a rice-planting kick off ritual from women of the Ha Nam Island in Yen Hung district.

While the San Diu group living in Van Don replicated a traditional wedding, the Dao, Hoang Bo and San Chay groups presented folk dances.

The carnival became more beautiful with a spectacular fireworks performance presented by French artists.

The parade was also joined by a group of 300 local Buddhists, aiming to promote the spiritual culture of the province, considered as a cradle of Vietnamese Buddhism. The 1,068m above sea level Yen Tu Mountain in the province is the place where King Tran Nhan Tong in the 13th century founded the Truc Lam Zen School . The site attracts thousands of pilgrims every year, contributing significantly to the province’s socio-economic development.

Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Hoang Tuan Anh, President of the New7Wonders Foundation Bernard Weber and representatives of other New Seven Wonders of Nature participated in the event.

source from: hanoitimes

The Quang Ninh People’s Committee and the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) launched free wireless internet (wi-fi) services in Ha Long city.

VNPT installed more than 40 wireless internet transmitters in the city along National Highway18A at a cost of more than VND200 billion.

The service will be free of charge during the 2012 Ha Long Tourism Week from April 23 to May 2. Tourists, investors and local residents will have free wi-fi access to basic information pages including the provincial web portal, press and television web pages after the Tourism Week, but will be charged for other entertainment services.

Addressing the launching ceremony, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Dang Huy Hau praised VNPT’s efforts to implement the project after signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the province two months ago.

He added that the service will also contribute to the development of tourism in the city.

source from: hanoitimes

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in co-ordination with the People’s Committees of Hanoi and Quang Ninh province and Vietnam Television, organised a ceremony at My Dinh stadium in Hanoi last night to celebrate Ha Long Bay being officially named as o­ne of the New Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

In his opening speech, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh highlighted the significance of the campaign to vote for Ha Long Bay as a World Wonder, saying that it had attracted ten millions of Vietnamese people, international friends and visitors, which has contributed to the success of Ha Long today.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan thanked the Vietnamese as well as the international friends, who enthusiastically voted for Ha Long over the past four years. He also said he hopes the local authorities and relevant agencies will make more efforts to preserve the site and bring the natural value of the bay into full play.

At the ceremony, President of the New7Wonders Foundation, Bernard Weber, presented a commemorative plaque recognising Ha Long Bay as o­ne of the seven new natural wonders to Minister Hoang Tuan Anh and Chairman of the Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Committee, Nguyen Van Doc.

After the official ceremony in Hanoi, the same plaque will be given to the Quang Ninh authorities o­n May 1 at the 2012 Ha Long Tourism Week.

The event in Hanoi was followed by an art performance with two thousand professional and amateur artists. The show also featured examples of Veitnam’s intangible cultural heritage such as Phu Tho Xoan Singing, quan ho (northern love duets), ca tru (chamber singing), nha nhac (Hue royal music), and the gongs of the Central Highlands.

Ha Long Bay was selected from more than 440 locations in 220 countries and finally was voted o­ne of the new seven natural wonders of the world along with the Amazon (South America), Iguazu Falls (Argentina and Brazil), Jeju Island (the Republic of Korea), Komodo Island (Indonesia), Puerto Princesa Underground River (the Philippines) and Table Mountain (South Africa).

Ha Long Bay was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, in recognition of its outstanding, universal aesthetic appeal. In 2000, the World Heritage Committee additionally recognised Ha Long Bay for its outstanding geological value, said Vice PM Nhan.

He hoped that the event would bring inspiration, national pride, create motivation and participation o­n themes everyone could understand, themes that had real and lasting value. However he noted it was a big responsibility for Vietnam and Quang Ninh Province authorities to preserve Ha Long Bay.

source from: hanoitimes

Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh has been listed among Asia’s top five tropical island paradises, as recommended by CNN.

Stuart McDonald, founder and editor of Asian travel website travelfish.org, told CNN that Ha Long Bay is one of the most stunning boating destinations anywhere in the world.

“Comprising a vast coastal waterway of roughly 2,000 islands spread over an area of 1,500 square kilometers, carving out your own sailing space shouldn’t be too much of a problem. While tranquil waters year round ensure that going for a swim is always a pleasure,” he said on CNN’s website.

“The mysterious limestone caves on Ha Long Bay’s bigger islands and the incredible sunsets meanwhile are two sights not to be missed,” he added.

The other places on the list include Anambas in Indonesia, Koh Chang and Similan in Thailand and Langkawi in Malaysia.

Last November, Ha Long Bay was named one of the world’s seven new wonders of nature, according to the global poll’s provisional results announced by the New Open World Corporation, an associate of the New 7 Wonders Foundation.

source from: tuoitrenews

CNN has voted for Vietnam’s Halong Bay as one of Asia’s top five best tropical island paradises.

CNN praised Halong Bay for its” incredible sunsets”, which is a must for visitors.

Asia’s top five sites include Indonesia ’s Anambas Islands , Thailand ’s Similan Islands and the Kok Chang archipelago, Malaysia ’s Langkawi Islands and Vietnam ’s Halong Bay .

The results are based on surveys of tour operators and prestigious Asian journalists.

CNN also described Halong Bay as a stunning place to go cruising with its magnificent mountainous islands and dreamlike coves and one of the most amazing destinations anywhere in the world

UNESCO has previously recognised Halong Bay as a World’s natural heritage.

source from: tuoitrenews

Gastronomy

According to the organising panel,Gastronomy Ha Long 2012 will be designed on the model of Vietnamese rural markets, selling popular dishes of countryside cuisine of each region. The festival will promote special Vietnamese dishes such as Thanh Tri steamed rice rolls from Hanoi, crab rice pancake from Hai Phong, king banana from Ha Nam, grilled octopus from Ha Long or gat gu cake from Tien Yen, Quang Ninh.

The event is expected to attract more tourists to Ha Long.

source from: qdnd

Despite Reunification Day on April 30, and International Labour Day on May 1 being over a month away, several domestic and outbound tours are already fully booked.

Ha Long expects to host large numbers of tourists for its carnival

Tours fully booked

Quoc, a trade union official in HCM City’s Thu Duc District said “We planned to travel to Danang for the holiday period and booked the tour in February. Now we just want to add a few more people to the trip, but the travel agency said it’s impossible”.

According to a survey carried out by Dan Tri/ DTiNews reporters, travel demand in HCM City has increased by 15% – 20%.

Manager of Vietravel’s Department of Communications, Nguyen Minh Man said, “Up to now, many of our tours are already fully booked, and we’ve reached 70% capacity on the remainder. We’re trying to expand our capacity in order to meet rising demand. We expect to serve around 25,000 tourists during this holiday, up 20% from the same period last year”.

SaigonTourist have sold 65% out of a total of 16,000 seats planned for the holidays, a rise of between 10% and 15% from a year earlier.

FidiTour only started selling tours for the holidays two weeks ago, but 40% of their service has been booked.

Sharp rise in outbound tours

Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, Director of FidiTour Company’s Department of Communication, said, “This year, we have seen a sharp rise in the number of tour groups from organisations or businesses. The situation is marked in contrast to previous years when people often avoided travelling during holidays due to overcrowding and price hikes”.

Mai added that her company has co-ordinated with airline companies to increase the number of flights to popular destinations of Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia to meet rising demand.

In addition to domestic tours and outbound tours to Southeast Asian countries, many companies and families have chosen more expensive tours to Japan, South Korea, the US, and Europe. A tourist firm has recorded a double demand for tours to the US.

Despite the recent hikes in fuel prices and transportation fees, many travel agencies have confirmed that they would maintain their tour prices while some others planned to increase prices by only 5% as they have signed contracts with transportation firms in advance.

source from: dtinews

Quang Ninh provincial People’s Committee and the Post and Telecommunications Corporation have studied and installed 30 transmitters of wireless internet systems in Ha Long City, to better serve Ha Long Tourism Week in 2012 in late April.

This service of free wireless internet will benefit local people, investors as well as foreign and domestic tourists. At first, people and tourists can use free wifi in city centres, surroundings with big hotels or vessels, then hundreds of wifi transmitters will be installed in various other areas throughout Ha Long city.

source from: qdnd

In the film footage Carmen Roberts reported that it has been almost a year since 12 people died on a tourist boat which sank in Ha Long Bay, which was voted as one of the world’s seven new natural wonders in 2011. The accident has prompted a complete safety overhaul, she said.

Reporter Roberts said that thanks to great efforts by local authorities, Ha Long Bay cruise services have improved remarkably with safety equipment for tourists.

The BBC film footage focused on some cruise service providers, such as Bahya, Au Co and Emeraude, to see whether they meet safety standards or not. Au Co is among those meeting international safety standards in the Gulf of Tonkin.

It also touched upon Z189 shipyard in the northern port city of Haiphong, which is currently one of the most modern and prestigious shipbuilding factories in Vietnam. As the shipyard meets international shipbuilding standards, it is providing cruises for Au Co under the strict management of Vietnamese and French experts.

In recent months, the number of foreign arrivals has increased sharply. The local department for culture, sports and tourism said Ha Long Bay welcomed more than 337,000 tourists in January 2012, up 14 percent compared to the same month of last year.

Visitors to Ha Long Bay enjoyed free entrance ticket from January 23 to February 5.

To see how safe tourist boats are in Ha Long Bay, please visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/fast_track/9692898.stm

source from: vov