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| Foreign visitors at Binh Tay market, HCM City (Photo: VNA) |
Agoda analysed the travel platform’s booking data in the first three months of 2024 to compile the rank.
Ranking seventh on the list, HCM City, famous for its bustling streets, pulses with vibrant energy that is best enjoyed when embraced fully, Agoda said, suggesting visitors step in the rhythm of the locals and experience the city slowing down by enjoying a traditional Ca Phe Sua Da, Vietnamese coffee, in the morning.
Visitors are also recommended to taste the culture of Vietnam by indulging in the epic street food variety then take a break from the buzz, and seek solace among a collection of over a thousand trees at Tao Dan park, one of the city’s oldest parks.
The city takes the crown in Vietnam as the tourist destination where travellers spend the most time, followed by Bac Ninh and Phu Quoc island.
Leading the pack for the longest average visit duration is Thailand’s Khao Lak. Other destinations with the highest length of stay are Seoul (the Republic of Korea), Perhentian island (Malaysia), Tokyo (Japan), Siargao (the Philippines), Pekanbary (Indonesia) and Ahmedabad (India).
Director of Agoda Vietnam Vu Ngoc Lam said slow travel has been a facinating travel trend as tourists want to escape from the daily grind, and create deeper connections with local people.
Whether it is lazing around in a beach villa or settling in a chic city hotel, the destinations are a great choice for those looking to fully submerge in a holiday destination, he said, adding some of the destinations on the list are also well-known favourites for shorter city breaks, but both the rural and urban destinations on the slow travel rank are worth spending an extended amount of time in.
Vietnam ranks second among international tourist arrivals to Laos in first quarter
Among more than 1.1 million international tourist arrivals to Laos in the first quarter of the year, Thailand ranked first with 337,689 arrivals and Vietnam came second with 263,165 arrivals, according to the Lao Tourism Development Department.
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| Sayaboury Province Elephant Festival is a unique festival attracting a large number of tourists to Laos. (Photo: NDO) |
They were followed by China, the Republic of Korea and the US.
Southeast Asian countries sent the most tourists to Laos during the period with 620,250 arrivals. Following are Asia-Pacific with 374,353 visits, Europe with 84,778 arrivals, and America with 35,191 arrivals. Africa and the Middle East ranked last with 2,539 arrivals to Laos in the three months.
As soon as it reopened after the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, Laos identified 2024 as the national tourism year with the slogan “Traveling safely, enjoying, culture, history and nature” in order to promote development of the tourism industry, creating more jobs for society and increasing foreign exchange revenue for the country.
Looking back at 2023, Laos welcomed more than 3.4 million international visitors, an increase of 164% compared to 2022, bringing more than 1 billion USD in revenue. Domestic visitor arrivals reached 1.9 million, an increase of 14% compared from the previous year.
Laos is an attractive destination, suitable for those pursuing the slow travel trend. This country possesses many long-standing cultural destinations, retains a pristine beauty and is largely unaffected by commercialization.
In addition to the goal of accessing domestic and foreign tourism markets, the Lao tourism industry is gradually improving service quality and diversifying products to meet the needs and expectations of tourists.
Pangasius export prices forecast to increase by 10% in second half of year
Vietnam’s pangasius exports reached 411 million USD in the first quarter of 2024, down 2.5% from the same period in 2023, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Situation of pangasius exports is expected to be better from the third quarter of 2024, leading export prices to increase by at least about 10% compared to current prices.
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| Pangasius exports are forecast to grow from the third quarter of 2024. |
In the first quarter of 2024, frozen filet is still the main product of Vietnam’s pangasius exports, accounting for an 80% proportion. For processed pangasius, export turnover in the first 3 months of this year reached 9 million USD, up 16% over the same period, accounting for a 2% proportion.
In addition to large markets of Vietnamese pangasius such as China, the US and the EU; Thailand, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Germany are small but potential markets.
Thailand is one of the world’s leading tourist destinations, and continuously tops the ASEAN bloc on consumption of Vietnamese pangasius due to commonalities in Asian tastes.
In January 2024, Vietnam continued to top the supply of white meat fish (mainly pangasius) to Thailand with more than 3,000 tons, far ahead of other countries in the race to export white meat fish to Thailand.
For the UAE market, room for pangasius export remains as 90% of the food consumed in this market comes from imports. The UAE's average seafood consumption per capita is 28.6kg a year, higher than the global average.
In addition, one market with recommended focus on competitive pricing to increase export turnover in 2024 is Germany. In 2023, Germany consumed 38 million USD worth of Vietnamese pangasius, an increase of 31% against 2022. Germany mainly imports frozen filet products worth nearly 37 million USD, an increase of 34% against 2022, accounting for 97 million USD.
Dong Thap exports 15 tons of frozen lotus roots to Japan
A ceremony to announce the export of lotus roots to the Japanese market through official channels was held in Thap Muoi district, the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, on May 7.
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| A batch of 15 tons of lotus roots has been officially exported to the Japanese market. Photo: sggp.org.vn |
This is one of the activities of the second Lotus Festival in Dong Thap.
Accordingly, this shipment of about 15 tons of frozen lotus roots, using IQF technology, has been implemented by Dai Viet Sen Joint Stock Company for the first time. The 1 billion-VND batch, packed in a 40-foot container, will go from Cat Lai Port (HCMC) to Tokyo Port (Japan).
In 2024, Sen Dai Viet plans to export eight containers worth nearly 7 billion VND to Japan. Lotus root material takes about 4.5 months from planting to harvest, and it will be purchased by the company from Dong Thap and other provinces in the Mekong Delta region.
Thap Muoi’s lotus growing area accounts for more than 30% of the whole province’s lotus area, equivalent to 525 hectares. In 2023, lotus farmers earned an average profit of more than 28 million VND per ha for each crop.
This is a unique branded product of Dong Thap, with high economic value and potential for tourism development. Lotus is also one of the key commodities identified in the province’s Agricultural Sector Restructuring Project.
Lotus is widely grown in localities in the province on more than 1,800 hectares, with an output of more than 1,500 tons a year.
Currently, Dong Thap has more than 40 establishments producing and trading food from lotus; and 56 OCOP products made from lotus.
Binh Thuan promotes tourism in Seoul, RoK
A delegation of Binh Thuan province, led by Mr. Nguyen Minh, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, coordinated with the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism to organize a conference to promote tourism in Seoul, the Republic of Korea (RoK), on May 7.
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| Overview of the conference |
This is the first time Binh Thuan has organized the conference in the RoK. The event was attended by more than 80 representatives of organizations, agents, travel companies, partners and press media in the land of Kimchi.
In his speech at the event, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Minh emphasized that in recent years, tourism cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK has achieved very good results. Many localities in Vietnam have become favorite destinations for Korean tourists, including Binh Thuan, an outstanding destination with “blue sea, white sand and golden sunshine”.
Currently, Binh Thuan and Mui Ne are among new destinations receiving a lot of attention from Korean tourists.
At the event, many leading tourism businesses in Binh Thuan introduced typical, unique, attractive tourism products and services and stimulus programs to attract Korean tourists. From there, Korean tourism businesses and Korean people will have more information about destinations, products and services to build tourism programs to Binh Thuan./.