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| Dancers perform in the Hoi An Memories show (Photo courtesy of Hoi An Memories Land) |
This is the second year in a row that the Vietnamese complex has received the World Travel Awards honour. Previously, the Hoi An Memories Land claimed the 2022 world leading entertainment destination title.
The Hoi An Memories Land surpassed plenty of famous names in the international tourism map such as Legend Siam, Thailand's first and largest cultural entertainment park, and Ocean Park Hong Kong, the largest amusement park in Hong Kong (China), to come first in the category this year.
The complex features tourism, art performance, entertainment, and resort & spa products in Hoi An, a famous tourist attraction for both domestic and international travelers.
It also hosts the Ký Ức Hội An (Hội An Memories) which is a 60-minute show on the 400-year history and development of Hoi An on the open-air stage in the middle of the Thu Bon River. The show debuted in 2018 and involves the performance of 500 artists, making it an amazing entertainment destination in the ancient town.
The art performance features the daily life of people in Hoi An, including the silk trade; ceramic production; folk performances; busy trade; and the cultural imprints of Japan, China and Europe through visits by merchant ships to Hoi An trading port in the 14th century.
The 2023 World Travel Awards, one of the leading tourism awards in Asia, has been dubbed the “Oscars of Tourism”. The awards launched in 1993 aims to develop the global travel and tourism industry by identifying and rewarding excellence whilst inspiring its practitioners to continually raise the standards of their product and service offering.
Vietjet inaugurates Ho Chi Minh City-Shanghai route
Vietjet Air has inaugurated a new route connecting Ho Chi Minh City and China’s Shanghai, facilitating convenient and easy travel for both residents and tourists, reported VNA.
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| At the inauguration of Vietjet’s Ho Chi Minh City - Shanghai route. (Photo: Vietjet.com) |
Vietjet’s Ho Chi Minh City - Shanghai route operates with seven round trips per week, with a flight time of just over 4 hours per leg.
With Vietjet’s new routes, flyers can easily travel to Shanghai, China’s most populous city. The connectivity between Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai will open up more opportunities for the development of high-end products, services, trade connections, and investment attraction.
Ho Chi Minh City, home to nearly 9 million people, is a prominent economic, cultural, and tourist centre of Vietnam and Southeast Asia. It is also a transport hub, offering seamless connectivity to a plethora of destinations within Vietnam and internationally.
In particular, Vietjet has painted the Ho Chi Minh City tourism symbol on its aircraft with a message about a friendly, hospitable Ho Chi Minh City that welcomes tourists around the world.
Vietjet has operated services between Vietnam and China since 2014 with the very first routes facilitating travel for Chinese visitors to popular tourist destinations in Vietnam, including Nha Trang, Da Nang, and Phu Quoc.
With a focus on cost management ability, effective operations, and performance, applying the latest technology to all activities and leading the trend, Vietjet offers flying opportunities with cost-saving and flexible fares as well as diversified services to meet customers’ demands.
Vietjet is a fully-fledged member of International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate.
As Vietnam’s largest private carrier, the airline has been awarded the highest ranking for safety with 7 stars by the world’s only safety and product rating website airlineratings.com and listed as one of the world's 50 best airlines for healthy financing and operations by Airfinance Journal in many consecutive years.
The airline has also been named as Best Low-Cost Carrier by renowned organisations such as Skytrax, CAPA, Airline Ratings, and many others.
Speciality foods featured at Hanoi Culinary Culture Festival
According to NDO, the 2023 Hanoi Culinary Culture Festival opened on December 1 night at the Tran Nhan Tong Street pedestrian zone, featuring a wide range of famous and exotic foods from Hanoi and other localities.
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| The opening ceremony of the Hanoi Culinary Culture Festival. |
Visitors to the event were treated to Hanoi’s specialties, such as Me Tri green rice, Bao Phuong moon cakes, Ngau Village alcohol and Hoa Nam roll cakes.
They also had an opportunity to learn about the process of making some famous dishes, including Uoc Le pork paste, Thanh Tri roll cakes, West Lake shrimp cakes and Quan Ganh glutinous rice cakes.
In addition to the capital city’s foods, the festival also features the outstanding dishes of other provinces and foreign countries, such as India, Iran, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines.
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| A booth showcasing green rice. |
Within the framework of the festival, there are other cultural activities such as culinary exhibitions, performances of traditional music and arts and handicraft workshops.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Hanoi Vice Chairwoman Vu Thu Ha stated that the festival is a chance to honour traditional culinary values and strengthen the friendship between Hanoi and Vietnam with international friends.
The event lasts until December 3.
Visit Vietnam Year 2024 will highlight Dien Bien Phu victory
The Visit Vietnam Year 2024 hosted by the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien will feature cultural, economic, and social events associated with the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory (May 7, 1954 – 2024), according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
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| Dien Bien province will host the Visit Vietnam Year 2024. (Photo courtesy of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism) |
According to VNA, the events will introduce and promote the beauty, cultural values, and unique tourism products of Vietnam and Dien Bien in particular to visitors.
The opening ceremony and the Ban Flower Festival, highlighting the symbolic flower of the province, will be organised in March in Dien Bien Phu city. They will be broadcast live by the Vietnam Television.
Meanwhile, the closing ceremony is scheduled for the end of December, featuring a stellar art programme and flag handover to the next host locality of the Visit Vietnam Year.
In the framework of the Year, a total of 28 events will be held in Dien Bien, while the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will chair and coordinate with stakeholders to organise 13 other activities.
Dien Bien has set a target of welcoming 1.3 million tourists and earning a total revenue of 2.2 trillion VND (over 90.6 million USD) from tourism activities in 2024.
Dien Bien is striving to create breakthroughs in tourism development, through improving the quality of tourism services and human resources serving tourism, organising new tours, and investing in infrastructure development, thus creating motivation for its socio-economic development in the coming time.
The National Tourism Year 2024 will also offer a chance to strengthen links in domestic and international tourism development.
As a land with significant historical and cultural value, for the past 69 years, Dien Bien has preserved and promoted the value of the Dien Bien Phu historical site, contributing to making it an attractive tourist destination.
The Dien Bien Phu Campaign lasted from March to May 1954 under the command of General Vo Nguyen Giap. The victory on May 7, 1954, led to the signing of the 1954 Geneva Accords in which France agreed to withdraw forces from its colonies in Indochina.
The former battlefield has become a major tourist attraction in Dien Bien province.
The complex of Dien Bien Phu battlefield features 45 relic sites scattering in Dien Bien Phu city, Dien Bien and Tuan Giao districts.
According to statistics, from 2016 to 2020, Dien Bien welcomed 3 million tourists, earning a total revenue of 4.8 trillion VND.
Dien Bien has achieved unprecedented economic growth, resulting in significant improvement of the cultural and social well-being of its residents.
The locality's Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) expanded by an average 6.8% per year in the 2016-20 period./.