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| A Sai Gon bread, one of the ten freshly accredited Vietnamese culinary dishes and specialties. (Photo: VNA) |
Nominated by the Vietnam Records Organisation (VietKings), these freshly accredited records include the Sai Gon bread from Ho Chi Minh City, mussel rice from Thua Thien-Hue province, Phan Thiet hotpot from Binh Thuan province, vermicelli soup with special broth from Soc Trang province, green sticky rice from Vong village in Hanoi, sesame candy from Thua Thien-Hue, and Da Lat strawberries from Lam Dong province.
Their recognition is in conformity with the Asian culinary and specialty record criteria.
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| Phan Thiet hotpot from the south central province of Binh Thuan (Photo: VNA) |
VietKings has taken a journey to seek and promote the unique value of Vietnam, especially its culinary delights and specialties, since 2010. Each of the 63 cities and provinces nationwide has its own distinctive flavours, ingredients, and ways of using and combining spices.
Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park attracts over 660,000 visitors
According to VNA, Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, a world natural heritage site in the central province of Quang Binh, has welcomed more than 662,000 visitors so far this year, rising over 6% from 2022, its management board reported.
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| Visitors to Thien Duong (Paradise) Cave in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (Photo: VNA) |
They include over 83,000 international arrivals, up 231%. Meanwhile, the park’s tourism revenue has increased 23% to approximate 270 billion VND (11.1 million USD) this year, statistics show.
The board attributed those results to various measures taken to attract more tourists, including promoting the marketing of tourism products and services via many channels, especially digital platforms, to grab travellers’ interest.
It has coordinated with travel establishments and companies to offer many new tourism products and services like the tour of Ba Cave, the one at Phong Nha Cave at night, and another of Xuyen Son Ho – a lake located 4,500m deep into Phong Nha Cave.
At Phong Nha Cave, lighting experts have been invited to give advice about light arrangement inside the cave to ensure aesthetics as well as brightness for visitors to explore this destination.
Many facilities at the Chay River - Toi Cave and Nuoc Mooc Spring ecotourism areas have also been upgraded to better serve travellers.
In addition, the park management board is also speeding up the building and upgrade of many facilities and the landscape of Tien Son Cave so that this place will be reopened by the end of this year.
Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, covering over 123,000 ha, harbours terrestrial and aquatic habitats, primary and secondary forests, sites of natural regeneration, and tropical dense forests. It is also rich in large, often spectacular, and scientifically significant caves, including Son Doong - the world's largest cave.
The property has been honoured as a world natural heritage site twice.
On July 3, 2003, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO recognised this park as a world natural heritage for the site’s exceptional global value in terms of geology and geomorphology.
Twelve years later, on July 3, 2015, the park was once again honoured, this time for the criteria of outstanding value representing the evolutionary and development processes of terrestrial ecosystems, and possessing meaningful natural habitats for biodiversity conservation.
Transport Ministry raises airfares on domestic routes
The Ministry of Transport has issued a circular allowing domestic airlines to raise the ceiling prices of domestic air tickets on airlines’ request, reported VOV.
The Ministry of Transport has decided to raise airfares on domestic routes as from March 2024
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| Photo for illustration (Source: congly.vn) |
Accordingly, for flights from 850km to more than 1,280km, the ministry proposes the maximum prices ranging from VND2.89 million to VND4 million/ticket depending on flight length, which are between VND100,000 and 250,000 higher than current regulations.
Passengers flying between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the most popular air route in Vietnam, will now pay VND3.4 million at maximum for a single flight, VND200,000 higher than current regulations.
These are ceiling prices that do not include the value added tax, security screening fees, ground service fees and other services of airlines.
The application of the ceiling prices in the aviation industry is, according to the Ministry of Transport, a regulatory tool of the authorities to ensure people’s access to services and avoid monopoly from airlines.
However, airlines say the air ticket prices applied since 2015 are no longer appropriate due to rising costs, especially increased fuel prices.
Faced by financial difficulties, airlines have repeatedly called on the Ministry of Transport to remove the ceiling prices of air tickets.
Hanoi named World’s Leading City Break Destination 2023
Hanoi has been honoured as the World’s Leading City Break Destination 2023 at the World Travel Awards presentation ceremony held recently in Dubai, the UAE, the municipal Tourism Department said on December 4, reported VNA.
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| The Temple of Literature is a tourist magnet in Hanoi (Photo: VNA) |
In the second time it has won this title, the capital city surpassed many other outstanding nominees such as Sydney of Australia, Tokyo of Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong of China, and Lisbon of Spain.
The World’s Leading City Break Destination 2023 award has once again affirmed the potential and attractiveness of Hanoi’s tourism, the department noted.
Hanoi boasts rich tourism resources, including 5,922 historical and cultural relic sites and 1,793 intangible cultural heritage elements such as the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, the Temple of Literature, the Old Quarter - Hoan Kiem Lake, Hai Ba Trung (Trung Sisters) Temple, Soc Temple, Thay Pagoda, and Tay Phuong Pagoda.
It is also home to the country’s largest number of craft villages, 1,350, including famous ones like Bat Trang pottery village, Van Phuc silk village, Ha Thai lacquer village, and Quat Dong embroidery village.
In addition, local tourism infrastructure is being improved in a comprehensive, qualitative, and professional manner. The city has also applied information technology to tourism development, including providing free wi-fi at places of interest, the department said.
This year, Hanoi had 48 restaurants among the 103 Vietnamese ones selected by Michelin Guide, including three granted one Michelin star.
In October, it obtained the World’s Best Golf City Destination 2023 title of the World Golf Awards 2023, proving Hanoi as a unique, attractive, special, safe, and quality tourist destination.
The latest World’s Leading City Break Destination award is another demonstration of the local tourism sector’s efforts and achievements as well as Hanoi’s firm foothold in the global tourism map, according to the Tourism Department./.