#Vietnam - Bells toll as Hanoi, Nha Trang named top honeymoon destinations

Hanoi and beach town Nha Trang have been listed among the top 10 honeymoon destinations by The Travel, a leading travel site of Canada, for newlyweds visiting Asia.
Vietnam’s capital ranked second while Nha Trang in central Khanh Hoa Province rounded off the top 10 list, released by the newspaper on Tuesday.

The Travel describes Hanoi as a "great place for a romantic trip, experiencing Vietnamese culture, learning about local history, and savoring delicious food."

The "thousands of years old" city boasts significant historical and cultural values that provide "everything a happy couple on honeymoon could ask for, from ancient temples to museums and shopping centers," it wrote.

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 Nha Trang is described as an ideal destination for newlyweds with "enthralling beaches, ancient temples, and remnants of the ancient Champa Kingdom."

Known for its long stretches of beautiful beaches and scuba diving, the town has been attracting large numbers of foreign tourists, especially Chinese and Russians in recent years.

El Nido on Palawan Island in the Philippines topped the list. The top 10 also features Thailand’s Chiang Mai, Indonesia’s Bali, Singapore, Japan’s Kyoto, Luang Prabang in Laos.

Hanoi made Time magazine’s list of ‘best destinations for every type of traveler’ in December last year.

The city, which hosted the historic second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in February, received 6 million foreign tourists in the first 11 months of this year, up 12 percent year-on-year.

Coastal Nha Trang in April ranked third among the top five Southeast Asian beach destinations favored by Chinese tourists in 2018, according to a report by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. China is Vietnam's top tourism feeder market.

 

VN Express

#Vietnam - Hanoi joins UNESCO's Creative Cities Network

Vietnam's capital city is one of 66 cities that were designated by UNESCO in early November as Creative Cities in various categories.
Hanoi got the UNESCO honour in the ‘Design’ category for its developed design industry, opportunities for creating designs from natural materials and conditions and the presence of active design groups.

Following the designation, the city plans to issue a long-term action program and connect its policies to promote cultural industries and enrich cultural resources, municipal authorities said.

It will also help other Vietnamese cities make it into the Creative Cities Network and contribute to the network’s development.

The Creative Cities Network was launched in 2004 to promote cooperation with and between cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.

Besides Hanoi, 11 other Asian cities entered the list this time: Wonju and Jinju in South Korea, Yangzhou and Nanjing in China, Ambon in Indonesia, Asahikawa in Japan, Bangkok and Sukhothai in Thailand, Cebu in the Philippines, and Hyderabad and Mumbai in India.

The network now has a total of 246 cities in seven categories: music, arts and folk crafts, design, cinema, literature, digital arts, and gastronomy.

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By winning the UNESCO recognition, Hanoi will get opportunities to cooperate with other creative cities in the network and can market itself as an attractive destination for visitors.

Last July the city celebrated 20 years of it being granted the "City for Peace" title by UNESCO, recognizing its contributions to the struggle for peace, its efforts to promote equality in the community, protect the environment, promote culture and education, and care for younger generations.

Hanoi has a number of architectural works with a long history like the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, a UNESCO-recognized cultural heritage site; the Hanoi Opera House; the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum; and the Nhat Tan Bridge, according to the city tourism department.

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2018 was a successful year for Hanoi’s tourism sector with a record high 5.74 million foreign visitors, up 16 percent against 2017. The capital received 4.7 million foreign tourists in the first nine months of this year, up 10 percent year-on-year.

Source - VN Express

Vietnam - Mastercard lists Hanoi, HCMC among top 20 Asia-Pacific travel destinations.

Hanoi is in 15th position and Ho Chi Minh City in 18th among Mastercard’s top 20 Asia-Pacific destinations for international travelers this year.

Mastercard ranked 161 cities in the Asia-Pacific based on the number of overnight international arrivals and travel spending, using data primarily from national tourism boards.

Last year Hanoi received 4.8 million overnight international visitors, who stayed for 3.8 days on average while the southern metropolis had 4.1 million arrivals who stayed for 5.3 days, according to the annual Asia Pacific Destinations Index drawn up by the U.S. payment company, released last Friday.

The average spending by foreign tourists was $78 a day in Hanoi last year and $98 in Saigon, much lower than in Bangkok ($184), Singapore ($272), Kuala Lumpur ($142), Phuket ($247), or Bali ($125), it said.

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The top five destinations in the list were Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, and Seoul, welcoming over one-fifth, or 22 percent of all overnight visitors to the region’s top 161 cities and regional centers in 2018.

Last year the region received 342.2 million business and leisure visitors, up from 159.1 million in 2009, representing 8.9 percent growth annually.

During the period spending by travellers grew by 10.2 percent to more than double from $117.6 billion to $281.1 billion.

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While many Asia Pacific destinations are basking in the growth led by mainland Chinese travelers, South Korea and Japan have also emerged as major source markets, the report noted.

Mainland China accounts for 18.2 percent of international overnight arrivals, South Korea for 9.1 percent and Japan for 6 percent.

"While the world's economic, geopolitical, technological and societal landscapes have all changed dramatically since Mastercard launched this research 10 years ago, one thing has remained constant: the desire of ever-growing numbers of people to explore the world beyond their own borders," Rupert Naylor, senior vice president of Mastercard Advisors in Asia Pacific said.

Last year HCMC and Hanoi were among the world’s 100 most visited travel destinations, a Euromonitor International report said.

Source - VN Express

#Vietnam - Notre-Dame Cathedral, Ho Chi Minh City

Notre-Dame Cathedral, aka Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon, stands in the heart of HCMC, Vietnam's largest city. Construction of the cathedral was completed in 1880 under the supervision of architect J. Bourard. It originally provided religious services for French colonists in the 19th and 20th centuries. All the construction materials were imported from France. The cathedral has two bell towers that are 58 meters high. 

The cathedral, in District 1, has become one of the city's most popular tourist attractions. The outer walls are built of red bricks from Toulouse, France. The cathedral sanctum, 93 meters long, 21 meters high and 35 meters wide, can accommodate 1,200 people. The cathedral, HCMC's biggest, has been closed for restoration since July 2017. The restoration work is expected to last two years. 

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St. Joseph's Cathedral, Hanoi

Inaugurated in 1887, the St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hanoi, which stands on Nha Chung Street, is a site of significant religious importance in the capital city. It is also a familiar destination for tourists, drawn by its beauty and peaceful ambience. The church is also the hub of an area filled with tea and coffee shops that attract thousands of locals and foreigners everyday. 

St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hanoi

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#Vietnam - 50,000 pilgrims visit Huong Pagoda on festival’s opening day

More than 50,000 pilgrims were at the Huong Son complex in Hanoi Sunday, overwhelming roads and cable cars. 

Tens of thousands of devout Vietnamese flocked to the Huong Son complex on Sunday, the first day of the Huong Pagoda festival.

The Huong Pagoda, in Huong Son Commune, Hanoi's rural district of My Duc, is a collection of many temples and pagodas built amidst mountains and forests.

Every year, on the sixth day of the first lunar month, February 10 this year, the three-month Huong Pagoda festival opens. 

The festival, one of the grandest religious festivals in the country, attracts hundreds of thousands of Buddhists in the early days of the Lunar New Year.

From early Sunday morning, the entrance to Thien Tru Pagoda, one of the main pagodas in the religious complex, was overflowing with people. This year, in an effort to ensure security and manage the place better, the organizing committee has not allowed business booths in the temple, caves, on narrow roads and at the Nam Thien Mon Gate.

"This year, the festival’s opening day is still a public holiday, and the weather is warm, so the number of pilgrims has increased dramatically compared to other years," said Nguyen Van Hoat, chairman of My Duc district people's committee.

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The entrance to Thien Tru Pagoda was obstructed as many pilgrims climbed over the fence to get in.

According to the festival organizing committee, more than 125,000 visitors visited the complex from February 7 to 9. On Sunday morning, more than 50,000 pilgrims thronged the sacred complex.

 Pilgrims prayed and made offerings at the pagoda’s altars, invoking divine blessings, peace and luck for the New Lunar Year.

 Thousands waited patiently in line for hours in front of the cable car station to catch a car to reach the Huong Tich cave.

 In 2018, the Huong Pagoda festival welcomed 1.4 million pilgrims, ticket sales feteched VND 112 billion ($4.8 million). This year, 1.5 million tickets have been printed.

 

The Huong Tich Cave, the heart of the Huong Son landscape, had no empty space Sunday morning. On the entrance to the cave, on a high cliff to the left, five words, "Nam Thien De Nhat Dong" (The best cave in the South sky) are carved. These were the words given in 1770 by Trinh Sam, a Lord from the Trinh family which ruled the country at the time.

The Huong Pagoda festival lasts from the sixth day of the first lunar month to the last day of the third lunar month, that is, from February 10 to May 4 this year. This is the longest Lunar New Year festival in the country.

Source - VNExpress

Vietnam - Life on the line: the railway people of Hanoi

Vu Thi Khoa washes her dishes in a plastic basin outside her home using water from a makeshift hosepipe. As she carefully scrubs away the dirt she issues a frank and stern warning.

"Keep your ears and eyes open and pay attention to the light and train horn signals," she says, "to avoid being hit by trains."

Khoa has lived less than a yard away from the railway line for 27 years, so she knows how to stay safe, and to keep others out of trouble, too — she’s raised her children and grandchildren there.

She’s used to the noise, used to the dirt and used to the risks, just like all the people who live their lives on the train line in Hanoi.

Several stretches of the North-South railway line passing through Ha Noi have become points of attraction for foreign tourists because of the houses people occupy just a few steps away from the tracks.

Dating back to 1881, the 1,730km North-South railway line passes through 21 provinces and cities across Vietnam. When Hanoi Station opened in 1902, the train lines that entered it were built in barren areas. But as the city grew and became more populated, houses were constructed closer and closer to the tracks.

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It is estimated there are hundreds of households living this way in the city’s inner districts, including Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem and Dong Da.

Most of the residents used to be railway workers. Some moved to the capital city from other provinces to find jobs.

"Living here is not nearly as good as other places," says Nguyen Thi Dau, who has been living near the railway line for 33 years. "But we’ve been living here so long we’ve all got used to it."

Open up Dau’s front door and there’s a small kitchen, bare walls, a room and an electric fan, constantly pointing in the direction of her husband, who lies on the bed.

He suffered a stroke seven years ago and has rarely moved since.

"The noise used to keep us awake, and we used to freak out when trains passed by because they shook our house. But then we all got used to it," Dau adds. "Life is tough here but we accepted it."

Using a method like Khoa’s, Dao Van Chinh scrubs away dirt from his clothes as he sits leaning over a plastic basin where he washes his garments.

They may come out of the water clean this time, but it won’t be long before they need a new rinse.

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Hin Nam No Soon to be Nominated Laos’ First Natural UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Hin Nam No National Protected Area is on its way to become Laos’ first natural UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Earlier this January in Hanoi, the Lao and Vietnamese governments signed a MOU, ensuring Vietnam’s full support of the nomination of Hin Nam No National Protected Area as a transboundary World Heritage Site together with the already established natural UNESCO World Heritage Site known as Phong Nga Ke Bang (PNKB) National Park in Quang Binh, Vietnam. The latter shares a common border with Hin Nam No National Protected Area in Khammouane, Laos.

High ranking officials including Vice Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture Buagneun Saphouvong, Vice Minister of Energy and Mines Thongphat Inthavong, and Khammouane Province Deputy Governor Khamsy Outhivong met with representatives from the respective government agencies to review and endorse the way forward.

“With Hin Nam No’s huge potential for eco-tourism, it [World Heritage status for UNESCO] will make an important contribution to national socio-economic development, especially for Khammouane people,” said Saphouvong.

“Becoming a World Heritage Site will also enhance the protection of the area, improve conservation and will facilitate better management of the natural resources in and around Hin Nam No, promote ecotourism and scientific research,” he added.

Hin Nam No NPA has been recognized as a site of global significance for the conservation of biodiversity because its variety of habitat and forest types provided by the landscape geomorphology support a high diversity of animals and plants, including a number of globally threatened species, endemic species and karst specialist species. Thus, the elevated UNESCO status will contribute substantially to the conservation of this unique ecosystem.

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 Deputy Governor Outhivong expressed that “Hin Nam No will attract both local and international tourists and thereby will generate incomes for local communities once it is nominated as a World Heritage Site. More importantly, it will also create opportunities to boost the livelihoods of the local communities who live around the area. By this means, they are also able to ensure their food security and alternative income generation.”

  Under the newly signed MoU between Laos and Vietnam, a number of points have been agreed for which both countries commit to support the nomination of Hin Nam No National Protected area as a transboundary World Heritage Site, connected to Phong Nga Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam.

The two countries will also work together to appoint their own committees at different levels to help and push for the nomination of Hin Nam No National Protected Area.
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 Hin Nam No Protected Area

Source - Read more Laotian Times

 

#Vietnam - Sediment loss in Mekong River killing southern delta

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta is home to nearly 18 million Vietnamese people, and is the most important rice field and fishing region of the country.

 

HÀNỘI — The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta is home to nearly 18 million Vietnamese people, and is the most important rice field and fishing region of the country.

Việt Nam cannot afford to lose it as an agricultural powerhouse, but may be unable to stop just that happening.

A recent study conducted by the Agence Francaise de Developpement (French Development Agency – AFD) and the European Union (EU) found that the Mekong River’s sediments arriving down the Cửu Long Delta fell from 65 to 75 per cent compared to the total in the 1990s, and by half over the last few years.

This sediment shortage was mostly caused by human activities in the river’s upstream, with hydropower plants sprouting up despite the protests of downstream countries like Cambodia and Việt Nam. Việt Nam’s own rampant sand mining in the delta’s rivers only exacerbated the situation.  

The study gave a bleak forecast: the Mekong Delta is very likely to receive between 10 and 20 per cent of the nutrient-rich sediment compared to what it used to get in the last century once all the hydropower plant projects on the Mekong River are finished.

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$700m losses  

      

The study also estimated losses of about VNĐ15.8 trillion (US702 million) a year to Việt Nam’s economy due to a severe decline in agriculture and fisheries. The revenue of companies in the region could be cut by up to 50 per cent, the study suggested.

Hydropower dams in the upstream of the Mekong River not only trapped sediment but also blocked fish from freely migrating downstream to the Mekong Delta.

It was found that existing dams have already cost about 50 per cent of fish stocks in Việt Nam and Cambodia, while as many as 10 per cent of fish species would disappear from the rivers in the two countries.

‘Happening too fast’

The huge loss of sediments was wrecking havoc on river banks and coastal lines in the south of Việt Nam, with erosion and subsidence occurring at faster rates than ever before.

“Subsidence in the Cửu Long Delta was widespread and particularly worse in the lowland,” said Dr Văn Phạm Đăng Trí from Cần Thơ University, located in the city of the same name in the Mekong Delta.

Agriculture and Rural Development deputy minister Hoàng Văn Thắng said that the sediment loss stopped the build-up and expanding process of the delta.

“Due to that, we now witness the opposite process – sea encroachment in which more and more land has been lost. It is happening too fast,” he said.

He believed the unsustainable development in the Mekong upstream played a big role in the mass subsidence taking place in the Cửu Long delta.

“But the unsustainable development in the delta itself, for example the rampant sand mining or the overexploitation of underwater, was also very alarming,” Thắng added.

 

VIET NAM NEWS

AirAsia sets up low-cost airline in Vietnam

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Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Berhad plans to start a low-cost carrier in Vietnam in a joint venture with local businesses to tap the country’s booming travel market, company representatives told Viet Nam News in Hanoi.

AirAsia signed a shareholders’ agreement with Vietnam’s Gumin Co Limited, Hải Âu Aviation Joint Stock Company and Trần Trọng Kiên, the owner of these two companies, to form the joint venture last Friday, which was announced by the airline to Malaysia’s stock exchange. 

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The carrier, expected to start flying at the beginning of 2018, will need an investment of 1 trillion dong (US$44 million), with AirAsia holding 30 per cent and Gumin 70 per cent.

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Vietnam is the latest country to lure Malaysian billionaire Tony Fernandes, the head of AirAsia, who is aspiring to build a low-cost airline network covering Asia, as the 28-per-cent growth in Vietnam’s aviation market is three times the rate in other Southeast Asian countries.

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Vietnam is also the fifth biggest aviation market in the region, after Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, with a passenger volume that has doubled since 2013 thanks to a growing middle class population that accounted for 25 per cent of the total population by 2010.

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In recent years, AirAsia has established affiliates in Indonesia, Thailand, India and Japan. The airline is betting on low-cost airline models for international travel through its AirAsia X subsidiary. Fernandes has also ordered hundreds of Airbus aircraft worth billions of dollars to meet his ambitious growth plans, and he is in the process of selling a subsidiary specialising in leasing aircrafts to raise cash.

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However, Brendan Sobie, an analyst at CAPA Centre for Aviation, told Bloomberg that AirAsia would face huge challenges, because it was late in entering the Vietnamese market. “The market is currently well served by two carriers, VietJet Air and Jetstar Pacific. The growth rate will slow down in the coming years, as the low-cost market is now more mature.”

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The value of Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company shares has grown 52 per cent since its listing on HCM Stock Exchange in February 28.

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According to a report released by ACB Securities in December last year, passenger traffic in Vietnam will continue to grow at double-digit rates over the next decade, after an annual growth of 17 per cent in the last decade.

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Source - TheNation

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