Ho chi minh city

(TITC) - On 27 March 2015, in Ho Chi Minh City, Hotel Department (Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT)) in collaboration with Environmentally and Socially Responsible Tourism Capacity Development Programme - Funded by the EU (EU Project) organized a training course for Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Tourism, Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Southern provinces on evaluation criteria, assessment methods and issue of Green Lotus Sustainable Tourism Label. This is the 3rd course in the total of 6 training courses for local tourism management agencies to complete and raise the knowledge about evaluation criteria and issue of Green Lotus Tourism Label, thence improving the quality of tourism accommodation facilities, leading up to the target of developing Viet Nam tourism as a key economic sector. The training course had the attendances of Director of Department of Science - Technology and Environment (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism - MoCST) Tu … [Read more...] about Training on Green Lotus Sustainable Tourism Label in Ho Chi Minh City

(TITC) – The world’s famous travel guide book publisher “Lonely Planet” has just announced the top 10 world’s destinations with reasonable cost for 2016. Both Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City have ranked 2nd. Located in the Red Rive Delta, topography of Ha Noi is alternated by rivers, lakes, mountainous and hills forming many beautiful sightseeing such as: Hoan Kiem Lake, West Lake, Ba Vi Mountain, Huong Son Landscape…In addition, over 1,000 years of establishment and development with many ups and downs of history, Ha Noi still remains its valuable ancient architecture works including Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Ha Noi, Quan Thanh Temple, Tran Quoc Pagoda, Quan Su Pagoda, Long Bien Bridge…and maintains many famous traditional craft villages such as Bat Trang Pottery Village, Ngu Xa Bronze Casting Village, Van Phuc Silk Village… Belonging to the monsoon tropical climate region, Ha Noi has four seasons of … [Read more...] about Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City listed in top 10 world’s destinations with reasonable cost

HCM City (VNA) – The number of foreign visitors to Ho Chi Minh City this year is estimated at 4.7 million, fulfilling this year’s target and up 7 percent from 2014, according to the municipal People’s Committee. The number of domestic visitors is put at around 19.3 million, up 13 percent from last year. The tourism sector estimates its revenues for the year at 94.6 trillion VND (4.22 billion USD), 10 percent higher than last year. The city has focused on tourism promotion on the mass media, particularly television, said Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Pham Huy Binh. Additionally, a wide range of promotion events have been organised throughout the year, such as Nguyen Hue Flower Street Festival, Tourism Day, Southern Cuisine Festival, Southern Fruit Festival, Long Dress Festival, Binh said. The launch of the Nguyen Hue pedestrian street and the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe waterway tourism route was also believed to help attract visitors to the city. … [Read more...] about International visitors to Ho Chi Minh City up 7 pct

The efforts of travel firms and HCM City’s authorities have helped the local tourism sector maintain its growth trend despite declines in the number of tourist arrivals to Vietnam this year. Local travel agencies have recently launched a wide range of new services that meet tourists’ tastes and win their favour, including a city tour by bike and another tour discovering Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal. The city organised and planned to hold a number of promotion activities this year, including an Ao Dai (traditional long dress) festival in March, a southern food festival in May, a southern fruits festival in June, an international travel expo in September and an international delicious dishes festival in December. In addition, promotion activities were also organised in Australia , Japan , the Republic of Korea , Russia , Eastern Europe and Indonesia . HCM City is improving and standardising tourism service quality via a programme to select the city’s 100 interesting things, … [Read more...] about Ho Chi Minh City tourism maintains growth

If you expats are leisurely walking along a street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City and a man comes out of nowhere to invite you to buy his coconuts, chances are he is going to rip you off. >> An audio version of the story is available here There are several groups of coconut peddlers who only target foreign tourists to force them buy coconuts at cut-throat prices, or invite them to pose for a photograph with their ganh – the bamboo yokes hung with baskets at each end used to carry the fruits around – and charge them a great deal. When a couple of tourists were heading to Nam Ky Khoi Nghia in District 1 on May 5, they were stopped by a coconut vendor named Ngoc, who jumped out from his hiding place on Nguyen Du Street. The peddler spoke a few sentences in pidgin English and immediately passed his ganh onto the shoulders of the male tourist, much to the latter’s surprise. Finally, the holidaymakers were asked to pay VND200,000 (roughly US$10) for two coconuts, … [Read more...] about Inside look at coconut rip-offs in downtown Ho Chi Minh City