Diverse activities of the National Tourism Year

Diverse activities of the National Tourism Year

The launching of the National Tourism Year in the South Central Coastal province of Phu Yen and a special art performance to celebrate the province’s 400th anniversary will be held on April 1.

The information was released at a press briefing in Hanoi on January 25.
Accordingly, more than 30 cultural, sports and tourism events will take place in eight provinces and cities of Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, and Phu Yen in 2011. They include an International Yacht Festival in Mui Ne, Binh Thuan on March 17-20, a Firework Display Festival in Da Nang on April 29-30, ASEAN Traditional Music Festival in Phu Yen from June 1-7, Nha Trang Sea Festival on June 11-15, and Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival of Vietnam’s ethnic groups in the central and highland provinces in Phu Yen in July.
To prepare for the National Tourism Year 2011, Phu Yen has worked with other provinces and cities and the National Administration of Tourism to conduct fact-finding tours of the south-central coastal region to develop tourism products and services. Phu Yen also focused on building cultural, sports and tourism projects to mark its 400^th anniversary and developed its infrastructure and transportation to meet the increasing demand of visitors.
The tourism year entitled “Sea and Island Tourism” will provide an excellent opportunity to promote Vietnam among international tourists.

Vietnamese in Canada and Thailand get together for Tet

Vietnamese in Canada and Thailand get together for Tet

The Vietnamese Embassy in Canada hosted a Tet-get together for overseas Vietnamese on January 22.

Nearly 200 people attended the event including the embassy staff, Vietnam’s representative agencies, students and post-graduates, and their international friends.
Addressing the ceremony, Ambassador Le Sy Vuong Ha reviewed major achievements of Vietnam’s Doi Moi (Renewal) process which helped maintain high economic growth and improve people’s living standards. The ambassador briefed participants on the success of the 11^th National Party Congress and highlighted active contributions of the generations of Vietnamese living in Canada to help the disadvantaged people from the regions in Vietnam hit by natural calamities in Vietnam.
Recently, the Vietnamese community in Canada has raised more than CAD30,000 to flood victims from Vietnam’s central region.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese Association in Nakhon Phanon province, Thailand also held a Tet-gathering for overseas Vietnamese.
The ceremony was attended by more than 1,500 overseas Vietnamese representing 18 Vietnamese associations in Thailand, Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Ngo Duc Thang, Consul General in Khon Kaen, Tran Nguyen Truc, and leaders from the Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Association.
Addressing the opening ceremony, mayor of the Nakhon Phanom province highlighted the importance of the Thailand-Vietnam relations and the active role of overseas Vietnamese in Thailand. He added that the friendship between the two countries had been nurtured for a long time as both nations are ASEAN members and share the Mekong River. In addition, Nakhon Phanom province is very close to Vietnam’s central region. Overseas Vietnamese in Nakhon Phanom in particular and people in Thailand in general have played an increasingly important role in the development and prosperity of Thailand.
Ambassador Thang expressed his wish that Vietnamese Association in Thailand would develop further and make as great contributions as other communities and that the association’s executive committees would become the key force to boost solidarity between the two nations and promote the local Vietnamese community’s development.

Vietnam elected as President of Asia-Oceania Software Park Alliance in 2011

Vietnam elected as President of Asia-Oceania Software Park Alliance in 2011

Quang Trung Software Park has been elected as the President of Asia-Oceania Software Park Alliance in 2011 at an annual conference held recently in Malaysia.

The Quang Trung Software Park has been a member of the alliance for two years.
Assuming the new post, the Software Park will contribute to promote Vietnam’s software industry to the world, offer cooperative opportunities and attract investment to the country’s new industry

Vietnam’s tourism industry: a successful year past

Vietnam received a record high of 5 million foreign visitors in 2010, far exceeding the set target of 4.2 million, and about 28 million domestic visitors.

The tourism industry earned as much as VND96,000 billion, accounting for 5 percent of the country’s GDP, and provided employment for 1.4 million people.
According to the World Tourism Organisation, Vietnam ranks fourth in terms of tourism growth in the world, with its tourist arrivals increasing by 20 percent year by year. This means that Vietnam is sparing no effort to become a safe, friendly, and hospitable destination for tourists coming from all parts of the world.
Tourism in full swing

2010 was considered a golden year full of cultural and tourism events, the biggest of which was the Thang Long – Hanoi millennial anniversary. In response to the National Tourism Year 2010, all provinces and cities in the country actively carried out different programmes to arrange for tourists to join in planting the flag of Thang Long Hanoi on top of Fansipan, the nation's highest mountain, and attend the incense ceremony to honour Hung Kings, the Lam Kinh Festival, the Hue Festival, the Da Lat Flower Festival, and many other activities. Hoang Thi Diep, Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), attributed the success of the tourism industry to its effective promotion campaigns carried out throughout the year.
Following its impressive performances in 2009, the VNAT launched a special tourism stimulus programme called “Vietnam – Your destination” including discounts in August and September and local promotions under the slogan “Friendly Vietnam welcomes you”
In addition, many other promotions took place in key markets such as China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Western Europe, and other ASEAN countries. As a result, in 2010, Vietnam welcomed the highest number of foreign tourist, including 900,000 from China and 400,000 from Japan, up 20 percent against 2009.
According to Vu The Binh, Director General of the Travel Department, the discount campaign offered a good opportunity for the hotel sector to strengthen cooperation with the travel sector.
Strategy to develop tourism in Vietnam

In 2010, the VNAT drafted a development strategy for the 2011-2020 period, under which the tourism industry will strive to increase the number of foreign visitors to 8 million and its earnings to US$8.9 billion in 2015 then to 12 million and US$15.9 billion in 2020. However, there are still shortcomings in the tourism industry that need to be overcome to improve professional skills and quality of tourism products.
VNAT Vice Chairman Nguyen Manh Cuong said it is necessary to make tourism managers fully aware of the need to train human resources for the sake of sustainable development.
Vietnam’s tourism industry needs a reform

Dr. Ha Van Sieu, Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, suggested Vietnam change the ways of advertising tourism products, offer more services, and regularly update information about Vietnam’s land and people, and its strong tourism brand names. Marketing and advertising should be carefully designed to sharpen the competitive edge of the tourism industry, first and foremost, to improve the quality of tourism products.
The success of the tourism industry in 2010 will give fresh impetus for stronger growth in the near future.

11th National Party Congress opens

11th National Party Congress opens

The 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) opened at the My Dinh National Convention Centre in Hanoi at 8 am on January 12.

The congress, themed “Continue enhancing the Party’s leadership capacity and combativeness, promoting the nation’s synergy, comprehensively boosting the doi moi (renewal) process, creating the fundamentals for Vietnam to basically become a modern-oriented industrial country by 2020,” is attended by 1,377 delegates representing more than 3.6 million Party members along with local and international guests.

The congress sees the attendance of the former Party General Secretaries, former State Presidents, former Prime Ministers, former National Assembly Chairmen, former Politburo members, former Party Secretaries, former Vice State Presidents, former Vice National Assembly Chairmen, and former Deputy Prime Ministers.
It is also attended by representatives of Vietnam Heroic Mothers, outstanding professionals, young people and members of the 10th Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission
Politburo member and State President Nguyen Minh Triet delivered the opening speech.

Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh presented the 10th Party Central Committee’s report on documents of the 11th National Party Congress at the opening session, while Truong Tan Sang, Politburo member and permanent member of the CPV Central Committee’s Secretariat will read a review report on the CPV’s leadership and guidance during the 10th tenure.r
Party leader: Vietnam to become modern industrial country

The report was presented by Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh at the opening session of the 11^th National Party Congress in Hanoi on January 12. Reviewing five years of implementing the 10^th Party Congress’s resolutions, the report identified advantages brought about by the renewal process and international integration, as well as mentioning difficulties and challenges caused by deep-rooted weaknesses of the national economy.
It also mentioned natural disasters, disease epidemics, complicated developments in the region and the world, impacts from the global economic recession and financial crisis, as well as subversive and violence-incited activities and the “peaceful revolution” undertaken by hostile forces.
By looking into those, the report affirmed that in such circumstances, the entire Party and the entire people had exerted efforts to fight off difficulties and challenges and attained important achievements in implementing the goals and tasks set forth by the 10th Party Congress.
The national economy surmounted an array of difficulties and challenges to basically maintain stability of the macro economy and maintain a high growth rate, with all sectors posting steps of development, so the potential, strength and scale of the national economy has been enlarged.
Improvements were made in the fields of education and training, science and technology, culture and other social domains while due attention was given to the protection of natural resources and the environment.
The people’s living conditions were made better, politics and society stabilised, national defence and security reinforced, and national independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity maintained.
The country’s external relations and international integration have been expanded, and its prestige and position in the international arena has been heightened.
Progress was made in promoting democracy and the national great unity bloc continued to be consolidated.
The building of the law-ruled socialist state has been stepped up to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of its operation.
The building and rectification of the Party has been boosted and gained positive outcomes.
After mentioning the achievements, the report pointed out existing problems, including economic development that is not yet sustainable, competitiveness remaining low, and the slow pace of economic restructuring.
There were limitations and weaknesses in education, training, science and technology, culture, social affairs, environmental protection, as well as in the fight against bureaucracy, corruption, waste, and social evils.
The report spoke frankly about objective and subjective causes, studying theories and summing up reality failing to meet requirements, a proportion of State officials, Party members, and civil servants having poor capacity and quality, forecasting capacity in many fields staying weak, the Party’s leadership and the State’s management and execution over a number of areas lacking focus and resolve, and the organisation of implementation work being inadequate.
Looking back over ten years of implementing the 2001-10 socio-economic development strategy, the report said the country seized opportunities and advantages, overcoming numerous difficulties and challenges, reaped extremely important and huge achievements, and fulfilled a host of major goals of the strategy.
The economy grew quickly at an annual average rate of 7.2 percent and its structure shifted positively. Institutions for the country’s market economy to operate with socialist orientations continued to be perfected.
In 2010, the country’s GDP recorded a 3.4-fold rise over 2000 as calculated in real prices.
There was a five-fold rise in state budget collection and export value in the year over the past ten years while GDP per capita stood at US$1,168 last year.
Cultural and social fields recorded important gains in a wide range of aspects, socio-political stability maintained, defence and security reinforced and external relations and international integration boosted.
“After 20 years of implementing the 1991 Platform, we have gained huge achievements of historical significance,” the report underlined.
It affirmed the country initially carried out the renewal successfully to escape its less-developed status. The political system and the national great unity bloc were strengthened and enhanced.
The country maintained its independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity and its position and prestige on the international arena was elevated.
Vietnam’s synergy was amplified, creating a premise for the country to continue to grow more robustly on the socialist path.
From the reality mentioned above, the 10^th Party Central Committee drew five major experiences.
They included persisting in implementing the guidelines and goals set for the renewal, being consistent, creatively applying and developing Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, and firmly pressing ahead with the goal of national independence and socialism.

Due attention must also be given to growth quality and effectiveness and sustainable development.
Economic growth must be associated closely with the promotion of social advancement and justice, cultural development and the strengthening of defence and security.

In particular, the Party must be developed and strengthened in all spheres with its leadership and instructions must be sharp, resolute, creative and keep abreast with reality in the country. On the transitional period to socialism in Vietnam, the report confirmed the 1991 Platform on National Construction bore values that served as orientations and guidelines leading the Vietnamese people through the past two decades.
It underscored the need to “continue study, supplement, and develop the Platform”.
On the basis of inheriting the valuable viewpoints and ideologies of the 1991 Platform and at the same time keeping abreast with reality in the country and the time, the Platform should be supplemented with issues that prove to be true and adjustments for the contents that are no longer suitable.
The overall goal set for the country when it accomplishes the transitional period to socialism will be a fundamental base completed for a socialist economy with suitable political, ideological and cultural superstructure so as to lay a foundation for the country to become a prosperous and happy socialist country.
Between now to mid-21^st century, the entire Party and the entire people must do the following tasks:
-Step up national industrialisation and modernisation in combination with developing a knowledge-based economy and protecting natural resources and the environment.
-Develop a market economy in line with socialist orientation.
-Develop an advanced culture, deeply imbued with national identity, promoting human development, raising the people’s living conditions, and implementing social progress and equality.

Hanoi attracts 1.2 million foreign visitors in 2010.

 

   The number of foreign visitors to Hanoi in 2010 is estimated at 1.2 million, up 18.42 percent against 2009, while the number of domestic tourists to the city is expected to increase by 15.22 percent to 10.6 million.

The figure was given at a revision conference by the Hanoi Municipal Department for Culture, Sports and Tourism on December 23.
In the National Tourism Year, Hanoi has launched various campaigns to improve the quality of tourism products such as the “Hanoians welcoming visitors” and “Green tourism year”. The city also held the Thang Long-Hanoi international tourism and cuisine festivals and a contest for outstanding tourist guides.
However, there remain shortcomings to the city’s tourism sector. Hanoi has not yet taken full advantaged of its potential, especially in cultural tourism and the cooperation between related agencies is still very weak.
To meet the target set for tourism development in 2011, Hanoi should focus more attention on managing tourist activities; promoting advertisement, both domestically and overseas; and improving staff training and tourism inspection, said Truong Minh Tien, Deputy Director of the city’s Department for Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Vietnam airlines opens more international flights .

Vietnam airlines opens more international flights

Vietnam Airlines will open five more international flight routes from Da Nang City to Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Guang Zhou and Singapore. 

There will be one flight per week to and from Taipei , two flights per week for travel to and from Hong Kong, Guang Zhou and Seoul , and four flights per week to and from Singapore .

This increase is expected to welcome 1,000 passengers. Vietnamplus