To French tourists, Vietnam is home to beautiful landscapes, a long history and diversified culture, good security and politic stability, friendly people and attractive services. Therefore, France is one of top 10 source markets of Vietnam tourism; the French have long stay, usually over 2 weeks.

Recognizing French market’s tourist potentials, Vietnam tourism sector plans to develop specific strategies to attract more French tourists to Vietnam as well as to extend their stay and encourage them to come back in future.

The project has analyzed characteristics of French market; Vietnam’s capacity to meet French tourists’ demands; activities to promote the market; and solutions to enhance the attraction and quality of services for French tourists.

At the discussion, participants have contributed ideas aiming to increase the project’s feasibility in practice; focusing on solutions such as attracting Vietnamese overseas’ participation in promoting Vietnam’s image in France; linking tours between Vietnam and Southeast Asia destinations; developing tourist products in accordance with French customers’ demand; establishing Vietnam tourism website for French market and cooperating with Vietnam Cultural Center in France… to promote Vietnam’s image.

It is hoped that the project on strengthening to attract French tourists to Vietnam would bring about high success, contributing to welcome 7 to 7.5 million international arrivals to Vietnam in 2015.

(source: vietnamtourism.gov.vn)

Under the province’s maritime economic development programme for the period 2011-2015, Kien Giang will focus its investment in areas where it excels such as fishing, tourism, maritime transport, fishery services, the production of construction materials and processing of agricultural products.

The province is also expected to become a leader in maritime operations and will introduce socio-economic development combined with national security.

Having so much potential for maritime economic development, Kien Giang also has the advantage of having two border gate economic zones – Duong Dong and Ha Tien. It also boasts a lot of beautiful countryside and is in an excellent position to develop its trade, services and tourist industry.

The government has also defined Kien Giang as key for the protection of the country’s maritime borders.

The Mekong Delta province’s maritime economy is currently undergoing a comprehensive development.

A wide range of methods have been applied to aquaculture, raising the volume of aquatic products to 396,600 tonnes in 2011, up by 84,982 tonnes compared with 2006.

More attention is now being paid to the network of ports and harbors, including An Thoi, Duong Dong, Tho Chau, Nam Du, To Chau and Tac Cau ports.

Local people have seen their living standards improved and political security and social order ensured.

(source: VNA)

Bountiful: Tours to visit coffee plantations have been organized in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, especially in Buon Ma Thuot City, where tourists can admire and enjoy the national most flavorful products. — File Photo
Yet in spring, especially during March and the third lunar month, the area seems to be even more beautiful than usual as the colors of nature awaken to the new season. One of the most prominent colors amid the vivid rainbow is the pure white of coffee flowers and waterfall foam, which are the inspiration behind the recently launched coffee tour by Dang Le Company.

Dubbed as the nation’s coffee capital, Buon Ma Thuot, with its unique basalt soil, offers some of the most flavorful coffee in the central province of Dak Lak’s nearly 200,000ha of coffee plantations.

Dak Lak produces much of the world’s coffee, with the second highest volume of exports (first for robusta) after Brazil.

“Our first challenge in opening the coffee-themed tour is addressing the fact that tours to the seaside are more popular among Vietnamese tourists and Dak Lak has yet become a real tourism hub,” Pham Thi Thu Hoan, deputy executive director of the company, told Vietnam News. “We have to make a breakthrough in ideas about adventure travel.”

For this reason, the coffee tour is more suitable for people who love coffee and really want to explore the wilderness, she said.

Last November, the company received a patent for its coffee tour from the Ministry of Science and Technology.

To offer a glimpse of the region’s natural wonders, the tour features visits to various waterfalls along the local Serepok River, a tributary of the Mekong, like Draynur Falls and Trinh Nu Falls.

Picture perfect: The coffee tour gives tourists a chance to explore the pristine beauty of primeval forests and waterfalls. — Photos courtesy Dang Le Co
It also includes various ecological destinations like CuHLam Hill and Mdrak Farm, where tourists can experience a rich array of wild flora and fauna as well as farm life at a home which raises rare horse breeds from the UK, Australia, France, Mongolia, and a wild dog breed from Phu Quoc Island.

A key stop on the tour is Buon Ma Thuot City, where tourists are guided to the World Coffee Museum which features coffee-related information such as history, geology, technology and culture of various coffee producing countries.

A stop by a coffee farm offers a real treat as visitors can feast their eyes on an immense field full of white coffee flowers, a striking view with green leaves and red basalt soil in the background.

Don Village is the final stop on the schedule and is already a popular tourism destination, where people can learn about the UNESCO-recognized gong culture and the tradition of taming wild elephants.

Hoan said the company currently organizes five to seven packaged coffee tours per month to both Vietnamese and foreign visitors. Each group gathers up to 30 people.

Triple gong: Visitors can collect more information at the province’s World Coffee Museum.
Another peak season for the tour is during coffee harvest season in December which almost coincides with winter break in western countries, she said.

The company is collaborating with other travel agencies to bring tourists to the tour destinations such as the waterfalls and the museum.

“This tour is interesting,” noted Nguyen Van, a representative from the Hanoi Tourism Association. “Travel agencies in Hanoi would like to further co-operate with the company to introduce the coffee tour to broader audiences in the north.”

Harumitsu Hida, the Japanese Consulate General in HCM City, wrote about his impressions and memories of the tour during his first trip there last April.

“I know more things about Trung Nguyen coffee, which I drink every day at work, … as well as the early day of setting up and developing a local coffee plant and the Made-in-Vietnam coffee trademark…” he wrote in the Vietnamese language.

He also expressed regret about not having the chance to taste weasel coffee during the trip.

The company opened a buffet at the museum in March which offers 50 dishes from the country’s three regions at weekends and holidays.

A resort with 90 rooms and a meeting hall with the capacity to hold 300 seats will open in June at the museum.

For the truly adventurous, an extreme sports center will open on Draynur Isle, 25km south of the city center, later this year.

With the theme “Lotus in the fine arts”, the show will be a combination of the lotus, which is on way to becoming the national flower, and the “ao dai”, underlining their aesthetic value in the souls of Vietnamese people.

With nearly 20 designers from the length and breadth of the country and 150 models, the 90-minute show is expected to attract a large audience.

Explaining why lotus was chosen as the major theme for the show, Minh Hanh, a leading designer, said that the lotus is very familiar to Vietnamese people, especially those who live in Hue .

It is not easy to represent the beauty of the lotus in a long dress as the flower embraces all the spiritual hallmarks and purity of the Vietnamese people. However, using their own creativeness the designers have created numerous romantic images of the lotus on “ao dai”, said the designer.

According to Hanh, the traditional and mysterious beauty of the “ao dai” is very easily understood. The national traditional long dress had previously been showcased at seven Hue festivals.

Vietnamese designers are also making an effort to promote the image of the “ao dai” overseas as many foreigners have shown an interest in the dress.

Vietnam ’s traditional long dress is beautiful in the eyes of foreigners because of its gracefulness and contours, said the French based General Director of the Big C Group.

The “ao dai” show will take place on the bank of the Huong (Perfume) river, where a huge conical hat made of leaves is also on display. Both are expected to become high points of the Hue Festival.

(Source: VNA)

Vietnam is a preferred holiday destination

Vietnam is one of the most preferred locations to the travelers, who love to discover Asia. Vietnam is much popular amongst tourists across the world; for its natural beauty, tranquil beaches, stunning landscape, enriched culture, sumptuous cuisines, traditional music and rich literature. Vietnamese are very good people; they treat tourists as their guests. Since 90s, the country has become a major and prominent tourist destination. Tourism in Vietnam has improved a lot during this period. Government of Vietnam has been putting constant effort and making investments for the betterment of Vietnam tourism.

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