Much has been written about the peaceful, ancient town of Hoi An. For those wanting to learn about it, they can easily find a sea of relevant information and images on the web. However, local and international tourists have kept flocking to the town in droves since UNESCO recognized it as a world cultural heritage site in 2000. Hoi An is a completely different world for both local and international visitors..Hoi An is also a famous destination of Vietnam tour.

Vietnam has a big “gold mine” – the heritage – which is very attractive to travelers. However, Vietnam travel industry still does now how to exploit the mine.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has decided to name the 2012 tourism year “the national tourism year of coastal provinces in the north of the central region – Hue” with the themed “heritage tourism”.

Cultural heritages overexploited

Cultural tourism is now the growing tendency in many countries in the world. This type of tourism helps preserve the traditional culture, while it helps create jobs and increase in the incomes of local people. Vietnam has a gold mine of heritages, but it still does not know how to exploit it in the most effective way.

A large number of companies of Vietnam tour in the northern region will club together to serve Chinese visitors via Quang Ninh’s Mong Cai international border gate to ensure better quality of services and cope with unfair competition.

Like the newly-established club to receive Thai and Lao travelers through the central region’s border gates, the forthcoming club will implement measures to improve services, apply a minimum tour price, and prevent price undercutting and poor services for Chinese tourists. Travel firms that have offices in Mong Cai can also join the club.

Once again, after the terrible earthquake and tsunami disaster that hit Japan this March, Vietnam travel is working hard to revive the influx of Japanese tourists back into the country.

By July, companies of Vietnam tour and Japan are offering attractive promotional programs, aimed to lure more Japanese visitors back to Vietnam.

According to APEX Tourism Company, the numbers of Japanese visitors that had seen a sharp decline after the twin disasters are now showing signs of increasing in August.

Code:DAB01 (Hanoi)

Feature: A soft eco friendly adventure tour, ride through the historical Long Bien Bridge and typical Vietnamese villages in the outskirts of Hanoi. No noise of vehicle, just bike in about approx. 40km. An escape to the countryside of Hanoi that shouldn’t be missed once visiting this city.

Day 1: Our day trip

The five-star SuperStar Virgo cruise ship will dock at Ho Chi Minh City’s Lotus port at 9am on July 5, bringing 2,700 travelers to Vietnam tour, mainly from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

The foreign tourists will take the day to visit historical sites en route from Ho Chi Minh City to Cu Chi and My Tho and take part in various activities such as shopping in Ben Thanh market, watching a water puppetry show, touring a bee-keeping farm and fruit gardens and enjoying honey tea.

The visitors will also participate in a cooking class to learn about traditional Vietnamese food and they will cook under the instruction of professional chefs.

The central coast city of Da Nang is well known for the white-sand beaches that attract throngs of local and international travelers to Vietnam tour. Usual sights at the alluring My Khe Beach in central Da Nang late in the afternoon are huge crowds of local residents mingling with tourists, mostly Vietnam, in the crystal-clear sea. Meanwhile, the out-of-town stretches of Da Nang Beach are lined with medium- and high-end resorts, especially those for international tourists and well-to-do local holidaymakers.

Being rich in tourism potential, Kon Tum has become an attractive tourist destination of Vietnam tour during recent years. In the near future, Kon Tum tourism will be connected to coastal provinces in the central region and highlands with the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia development triangle.

The Mang Den Eco Tourist Site is considered one of three key economic regions of Kon Tum. According to the draft Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy until 2030, the central highlands are one of seven specific tourism regions in Vietnam. Mang Den is proposed to be one of 31 tourism sites that have special tourism development potentials. Therefore, priority should be given to turn Mang Den into a national tourism site.

From 27th to 29th May, 2011 at Lavie Vu Linh Eco lodge, Yen Bai province, a popular ecotourism destination north of Hanoi, the RTC has convened a training workshop to examine ways in which the local tourism industry can operate sustainably in Vietnam’s fragile environment whilst at the same time work towards its protection.

The workshop has a participation of 36 people from 13 Vietnam tour operators and other organizations. Workshop partners include SNV – Netherlands Development Organization and WWF – World Wildlife Fund, with additional presentations being given by Vietnam national administration of tourism - VNAT and ENERTEAM.

Vietnam has plentiful natural resources, longstanding cultural heritages, picturesque landscapes and a variety of crafts but these resources are not yet fully and efficiently used for the country’s socioeconomic development.

To improve livelihood and reach appropriate environmental management, local communities and authorities need to further renovate their ways to approach and learn about their cultural values, promote economic development through stimulating craft villages, and develop tourism using local communities’ resources.