Nghe An Tourism Year 2005: Featuring New Products and Services
The Nghe An Tourism Year 2005 will certainly include cultural and festive activities and events, which will form a system of new products and services in tourism. So said Pham Tu, deputy director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), at a press conference held in Hanoi on August 4, 2004, by the Nghe An People’s Committee.
Hoang Ky, vice chairman of the Nghe An People’s Committee, deputy head of the steering board and head of the organising board of the ‘Nghe An Tourism Year 2005,’ said that Nghe An province has explored and identified tourism potential and the organisation of festivals relating to the province’s deep cultural identity. Nghe An’s landscapes and magnificent caves offer the province great advantage in tourism development, namely the Bua and Tham On caves, and the Xao Va and Kem waterfalls. With an 82 kilometre coast line, the province’s beaches have become a favourite destination for visitors for many years. The province is also home to many rare and precious animal and plant species, with its flora attracting much attention from foreign visitors to the national parks of Pu Mat and Pu Huong.
Nghe An province has made good preparations in terms of facilities for the 2005 tourism year. By July 30, 2004, the province had 266 hotels and guest houses, including two three-star hotels, 11 two-star hotels, and four one-star hotel with 5,371 rooms located mainly in Cua Lo and Vinh. Nghe An province has also focused on creating new products with tours to 1,000 historical and cultural relic sites. Among the 1,000 historical and cultural relic sites, 131 have been recognised as national relic sites, including the Kim Lien historical and cultural site – home village of the world renowned activist Ho Chi Minh - which has been named as one of the 16 most important national tourist attractions and has received investment priority within the 2010 tourism development strategy. Furthermore, Nghe An province has 24 cultural festivals, such as the Qua Son Temple Festival, the Cuong Temple Festival and the River Festival.
The province has focused on five major tourism centres in preparation for the Nghe An Tourism Year 2005. These include Cua Lo, Vinh city, Nam Dan, the Pu Mat National Park and the Quy Chau-Que Phong historical, cultural and ecological tourism centre. In preparation for the event, which will take place throughout 2005, the province has prepared efficient transportation facilities to serve its tourists. Most notably, it has proposed Vietnam Airlines to open more flight routes to Vinh, including Vinh-Hanoi, Vinh-Nakhon Phanom (Thailand), and Vinh-Hainan (China), as well as the existing Vinh-Ho Chi Minh City route.
According to local authorities, Nghe An province has developed 42 projects on building and upgrading works for the event with a total capital of VND1,894.845 billion (US$120.69 million).
One of the main themes of the Nghe An Tourism Year 2005 is a clean environment without litter and a single price mechanism for both Vietnamese and foreign visitors.
Pham Tu said that VNAT and Nghe An People’s Committee would cooperate with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to organise a seminar and explore a tourism programme entitled ‘Eating Rice in Three Countries in One Day’ along National Highway 8 (from Thailand via Laos to Vietnam).
Vietnamese
