Ha Long City to hold ‘wonderful' international workshop; Website provides online tourism consultation, booking services; Travel firm introduces six-day tours to northwest

Ha Long City to hold ‘wonderful' international workshop

An international workshop will be held next Tuesday in Ha Long City, discussing the preservation and development of Ha Long Bay as a natural wonder of the world.

About 20 presentations by Vietnamese and international researchers and managers have been sent to the organisers.

The workshop will focus on Ha Long's development strategy to 2020 and discuss proposed effective management of the bay.
Last year, Ha Long received more than 5.5 million visitors, half of whom were foreigners. But the rapid social economic growth is threatening the natural environment.

Website provides online tourism consultation, booking services

Hoan My Tourism Co is offering online tourism consultation at www.dulichhoanmy.vn with information about inbound and outbound tours, how to select tours, and using online booking services. Company staff can be reached by calling a 24-hour hotline at 0938 336 336.

Travel firm introduces six-day tours to northwest

Vietravel has rolled out six-day tours to the north-west, a region redolent of mountains and valleys and terraced rice fields.

The tours, which will take in Ha Noi, Sa Pa, Ta Van, Dien Bien, Son La, and Moc Chau, will depart on Tuesdays.

But Vietravel advises customers to take the tours on September 4 or 18 or October 2, 16 or 30 when the rice crop will be at its most beautiful.

The tours cost just VND10 million (US$500), VND3 million less than the normal price.

Emirates starts Moscow - Dubai - HCM City service

UAE-based airline Emirates is offering a Moscow-Dubai-HCM City service from June 22 to September 30.

On a round trip costing US$650 net, passengers will fly directly from Moscow to HCM City. During the return trip, they will transit at Dubai and stay there for a night with a free hotel room and airport pickup.

Non-stop flight brings S Korean passengers to Cam Ranh

Asiana Airlines's first non-stop flight has brought 140 passengers from Incheon in South Korea to Cam Ranh Airport in Khanh Hoa Province. The carrier plans to operate two flights a week — on Thursdays and Sundays — through the end of August.

The province's resort town of Nha Trang welcomed 11,500 South Korean visitors in the first half of this year, according to figures from the Khanh Hoa Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Regional tourism ministers to gather in HCM City in September

Tourism ministers from Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Viet Nam will meet at the 2012 International Travel Expo in HCM City (ITE-HCM City 2012) in September to discuss the next steps in the Four Countries — One Destination programme and co-operation plans for 2012-15.

Thailand will be invited to join the meeting which will also discuss how to exploit tourism potential, and make the Mekong River basin more attractive to foreign tourists.

ITE-HCM CITY will also see a meeting of mayors of cities in the expanded Greater Mekong Sub-region — Phnom Penh, Vientiane, Yangon, Kunming, Bangkok, HCM City, and Jeju and Busan in South Korea — that will focus on tourism co-operation among them.

Source: VNS