Beautiful Vietnam
Hue among Vietnam’s largest tourist draw
  • | dtinews.vn | December 08, 2010 03:37 PM

Tourism surveys showed the central city of Hue welcomed a higher number of foreign visitors during the final months of the year than the same period of 2009.

The survey information was gathered from tourism sites and statistics by local agencies and travel agents.

By the end of November, Hue City, in Thua Thien-Hue Province, had welcomed nearly 1.4 million travelers, up 11.7% from a year earlier, according to Nguyen Phuong Mai from the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

She added that international arrivals were up 7.9% on the year with the majority from Thailand and France during the period.

The Ancient Capital Relics Conservation Center of Hue said as of Nov 30, international arrivals to the relics increased by 8.74% on the year while domestic arrivals were up 0.68% on year. The ancient relics raked in a combined tourism and service revenues of VND78.6 billion (US$4.03 million) during the period.

Surveys at high-end hotels such as four-star Mercure Gerbera, Century Riverside and Huong Giang showed that foreign tourists have accounted for over half of their total arrivals in recent days.

Owners of souvenir shops around the Hue relics also admitted that the number of international arrivals in the ancient capital is on the rise these days.

John Smith, from the U.S., who is on holiday in Hue city with his wife and son, said he was very interested in discovering such an ancient capital.

“All my family is very happy when visiting such sights despite of bit of weariness in our legs. After eating the Hue beef noodles, we feel very wonderful to sit on a boat on the Huong (Perfume) River enjoying Hue ceremonial songs.” He added that they will come back to Hue again.

Phan Tien Dung, director of the department, said Hue is among the top of the list nationwide in terms of tourism attraction. The rating, the first of its kind in Vietnam, will be announced this month. It was jointly carried out by experts, managers and researchers in line with the Vietnamese Institute of Tourism Development Research (ITDR).

Between January and November, Thua Thien-Hue province received 1.36 million visitors, and earned tourism revenues of VND774 billion (US$39.69 million), up 11.7% and 20.4% on the year, respectively. This year, the province aims to welcome 1.5 million tourists with revenues rising 15% from last year, according to the Kinh Te Vietnam & The Gioi Newspaper.

DTiNews caught some photos of foreign tourists enjoying their time in Hue recently:

 

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