Travel News 21/11 Can Tho to host Mekong Delta green tourism week The Mekong Delta Green Tourism Week will take place in Can Tho city on April 26-28, 2015, according to the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region. To be co-organised by the committee and the Can Tho People’s Committee, the week will feature a series of conferences and seminars focusing on promoting the region’s tourism potential, boosting investment in green tourism, and seeking solutions to regional collaboration in the field. The programme is expected to contribute to the strong development of the Mekong Delta tourism in the time to come, said the committee’s deputy head, Nguyen Phong Quang. It will see the participation of several Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries such as Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, he added. Located between Tien and Hau rivers, the Mekong Delta, comprising Can Tho city and 12 provinces with a population of 18 million, boasts a huge potential for tourism development. In the first five months of this year, the region welcomed nearly 11 million visitors, an 8.9 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Of them, more than 800,000 were foreigners, according to the Mekong Delta Tourism Association. Eighteen travel firms clubbed together Eighteen travel enterprises in HCMC have grouped together to form a new tourist group, known as Travelink, with an aim to improve and expand their services for independent travelers. These enterprises are of small and medium scale, such as Vietcircle, Lien Bang Travelink, Vietnam Destination, Beautiful Asia Tours, Freetour, Lotus Travel, Tourance Travel and Saigonzoom. They are now advertising and selling their products on the website www.travelink.vn. The group currently offers some 30 domestic and international tours. It plans to connect with more travel firms and introduce more new destinations in the coming time. “Small companies do not have strong sales networks and operating capacity, so we establish this group to improve services,” said Tu Quy Thanh, director of Lien Bang Travel Trading Company Limited, who serves as the leader of the group. Thanh said members can introduce and sell all tours of the group on their own websites, and send travelers to his firm for group tours. Companies without websites can use the group’s site to promote and sell their products. Eight enterprises in the city last year also created a group named Vietnam Consortium Group to improve their services and attract more local and foreign tourists. Vietnam, India boost tourism ties  A conference on Vietnam–India tourism collaboration will be held in Hanoi on November 29, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on November 20. The event is co-organised by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Indian Embassy in Vietnam, with the support of Jet Airways and Vietnam Airlines and the participation of 22 Indian leading tourism agencies and journalists. The conference is part of a programme to promote Vietnam–India tourism ties via a Fam Tour, which will take place from November 23–29. The programme provides the chance for Indian journalists and tour agencies to travel to Vietnam’s top destinations in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, the northern province of Quang Ninh and the Mekong Delta region. Additionally, the Indian guests will also meet with their Vietnamese counterparts to seek partnerships and discuss future cooperation. Each year, millions of Indians travel overseas. However, since there is no direct air route between the two countries, combined with a shortage of information on tourism in Vietnam , only 10,000 Indian tourists come to Vietnam every year. Tapping into the potential of tourism is one of the priorities for Vietnam–India cooperation in the near future. On November 5, India’s Jet Airways launched direct routes between New Delhi and Mumbai and Ho Chi Minh City . Meanwhile, Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air plan to run direct flights to India’s localities, including Bodh Gaya. Hanoi to host int’l conference on travel and tourism Representatives from 22 of India’s leading travel agencies and the media will gather in Hanoi on November 29 to attend a tourism and aviation cooperation conference. Over the years, bilateral cooperative relations between Vietnam and India in the fields of politics, defence, security, economics, science and technology, education, culture and people-to-people exchange have developed significantly and flourished. Tourism is considered one of priorities in the cooperative relations. Millions of Indian people spend holidays abroad every year, however, just 10,000 Indian people visit Vietnam annually. The main cause for the modest figure is no direct flights between the two countries and lacking information about Vietnam’s tourism market. Aviation is considered a potential cooperative field. On November 5, Jet Airways opened a direct flight linking New Delhi, Mumbai (India) to Ho Chi Minh City via Bangkok (Thailand). Opening direct flights will help foster cooperation between the two countries, particularly tourism. Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air plan to open direct flights to India, including to Bodh Gaya. Under framework of Fam Tour programme taking place from November 23-29, Indian travel agents and journalists will also visit Vietnam’s famous tourism sites in Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta region, Hanoi and Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh. Jetstar Pacific to launch Hanoi-Bangkok air route The low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific has announced its plan to introduce a new round-trip service between Hanoi and the Thai capital of Bangkok with a flight a day as from March 29 next year. Accordingly, the daily flight using Airbus 320 departs from Hanoi at 12:25 while the return one leaves Bangkok at 15:35. Ticket for the new route is on sale from November 20 at its website and ticket offices across the country. This is the second route linking Vietnam and Thailand opened by Jetstar Pacific. Previously, the carrier inaugurated its service between Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok, which will officially operate on December 10. Hoi An among world’s best hotel destinations Hoi An old town in central Vietnam has recently been listed among world’s top 25 destinations with the highest-rated hotels. The list was made by world-renowned hotel booking website Agoda.com and based on the reviews submitted by the website’s users, who were also required to score hotels on a scale of 0 to 10 in six categories. A hotel's total score is an average of those points. Hoi An ranked 10th in the list of 25 best hotel destinations thanks to its affordable price. Cape Town was the list’s top spot with an 8.43 overall review score. The city's hotels attract a huge number of travelers each year as they have comfortable service and room as well as good staff performance. The Maldives grabbed the second place with an 8.33 average score while Zermatt, a village in Switzerland, ranked third with an average of 8.29. Other destinations include Bruges in Belgium, Gdansk in Poland, Verona in Italy, Sunshine Coast in Australia, Durban in South Africa, Granada in Spain, Krakow in Poland, and Nagano in Japan. In 1999, Hoi An was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO for being a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port from the 15th to 19th centuries, and for housing buildings with a unique blend of local and foreign influences. Since then, Hoi An has been voted one of the top tourist destinations in the world by several tourism magazines. It was chosen as the world’s best tourism spot by UK tourism magazine Wanderlust in January 2013. The town was also ranked second on the Top 10 Asian Cities list by prestigious American tourism magazine Condé Nast Traveler in October 2013. VNS/VNA/VIR