Hoi An offers night tours of Cu Lao Cham Island Hoi An offers night tours of Cu Lao Cham Island Besides day tours, the Hoi An City People's Committee has opened all-day tours on Cu Lao Cham Island every Saturday, attracting many tourists. Tourists will visit attractive sites such as the island's sea conservation area and Hai Tang Pagoda, and look at colourful fish and coral reefs. Tourists can also see locals making fish nets and hammocks. At night, the tour includes special art performances, folk games, camp-fire activities at the beach, and stays at locals' homes and tents to sleep along the beach. Located 15 kilometres from Cua Dai Beach in Hoi An City, Cu Lao Cham, a complex of eight small islands with a total population of about 3,000, is a UNESCO-recognised Biosphere Reserve. Tourism festival to be held at Tram Chim National Park The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Dong Thap will organise a tourism festival at the Tram Chim National Park in Tam Nong District on September 25. The festival will include a photo exhibition about the national park, a world Ramsar site (wetland of international importance), a bird contest and tours to view the park during the delta's flooding season. The 7,612-ha national park is among the delta's most beautiful destinations during the flooding season. It has a vast area of green cajeput trees, and beautiful lotus and water lily flowers. The park, which is one of the country's eight most important bird conservation areas, has 198 bird species, including red-headed cranes listed in the World Red Book of endangered species. Three Quang Binh beaches are major tourist draws The Quang Binh Province People's Committee has recognised Nhat Le, Quang Phu and Bao Ninh beaches in Dong Hoi City as the province's top tourism destinations. Nhat Le Beach in Hai Thanh Commune has a 1.6km white sand, clear blue water and primitive beauty. Quang Phu and Bao Ninh beaches are 450-500 metres long with white sand. Quang Binh has attracted tourists in recent years as its has many world-famous natural sites such as the UNESCO-regconised Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, which hosts magnificent Son Doong Cave, the world's largest cave. Mekong Delta orchards beautiful during harvest season Fruit orchards in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, the country's largest fruit cultivation area, are now in the harvest season. Can Tho City as well as Tien Giang, Vinh Long and Ben Tre provinces are among the delta's localities that have fruit orchards with tourism services. Ben Tre Province alone has 47 eco-tourism fruit orchards. Cho Lach District, Ben Tre's largest fruit cultivation area, grows many fruits such as durian, Java rambutan, green-peel and pink-pulp grapefruit and mangosteen. Museums, heritage sites waive tickets on traditional culture day The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has allowed museums and heritage sites to waive tickets for visitors on August 25-28 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Traditional Day of Culture and Information (August 28). During this event, the ministry has also instructed municipal and provincial departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organise exhibitions and activities to introduce the achievements of the country's cultural sector over the past 70 years. 150, 000 travelers to attend in Nha Trang Sea Festival 2015 The People’s Committee of the coastal central province of Khanh Hoa held a press meeting on Monday to announce the 2015 Nha Trang Sea Festival's plan. Speaking at the press conference, Director of the provincial department of Culture, Sport and Tourism Truong Dang Tuyen said that the festival under theme of “Peace and Creation”  with 52 main activities of cuisines, fashion shows,  kite festival, sport, culture, exhibitions and art programs is scheduled to be  taken place on July 11- 14. During four days festival, the organization board will also launch map exhibitions and seminars relating to Vietnam’s sea islands sovereignty. The festival aims to advertize Nha Trang- Khanh Hoa’s landscapes, people and cultural beauty to tourists at home and aboard. Deputy Standing Chairman of the People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa province Tran Son Hai said that the festival is expected to attract 150, 000 travelers. An opening ceremony of the event will be broadcast live on VTV1 and VTV4 channel of Vietnam at 8: 10pm on July 11, added Mr Hai. Vietnamese culture celebrated in Germany A gala night promoting Vietnam’s vibrant traditional customs and culture was featured at the Palast Festungsgraben Theatre in Berlin, Germany on July 2, attracting a flock of international friends and representatives of diplomatic delegations. Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Minister Counsellor to Germany Pham Viet Chien highlighted that culture served as a bridge between the two nations and promoted exchange, integration and mutual understanding between Vietnam and Germany. He added that preserving national identity and embracing cultural diversity during the global integration process was a key element of the bilateral cultural exchange. The programme kicked off with a performance by young pianist Ngoc Vu, a German-Vietnamese artist who has won a number of awards in Germany and other European countries for his performance of Schumann and Chopin words. Meanwhile, designer Lan Huong’s Ao Dai collection, showcasing Vietnamese brocade fabrics, turned heads at the Ao Dai fashion show. Designer Diego Cortizas, founder of Chula fashion, also presented his pieces to the guests. The highlight of the programme was the performance of the string quartet BESA (Berlin-Saigon), who played “a little night music” by Mozart and Vietnamese folk song “Beo dat may troi”. Trio Lao Xao, who were awarded the Creole Mitteldeutschland international prize, captivated the audience with the Bac Ninh love duet “Cuon theo lan gio” and a monochord performance. The art performances contributed to popularising Vietnamese culture around the world and made the event celebrating the 40th anniversary of Vietnam-Germany diplomatic ties all the more memorable. How tourism in Laos, Cambodia is galloping ahead of Vietnam A decade ago few people thought that tourism development in Laos and Cambodia would outpace Vietnam’s. Many tourism officials in the two countries used to be trained in Vietnam. Laos has no coastline and focuses mostly on culture and ecological tourism with two UNESCO heritage sites, Wat Phou Temple and Luang Prabang town. Cambodia has a coastline that is just an eighth of Vietnam’s in length. It has attracted tourists mostly to two UNESCO heritage sites, Angkor Wat and Preah Vihear temples. Vietnam tourism has more attractions, including a long coastline with beautiful beaches and eight UNESCO heritage sites. However, the number of international tourists visiting Vietnam has been declining in contrast to its two neighbors. Last year Laos received 3.5 million visitors and Cambodia, 4.5 million. The problem with Vietnamese tourism can only be attributed to poor management. At a recent National Assembly session Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam mentioned six fears foreign tourists have in Vietnam -- like overpricing and rip-offs, unsafe traffic, beggars and petty thefts, bad food safety, dirty public restrooms and littering. Foreign tourists in Laos and Cambodia face fewer or no fears of this sort. Ironically, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has released a survey showing that more than 94 percent of 14,000 surveyed foreign visitors to the country ranked their experience as "good" to "very good." If this were true, Vietnam would have ranked 1st worldwide as a tourism destination. Most governmental agencies in Laos and Cambodia are not large or have imposing offices to show off. Thus, they have no need to impose large taxes on tourism services. Many roads in Laos and Cambodia are smaller but do not have myriad toll booths unlike in Vietnam. Traffic is safer there and even toilets in Laos and Cambodia are much cleaner than in Vietnam, according to Nguyen Van My, chairman of Lua Viet Tours. Laos and Cambodia each have hundreds of tour guides who can speak Vietnamese. In contrast, Vietnam has just a few of tour guides who can speak Khmer or Thai. Both Laos and Cambodia issue visas on arrival, while Vietnam is enmeshed in red tape. Laos and Cambodia are poorer than Vietnam in terms of economy size and tourism potential. Their tourism industries used to lag behind Vietnam’s but have been developing rapidly and outpacing Vietnam. It reminds me of the story of the tortoise and the hare. It is human beings who create and operate tourism mechanisms. It is human beings who create laws and culture and, thus, are the cause of all problems. VNS/VNA/VOV/TN