Visitors flock to Ha Noi for birthday

]]>Ha Noi is expected to receive 800,000 local and foreign visitors for its 1,000th anniversary celebrations but some hotels still claim they will not be full since it is the tourism low season. They said in the last few years the number of visitors coming in October has fallen considerably, while they expanded to prepare for the influx of travellers expected during the celebrations. Hoa Binh Hotel has a lot of rooms left, its manager said earlier this week. Melia Hotel, too, promised there will be no shortage of rooms. However, Doan Thi Thanh Tra, head of Saigontourist Travel Service Company’s Marketing Division, said it has become rather difficult to get rooms now. Saigontourist organises special tours Saigontourist Travel Service Company will organise 50 tours in connection with the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi. To depart regularly from Can Tho, HCM City, and Da Nang until the celebrations are over, they will be focused on ancient and modern day cultural sites in Ha Noi and well-known scenic spots in the northern region. Pilgrims flock to Phat Tich Pagoda Thousands of pilgrims from around the country attended a ceremony last weekend to consecrate a giant Buddha statue in Bac Ninh Province. Ten thousand candles lined the path from the pagoda’s gate to the top of Phat Tich Mountain where the statue sits. The 27-metre tall, 3,000-tonne stone statue is a replica of the Buddha Amitabha statue created during the Ly Dynasty era. It is one of the biggest Buddha stone statues in Southeast Asia and Viet Nam’s first giant stone statue. Built between the 7th and 10th centuries in Phat Tich Commune, Tien Du District, the pagoda is recognised as a national relic that houses numerous objects of cultural value inherited from the Ly era. VN firms attend French tourism expo Vietnamtourism, Saigontourist, Vietnam Airlines, and many other tourism companies like La Palanche, Bai Tho Junks, and Vietventures took part in the 32nd International French Travel Market Top Resa tourism exhibition held in Paris from September 21 to 24. Pham Van Hoa, director of Bai Tho Junks, said it was a good opportunity for Vietnamese travel firms to showcase rural Viet Nam in time for visitors to make it to Ha Noi’s 1,000th anniversary. The event attracted 600 companies from around the world operating in tourism, transport, and hospitality. HMC City hotel celebrates 130 years Hotel Continental Sai Gon celebrated its 130th birthday last week. Located nearby the Opera House in District 1, the hotel was built in 1880 in French colonial style. It has welcomed many celebrities like Indian writer and painter Rabindranath Tagore who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913, French writer Andre Malraux, British writer Graham Greene, author of “The Quiet American,” French President Jacques Chirac, and actress Catherine Deneuve. The hotel is a winner of the ASEAN Green Hotel Standard award and the Labour Medal, Third Class. Binh Thuan to host sailing festival The southern province of Binh Thuan will host the international sailing festival from December 8 to 11. Minister for Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh said it will mark the National Tourism Year in the Southern Central Coast