(VOVworld) - The 2012 Ha Long – Quang Ninh Tourism Week that opened on Tuesday is jubilantly taking place beside UNESCO-recognized Ha Long Bay. The week-long event is expected to attract tens of thousands of visitors. This week’s Discovery Vietnam will take you there.
The annual Ha Long – Quang Ninh tourism week is the start of the year’s summer tourism season and promotes the province’s hospitality industry and UNESCO-recognized heritage Ha Long Bay. Activities are underway at Ha Long City center, Bai Chay Tourism Area, and Tuan Chau Tourism complex. Hoang Quoc Thai, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism says 'The 2012 Ha Long Carnival honoring the native culture includes cultural folk shows typical of Dao, San Chi, Cao Lan, San Diu, and Tay ethnic people. We have mobilized almost 1,000 ethnic artists in the province. Folk performances reflect real cultural features of local ethnic people. For example, Dao people often demonstrate with folk performances the initiation rites of Dao men, while San Chi and Cao Lan ethnic people perform folk dances. Kinh people living along the coast hold incense offering rituals, or sing in front of communal houses in Dam Ha, Mong Cai town. In this street festival, people are the artists and guests of the Carnival'.
Themed “Quang Ninh – Convergence and Diffusion”, the 2012 Ha Long Carnival honors and promotes the cultural values and tourism potential of Quang Ninh province and Ha Long Bay. This year’s event has attracted more than 3,800 people, 3,200 of them amateur artists, ethnic people, and representatives of nearby regions. The harmonious blend of traditional and modern cultural features will help visitors better understand the local culture. Thanh Lan is a visitor from Hanoi 'Ha Long attracts me with its natural beauty. This is the first time I have participated in a street festival. I’m extremely impressed by the splendidly decorated streets and the local people are professional in welcoming tourists. Tourism activities have combined traditional and modern values.
While Nguyen the Hue, Director of Huu Nghi/Friendship Travel Agent, elaborates 'In recent years, this carnival has become a highlight of the hospitability industry, and for travel agents it’s a big opportunity to attract foreign tourists'.
Hue says that the company’s main customers are Chinese, who often buy a tour of 3 to 4 days, and that prices haven’t recently been raised. He says 'A 4-day tour costs about 720 Chinese yuan per person. Its recognition as one of the world’s new cultural wonders has made Quang Ninh’s Ha Long Bay one of the world’s most attractive destinations. Chinese visitors account for 80% of the company’s business'.
During the course of the week, the Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Committee will hold a ceremony to officially announce Ha Long Bay as one of the world’s seven new wonders of nature at Bai Chay on May 1.
Lan Anh