Despite drizzle and cold weather, 31,000 visitors, including 7,200 foreigners, visited relics in the former imperial city of Hue during the first three days of the Lunar New Year (Jan. 23-25).

Visiting Hue on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Christina Volkmann from the US and Graham Brigge from Australia said that Hue is very beautiful and local people are friendly and hospitable.

According to the Hue Relics Preservation Centre, Thua Thien-Hue province plans to welcome between 2-2.5 million visitors to see the Hue relics this year, especially since the province will be the locality to launch the national tourism year.

The province also aims to expand cooperation with partners from the Republic of Korea , Japan , Germany , the US and Poland , to recover and preserve projects in the relics sites.

The centre said it is researching the royal gastronomy under the Nguyen dynasty and the system of poetry and literature system of Hue relics, in order to submit them for recognition as world heritages in the 2013-2014 period./.