The Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature) in Hanoi welcomed around 100,000 visitors in the first five days of the Year of Horse, an official from the site’s Centre for Cultural and Scientific Activities has revealed.

In addition to calligraphy displays, visitors had an opportunity to enjoy a range of artistic activities including human chess, Mua roi nuoc (water puppetry) and lion dancing, said Pham Thi Thuy Hang, Deputy Director of the centre.

Built in 1070 in honour of Confucius, his followers and Chu Van An, a famous figure in Vietnamese education, Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam is a famous historical and cultural relic consisting of the Temple of Literature and Vietnam’s first university.

Ho Chi Minh City also saw a large number of visitors flocking to popular attractions, such as Dam Sen Cultural Park, Saigon Zoological and Botanical Garden, and Tao Dan Park during the Tet holiday.

On average, the Dam Sen Park welcomed 80,000 tourists, mainly local people and those from the surrounding provinces of Long An, Tien Giang and Vinh Long.

On February 4, crowds of visitors came to the Tao Dan Park to contemplate around 3,000 exhibits of flowers and ornamental fish and birds at the ongoing Spring Flower Festival.

The southern province of Kien Giang attracted over 122,650 tourists, bringing about more than 14 billion VND (665,433 USD) in revenue, up 15 percent from last year’s Tet holiday.

Phu Quoc Island in the province remained an attractive destination with 6,300 tourists, earning over 12 billion VND (570,000 USD), a year-on-year increase of 14 percent in both the number and revenue.

During the first five days of the Year of Horse, Dao Co (Stork Island) ecotourism area in northern Hai Duong province’s Thanh Mien district welcomed nearly 10,000 tourist arrivals.


Hai Duong is exerting effort to fulfill a project on the “Development of community-based tourism in Dao Co by 2020”, with a view to developing the area into a sustainable community-based tourist attraction and enhance environmental protection.

With strong biodiversity and a suitable ecosystem for lots o f flora and fauna, Dao Co is currently home to about 170 species of storks, night herons and other birds.-VNA