The central province of Thua Thien-Hue has pulled out all the stops to attract tourists to its spectacular Lunar New Year celebrations.

On New Year’s Eve, incredible fireworks will be set off in Hue flag tower to see in the Year of the Horse.

Meanwhile, many of the city’s most famous tourist sites, including the imperial tombs of Minh Mang, Tu Duc and Khai Dinh, will delight visitor with imperial artistic performances, Hue cuisine and various souvenirs. Boats along the Huong River offer cruise tours between the tombs, while electric car and horse-drawn carriage services are also on offer.

The New Year activities will also include huge floral displays, demonstrations of Sea God worship and art exhibitions across the city and nine other districts of the province.

As in past years, the Hue Relics Preservation Centre (HRPC) will offer free entrance into Hue Citadel (Dai Noi), An Dinh Palace and all imperial tombs between the first and third days of the traditional New Year.

Impressed with Hue’s romance and history, the US Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Rena Bitter, visited Hue to donate over 29,000 USD in American aid to the HRPC. The sum will be used to restore three altars at Trieu To temple dating back to the early Nguyen dynasty to their former glory.

According to preliminary statistics, over 60,000 tourists have booked accommodation from the lunar December 28 to January 7. More than 40,000 of them are foreigners.

The day between December 30 to January 2 see high-end hotels almost filled to capacity with over 90 percent occupancy. The whole province now has 526 lodging facilities with some 10,000 rooms.

This year, Thua Thien – Hue expects to welcome as many as 3 million holidaymakers, including at least 1.2 million foreign arrivals. Phu Bai international airport, which has been very busy in recent days, was recently renovated to better cater for visitors flying into Hue.

During peak time from the lunar December 22 to January 9, Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air will increase the frequency of their flights to 16 per day, with priority given to Ho Chi Minh City to Hue services.-VNA