The chill in the Central Highland city of Da Lat will be warmed byflowers and festivities this New Year holiday, during the Da Lat CultureTourism Week 2013.
"Unlike the annual flowerfestival, this year the week includes three remarkable events, namelythe 120th anniversary of Da Lat City, the 5th national flower festivaland the announcement of the National Tourism Year 2014 with the keydestinations being the Central Highlands and Da Lat," Vo Ngoc Hiep,chairman of Da Lat city People's Committee, told Viet Nam News.
"That's why all the activities throughout the city will aim to showoff the tourism potential of Da Lat City and the Central Highlands aswell as the local flower industry."
The opening ceremony of the tourism week will be held on December 27 night at Lam Vien Square.
According to the organisers, the Flower Festival will be a key topicduring the week. Flowers and bonsai will decorate main tourism siteslike Xuan Huong Lake, Prenn Waterfall and downtown streets.
Hiep noted that annual flower festivals had a positive effect on localsocio-economics. "In 2005, the first flower festival brought 1.6million visitors to the city, while this year [the 5th festival], thenumber of tourists may reach 3.4 million people."
Hesaid local tourism authorities had organised training courses toimprove service quality at local restaurants and hotels, adding the cityhas 11,000 rooms that can host up to 25,000 guests per night.
Also known as the "Kingdom of Flowers", Da Lat is now home to 60flower-growing enterprises which work on a total area of 3,500ha.
The average annual income locals get from 1ha of flowers is aroundVND1 billion (450,000 USD) while that from 1ha of strawberries is VND100million.
National tourism year
"Right on the opening ceremony, the Ministry of Culture, Sports andTourism will announce the national tourism year 2014 with the theme‘Central Highlands - Great Jungle'," said Nguyen Thi Nguyen, deputydirector of the Lam Dong Culture, Sports and Tourism Department.
A series of promotion activities will be held throughout next year,including a traditional brocade-weaving festival, traditional costumesshows, a national chess tournament, traditional instrument festivals,food festivals, sport-culture festivals and international gong festival.
The events will be organised by the cultureministry and host participants from the Central Highland provinces ofLam Dong, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum.
Various new tours will be designed for tourists such as Jungle Tours toMadagui forest, Dambri waterfall, Pongour waterfall, Tuyen Lam lake,Langbiang mountain; sport tours to Da Lat Golf; tours following thefootprints of French biologist Alexandre Yersin who discovered theLangbiang plateau in 1893.
The key destination forthis year was the Red River Delta, which attracted 35 million tourists, a15 percent increase over last year. It brought a revenue of 35 trillion(1.66 billion USD), up 16 percent year-on-year.-VNA
"Unlike the annual flowerfestival, this year the week includes three remarkable events, namelythe 120th anniversary of Da Lat City, the 5th national flower festivaland the announcement of the National Tourism Year 2014 with the keydestinations being the Central Highlands and Da Lat," Vo Ngoc Hiep,chairman of Da Lat city People's Committee, told Viet Nam News.
"That's why all the activities throughout the city will aim to showoff the tourism potential of Da Lat City and the Central Highlands aswell as the local flower industry."
The opening ceremony of the tourism week will be held on December 27 night at Lam Vien Square.
According to the organisers, the Flower Festival will be a key topicduring the week. Flowers and bonsai will decorate main tourism siteslike Xuan Huong Lake, Prenn Waterfall and downtown streets.
Hiep noted that annual flower festivals had a positive effect on localsocio-economics. "In 2005, the first flower festival brought 1.6million visitors to the city, while this year [the 5th festival], thenumber of tourists may reach 3.4 million people."
Hesaid local tourism authorities had organised training courses toimprove service quality at local restaurants and hotels, adding the cityhas 11,000 rooms that can host up to 25,000 guests per night.
Also known as the "Kingdom of Flowers", Da Lat is now home to 60flower-growing enterprises which work on a total area of 3,500ha.
The average annual income locals get from 1ha of flowers is aroundVND1 billion (450,000 USD) while that from 1ha of strawberries is VND100million.
National tourism year
"Right on the opening ceremony, the Ministry of Culture, Sports andTourism will announce the national tourism year 2014 with the theme‘Central Highlands - Great Jungle'," said Nguyen Thi Nguyen, deputydirector of the Lam Dong Culture, Sports and Tourism Department.
A series of promotion activities will be held throughout next year,including a traditional brocade-weaving festival, traditional costumesshows, a national chess tournament, traditional instrument festivals,food festivals, sport-culture festivals and international gong festival.
The events will be organised by the cultureministry and host participants from the Central Highland provinces ofLam Dong, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum.
Various new tours will be designed for tourists such as Jungle Tours toMadagui forest, Dambri waterfall, Pongour waterfall, Tuyen Lam lake,Langbiang mountain; sport tours to Da Lat Golf; tours following thefootprints of French biologist Alexandre Yersin who discovered theLangbiang plateau in 1893.
The key destination forthis year was the Red River Delta, which attracted 35 million tourists, a15 percent increase over last year. It brought a revenue of 35 trillion(1.66 billion USD), up 16 percent year-on-year.-VNA
