More foreigners visit Hue ancient town than Vietnamese
The number of foreign tourists visiting the central province of Thua Thien-Hue in the first three months of 2019 accounted for over half of the total number of tourists to the locality.
A view of the Meridian Gate, part of the Complex of Hue Monuments - a famous tourist attraction in Hue city, Thua Thien-Hue province (Photo: VNA)
Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – The number of foreign tourists visiting the central province of ThuaThien-Hue in the first three months of 2019 accounted for over half of thetotal number of tourists to the locality.
From January to March,Thua Thien-Hue welcomed 1.25 million tourist arrivals, of whom more than642,900 were foreigners, up 20.26 percent year-on-year. The local tourismsector earned 1.1 trillion VND (47.3 million USD) in the period, up 5 percentfrom the same period last year.
The province expects asurge in the number of tourists in April and May as many cultural events arescheduled to take place at that time, including the Hue Traditional CraftFestival 2019 from April 26-May 2.
The strength of ThuaThien-Hue’s tourism has been promoted through the “Hue – One Destination, FiveHeritages” tour featuring the five UNESCO-recognised heritages of the Complexof Hue Monuments, Nha nhac (Vietnamese court music), the woodblocks of theNguyen Dynasty, the imperial archives of the Nguyen Dynasty, and the literatureon Hue royal architecture.
Recently, the provincialDepartment of Tourism worked with Apex Vietnam Travel JSC to hold two fam tripsfor Japanese travel agencies to survey local destinations from March 1-2 in thefirst stage and from March 19-20 in the second stage, including Hue ImperialCitadel, Khai Dinh temple and Thien Mu pagoda.
The Japanesedelegation also held a working session with leaders of the Hue High School forthe Gifted to build study tours for Japanese high school students, enablingthem to study and exchange with fellow students in Hue. The study tours, ifimplemented, are expected to create a breakthrough for the province’s tourismsector.
To attract moretourists, the province plans to organise a series of festivals highlightinglocal unique products and culture, such as kite, lantern, vegetarian cuisine,lotus flower, beer, and lion dance.
This year, theprovince is striving to welcome 4.5- 4.7 million tourists, up nearly 8 percentyear-on-year, 40-45 percent of whom are hoped to be foreigners. Tourism revenueis expected to rise by nearly 10 percent to 4.7-4.9 trillion VND (202 – 210.6million USD). –VNA
The central province of Thua Thien – Hue welcomed over 770,000 tourists in January – February, including more than 382,000 foreigners, up 8.62 percent year-on-year, according to the provincial Tourism Department.
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A view of the Meridian Gate, part of the Complex of Hue Monuments - a famous tourist attraction in Hue city, Thua Thien-Hue province (Photo: VNA) 
