UNESCO praises Hanoi’s preservation efforts

The Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, Kishore Rao, has highlighted the efforts made by Hanoi to preserve the ancient royal citadel of Thang Long.

After inspecting the Thang Long Citadel in Hanoi on September 13, Rao said he was delighted to return to the citadel and impressed at the amount of work that the Centre for the Preservation of Thang Long-Hanoi Cultural Heritage has completed since the site was officially recognised as a World Heritage site in 2010.

As part of a project funded by Japan from 2010-2012, the centre held a number of seminars to assess the archaeological work that needs to be done at the citadel and completed its management strategy, including an action plan for the period 2012-2015.

The centre will continue to carry out the commitments the Government made to the International Council for Monuments and Sites on Thang Long Citadel and will carry on with research and training cadres in the field.

Source: VNA

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Cruise tourism in Southeast Asia begins to boom

Cruise tourism in Vietnam is growing in the context that this segment begins to boom in Southeast Asia.

Phan Xuan Anh, chairman of Viet Excursions, said cruise lines from the U.S. and Europe are promoting new destinations in Asia, including Vietnam. Therefore, the company has recorded a rise of 1.5 times in the number of orders for the tourism season from November 2012 to April 2013, the best growth so far.

Viet Excursions not only caters to cruise ships arriving in Vietnam, but also those visiting Cambodia. From Cambodia, tourists can take chartered flights to Thailand, and then travel to Singapore.

Meanwhile, Saigontourist estimated the company would welcome 130,000 international cruise tourists this year, rising 25-30% against 2011. Along with the cruise ships coming from Asian countries, Saigontourist is receiving cruise ships from Europe and many international river cruise ships.

In the next tourism season, from November 2012 to March 2013, Saigontourist will welcome some 80,000 tourist arrivals, mostly those coming from China on cruise ships operated by StarCruises.

Cruise tourism in Southeast Asia begins to boom. Large cruise ships in the world have made presence in the region, dropping anchors in Singapore, one of the regional countries with strength in cruise tourism.

This is informed in a press release of the division for ASEAN cruise tourism under ASEAN Tourism on the occasion of the two-day conference Cruise Shipping Asia-Pacific opening on Monday in Singapore.

Large cruise ships such as Costa Deliziosa of Costa Cruises, or those operated by Royal Caribbean and Voyager of the Seas choose Singapore as the main port from now to 2013. Other ships of Costa Cruises and those of StarCruises have already chosen Singapore as the main port.

They are also expanding the port network into Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Penang, and Malacca in Malaysia; Bangkok, Phuket, and Koh Samui in Thailand; Bali and Komodo in Indonesia; and HCMC, Danang and Halong Bay in Vietnam.

Source: SGT

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