Traveling through cultural and historical museums in Hanoi

Posted by admin on January 13, 2011 under Vietnam Destinations, Vietnam Travel Info, Vietnam architecture, Vietnam tours | Be the First to Comment

Traveling through cultural and historical museums in HanoiOver 1,000 years of establishment and development, Hanoi has become the national cultural, economic and political center of Vietnam, where most Vietnamese dynasties have left their imprint as well as cultural and historical vestiges still remained at museums in Hanoi.

The system of museums in Hanoi are the richest collection of documents on lands and people of Vietnam in general, Hanoi in particular. They play an important role in preservation and promotion of the local cultural and historical values which serve study tours by school pupils, students or other visitors.

In the system of national museums of the country, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is both a research centre and a public museum exhibiting the ethnic groups of Vietnam. The mission of the Museum is scientific research, collection, documentation, conservation, exhibition and preserving the cultural and historic patrimony of the nation’s different ethnic groups. The museum also serves to guide research, conservation, and technology that are specific to the work of an ethnographic museum.

Vietnam Fine Arts Museum is considered as one of the most crucial museums in maintaining and promoting the treasure of cultural, artistic heritages of Vietnamese ethnic communities. Visiting the Museum, viewer can understand the entire history of Vietnam fine arts through the collections, exhibits that are displayed here.

Located on the Tong Dan street, the museum of Vietnamese Revolution was established in August 1959 in a two-storey building. It was redesigned into 30 galleries and as of 2008 contains in excess of 40,000 historical exhibits.The visit to Museum would be a time to understand the changing times of the society that ranges from the Vietnamese streets to the seats of power. The objects on display offer insight into the culture of Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh Museum is located in the same compound with the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Presidential Palace. It was established during 1985 – 1990. It has a collection of 3000 paintings and 700 artifacts. The five-storey building of the museum is divided into thematic units. Next to the museum is Ho Chi Minh mausoleum surrounded by well-kept gardens and guarded by soldiers. The embalmed body of the Vietnamese leader is preserved in a glass sarcophagus.

Recently, the museum of Hanoi was built to celebrate the Thang Long-Hanoi 1,000 year anniversary event. This is a modern architectural structure with the total area 53,000m2 on Pham Hung street. Exhibits will be drawn from a collection of some 17,000 documents and artifacts relating to the history of the ancient capital.

In the process of globalization, museum is considered not only the “linking bridge” of the past, present and future, but also cultural communities. Naturally, the values of culture and history are highlighted the key elements of tourist products to attract visitors.

Museum has enough potentials and advantages of a tourist attraction where can satisfy the cultural and spiritual demands of visitors.

However, to combine tourism and museums, diversifying and improving the quality of tourist products are one of the most important solutions to museum tourism. These include the quantity and quality of the original objects, forms (colour, sound, light… ) on display and tourist services (souvenir shops, restaurants…).

In addition, the content and methods of interpretation significantly contribute to “display language” – the voice of original objects which helps tourists to acquire knowledge about culture and history through objects on display.

Furthermore, the tourist products in museums should avoid the duplication of content and forms on display to fully exploit potentials of museum tourism.

Source: TITC

Collected by Vietnam hotel

Start of year augurs well for tourist trade

Posted by admin on under Vietnam Overviews, Vietnam Travel Info, Vietnam tours | Read the First Comment

The number of International tourists to Vietnam in the first week of this year was up 10 – 20 per cent on the same period last year, according to initial estimates.

Doan Thi Thanh Tra, Saigon-tourist’s marketing manager, said the company welcomed more than 1,500 international tourists during the first week of 2011, the Vietnam Investment Review reports.

Last year, Saigontourist served 320,000 international tourists and gained a turnover of VND1.23 trillion (US$61.5 million), a growth of 18 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.

On New Year’s Day, the company received dozens of tour groups.

“This was a great start to the year, having many tourists come via air or boat. We expect more for the entire year,” Tra said.

The company is expected to grow by 15-20 per cent this year.

The number of international tourists to Vietnam via another large tour operator, Fiditour, also increased by 15-20 per cent during the first week.

Nguyen Thi Thuyet Mai, Fiditour’s director of Foreign Affairs and Media, said the company would grow by 20-25 per cent this year.

The company expects to serve 15,000 international and domestic tourists during the coming Lunar New Year holiday, up 30 per cent year-on-year.

Nguyen Minh Man, PR manager of Vietravel, said the company welcomed 50 international tourists on New Year’s Day.

The company has targeted 30 per cent growth in the number of tourists this year compared to 2010, Man said.

Vietravel led the tourism sector in turnover last year with VND1.45 trillion ($72.5 million), and expects to earn VND1.8 trillion this year. Tourism activities in other localities have also been flourishing.

For instance, in the first two days of the year, Halong City received 10,000 tourists from vessels, while central Khanh Hoa Province and the historic Hoi an in central Vietnam welcomed 2,000 international tourists.

According to travel companies, regular promotions and advertisements on Vietnam tourism have been the driving force behind the surge in the number of tourists.

The opening of new of international routes, including HCM City-Istanbul on Turkish Airlines on December 30 last year, Taipei-Danang City on Taiwan’s Transasia Airlines in mid-December, and HCM City-Beijing on Vietnam Airlines in mid-December, has also spurred tourist interest. Vietnam Airlines has seven direct flights to China, and it intends to increase the HCM City-Beijing route from three to four flights per week beginning in April.

Beginning November 9, Vietnam Airlines in cooperation with Vietnamtourist (Vitours) in central Danang City launched charter flights for a three-month period from Hong Kong to Danang on Wednesday and Saturday.

The airline began two charter flights per week from Seoul to Danang on January 9.

It expects to open a direct flight from Hanoi and HCM City to London this year.

Tran Chi Cuong, head of the Tourism Division under the Danang Culture, Sports and Tourism Department, said the city would open international flights including Danang-Japan and Danang-Con Minh (China) to attract more international tourists.

Da Nang received 42,000 international tourists by air last year, up 250 per cent year-on-year.

At least 90 per cent of international tourists come to Vietnam by air, said Doan Thi Thanh Tra.

The additional flights this year will increase the number of international tourists to the country, he added.

Source: VNS