Notes for travellers

Traditional medicines to boost health tourism sector

With its temperate climate, Viet Nam has an abundance of natural resources to provide natural health remedies to the health tourism industry, particularly seaside resorts, hot springs and mineral springs.
The National Hospital of Acupuncture has worked alongside travel companies to implement a programme on combining travelling with acupuncture.
The head of the programme, Prof. Nguyen Tai Thu, said, "We decided to work with the tour companies to help the world to better understand our traditional medicines, particularly acupuncture and acupressure."
The Health Ministry hopes to combine the best of the national health service with domestic tourism to benefit all who are involved, he added.
With the chance to enjoy both the beauty of Viet Nam and its most skilled pain-relief specialists, tourists who wish to can participate in acupuncture and acupressure sessions and learn how to gain drug-free relief from pain.
Thap Ba Hot Springs in Nha Trang, Kim Boi Mineral Water in Hoa Binh and the National Hospital of Acupuncture are all places where visitors can enjoy traditional therapies. The Vung Tau Medicoast and Hoan My Da Lat hospital health tourism has high-quality medical services, similar to other institutions in regional countries.
According to travel companies, in 2007, naturopathy tourism earned Asian countries US$.6 billion, and is expected to triple by 2012.
Cruise ship passengers enjoy Ha Long visit during Tet
Three cruise ships carrying nearly 1,700 foreign guests docked at Ha Long Bay on the second and third days of the Lunar New Year (on Tuesday and Wednesday). The Azamara Quest brought with it 660 tourists from France, the US, the Netherlands and Canada. The ship anchored at Cai Lan Port while Costa Allegra and Minh Hoa Princess cruise ships took more than 1,000 passengers to the bay.
Before Ha Long Bay, these cruise ships docked at Tien Sa Port in Da Nang during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday. Saigontourist Travel Service Co. took these guests to world heritage sites at Hoi An, My Son Cham Tower complex and Hue. The Da Nang tourism authority said they received more than 4,500 foreign cruise ship tourists in January 2009.
Row your own sampan at Mekong Delta’s Gao Giong Park
One of the largest tourist sites in the Mekong Delta, the 1,700-ha Gao Giong Ecotourist Park is an area of natural beauty and tranquility. The park offers visitors the chance to relax in hammocks under the shade of cajuput trees or to catch fish from nearby canals. Tourists can also take a quiet stroll through the woods or climb a watchtower standing 18m tall for a spectacular panoramic view of the area.
Boat trips are also available in a sampan, a type of rowboat. Guided sampan tours last around 45 minutes accompanied by a female guide wearing a traditional ao ba ba (a type of blouse). Tourists can try rowing the boat themselves.
Situated about 20km from Cao Lanh Town, Gao Giong becomes a "green oasis" from August until October every year when the Mekong River floods the region. People visiting the park at this time will experience this unique weather and have an opportunity to enjoy specialties such as ca linh (a species of freshwater fish).
Chinese visitors keep northern border gates busy on first day of lunar year
Some 700 Chinese tourists entered Viet Nam through a border gate in Lao Cai Province on the first day of the Lunar Year (on Monday). The Lao Cai-based Binh Minh Travel Agency said they organized tours for more than 3,000 Chinese tourists who entered Viet Nam through border gates in the north on the first four days of the Lunar New Year.
HCM City receives fewer visitors over Tet as tour prices rise
Visitors to HCM City during the Tet holidays dropped by 20 to 25 per cent this year compared with 2008. Meanwhile, tour prices increased by 20 per cent over other times of the year, according to figures from the Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper.
The Dam Sen Park in District 11 received some 250,000 visitors during the first three days of the Lunar New Years (from Monday to Wednesday). Suoi Tien Tourism Park in District 9 welcomed some 300,000 visitors, including Overseas Vietnamese from Thailand, Cambodia and India, over the same period. This equalled last year’s figures.