Travel in brief on 14 May

Saigontourist takes 120 MICE tourists to South Africa
Saigontourist Travel Service Co organised a MICE (meeting, incentive, conference, exhibition) tour for 120 Vietnamese to visit South Africa between May 10 and 17. The local travellers are using high-end services during their MICE tour, which will take them to Johannesburg, Pretoria, Sun City and Cape Town.
Saigontourist is offering tours that will travel to Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town and is priced at US$2,850 per person.
Thousands sojourn in Khanh Hoa for Goddess Ponagar Festival
The Goddess Ponagar Festival opened in Khanh Hoa Province on May 5 and attracted more than 100 groups of pilgrims. The Goddess Ponagar Festival is a major festival in the southern part of the central region and in the Central Highlands. The festival is associated with the legend and the worship of Goddess Ponagar, who is considered to be the mother of the Kinh (Vietnamese) and Cham people in the central region.
Few Vietnamese book for World Cup action in South Africa
Local travel firms are offering new tours to South Africa for the World Cup 2010 championship games, but few travellers have booked these tours. Complicated procedures and high tour fees have kept travellers from signing up for the offer. A tour to South Africa cost between VND70 and 90 million (US$3,600-4,600), which is twice as much as trip to Europe.
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai from Fiditour reported that two groups of more than 70 travellers have booked tours to South Africa and will depart in mid-June and early July. She added that it is still easy to purchase match tickets, but prices will continue to rise as the World Cup approaches. Vietnamese travellers will be able to watch football matches, but it will be very difficult to get tickets for the tournament final.
Sommeliers criss-cross country for competition final
Sommeliers from restaurants, hotels and resorts across the country will take part in the semi-finals of an annual contest next Thursday in HCM City and Ha Noi.
The Best Sommelier Competition is organised by Sopexa Viet Nam, a French marketing and communication group specialist in the agribusiness industry, and the French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, in cooperation with the Saigon Tourist Hospitality College and Saigon Bartender & Sommelier Guild.
The winner will represent the country in the regional contest in Malaysia.
The jury, including JP Paubert from the International Sommelier Association, JC Crouin from the Asia Sommelier Association, Suk Young Chung from the South Korea Sommelier Association and Tasaki San from the Japan Sommerlier Association, will judge candidates based on a rigorous writing test, blind tasting and an oral test of wine knowledge.