Travel in brief 10 Dec

Ha Noi hotel ranked in top four
International travel journalists and tourism experts have voted Sofitel Legend Metropole Ha Noi as one of the top urban hotels in the world in the Fifth Annual Hotel and Resort Survey of Cigar Aficionado magazine.
The 109-year-old hotel was ranked after the Four Seasons George V in Paris but was on par with the Peninsula in Hong Kong and the Oriental in Bangkok by the jury, which included travel agents, tour operators and staff from Virtuoso, CBS News as well as Forbes Life and National Geographic magazines.
Uncle Ho's father's death noted
To mark the 81st anniversary of the death of President Ho Chi Minh's father, Nguyen Sinh Sac, authorities of Dong Thap in the Mekong Delta opened the Nguyen Sinh Sac Tourist Area in the province's Cao Lanh city.
Sac came to Dong Thap in 1917 to teach and give medical treatment to local residents until he died in 1929. When completed, the area, which is located on 9.3 hectares, will have Vietnamese culture and history displays and a traditional craft village of nine wooden houses built in the traditional southern style. Displays will include palm leaf weaving, metal forging and carpentry, all jobs that Nguyen Sinh Sac did in the province. The village will also feature canals, rows of coconut trees, vegetable farms, maize and sugarcane fields.
Tourists can participate in traditional farming and learn about southern culture when they visit the village, which will open to the public in mid-2011.
VNAT focuses on four main markets
Viet Nam's tourism industry has singled out China, Northeast Asian countries, Europe, and ASEAN as its four main source markets for next year's business plan.
According to Vu The Binh, head of the Travel Department under the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Viet Nam is expected to welcome 900,000 visitors from China and 800,000 from Europe this year. Meanwhile tourists from ASEAN, mostly Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia, have also been soaring in the past two years.
Tourism Year focuses on coasts
The National Tourism Year 2011 programme will encourage more protection of the beautiful beaches in the south-central region, which includes the provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan as well as Da Nang city.
During a press conference earlier this week, organisers said the festival, which will kick off in Phu Yen Province' Tuy Hoa City on April 1, will hold more than 30 cultural, sport and tourism events. Under the theme of "Visit Viet Nam Year - Phu Yen 2011: Exotic Beach and Island", major events will include an international mountaineering tournament at Da Bia mountain, a Viet Nam-South Korea cultural exchange, a sea and island month and an ASEAN traditional music festival.
HCM City tourist discounts
A tourism promotion programme that offers 5 to 10 per cent reduction of prices on tourist products and services was introduced by the HCM City's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism during a ceremony to welcome the city's three millionth visitor in 2010.
Under the programme, the discounts will be offered at hotels, tourist and entertainment parks, shopping centres, restaurants and travel agencies between December 19 and January 9.
Hotels, tourist and entertainment parks and travel agencies that want to join the programme must register at the HCM City Department of Trade and Industry.