Tourism year 2012 set to promote heritage values

The organizing committee of the National Tourism Year 2012 has chosen the theme Heritage Tourism for the year-long program, and the host province Thua Thien – Hue is preparing itself for the year, an official said.
Phan Tien Dung, director of the province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told the Daily that the opening ceremony of the tourism year would take place on April 7 in Thua Thien – Hue. During a year, cultural festivities will take place in the province and other localities in the north-central region.
“We want to strongly promote world heritage sites that are our potential to woo tourists to Hue and the whole central region,” he said.
Thua Thien – Hue is the land of world heritage values, including Vietnam’s royal music recognized as the Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and the Imperial City of Hue. Other provinces also have world-recognized sites, like the Ho Dynasty Citadel in Thanh Hoa Province, and Phong Nha-Ke Bang in Quang Binh.
Apart from heritage values, Thua Thien-Hue Province will also promote its decade-old Hue Festival, and the tourism festival of Hue. The province will develop tourism products attached to the world heritage and festivals there.
The province and neighboring localities will also join hands to promote the World Heritage Road, a tourism route taking in world heritage sites in central Vietnam.
The province expects the tourism year would bring nearly 2.5 million local and foreign visitors to Thua Thien – Hue compared to over 1.5 million last year, Dung said. The province has welcomed around 850,000 visitors in the first half of this year, and expects more than 1.6 million for the whole year.
According to him, the organizing committee will promote the tourism year in travel fairs at home and abroad, and invite local travel agents and media to the province.
The province will organize two road shows in big cities such as Hanoi and HCMC in September to promote the national tourism year 2012.
The national tourism year 2011 with the theme Island and Beaches is taking place in south-central provinces with the host province being Phu Yen.