Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – Adelegation of 11 Japanese travel agencies made a familiarisation (FAM) trip tothe city of Hue, in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, on September 23-25to experience the local tourist attractions and culture.

The trip, organised by the provincialDepartment of Tourism and the APEX Vietnam Travel Corporation, took them to theComplex of Hue Monuments, the Phan Boi Chau Memorial House, the Thanh Tien paperflower craft village, the Bao La bamboo weaving village, and Laguna Lang CoResort. The Japanese tour operators also experienced Hue’s distinctive cuisineand enjoyed an “ao dai” (Vietnamese traditional gown) fashion show.

They had a working session with the provincialDepartment of Tourism to learn firsthand about investment in the province andhow to connect and develop tourism products with local travel agencies in orderto provide services to Japanese travellers as the city of Hue has seen an increasein the arrival of Japanese visitors in recent years.

Thua Thien-Hue has made multiple efforts todevelop and improve tourism products and services to lure more visitors fromkey markets, including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, France, the UnitedKingdom, Russia, the United States, and Canada. The province has ramped up thepromotion of its popular destinations at travel fairs, particularly thoseoverseas, to try and seek foreign partnerships.

It has partnered with the Japan InternationalCooperation Agency (JICA) to launch the exclusive website www.vietnamhuekanko.com, providingJapanese travellers with all they need to know about Hue, such as popular attractions,cuisine, culture, and lodging.

The province has also focused on developingtransport infrastructure connecting tourist spots and building ports at lagoonsto better serve holidaymakers while the main streets and attractions have beenlit up at night during the weekends and holidays.

Japanese tourists now rank eighth amongst the topforeign visitors to Thua Thien-Hue.

Hue city was the imperial capital of Vietnamunder the Nguyen Dynasty for over a century from 1802 to 1945.

It is home to five UNESCO-recognised aspects of heritage, namely the Complex ofHue Monuments (World Heritage Site); “Nha nhac”, or Vietnamese court music(Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity); the woodblocks of theNguyen Dynasty (part of the Memory of the World Programme); the imperialarchives of the Nguyen Dynasty (part of the Memory of the World Programme); andthe Literature on Hue Royal Architecture (part of DocumentaryHeritage in the Memory of the World Programme).

It is also famous for its elegant royalcuisine, which was served to the kings of Nguyen Dynasty. Some Hue dishes havebeen listed as the country’s best foods by Vietnam’s Record Book such as bun bo(beef noodles), com hen (rice with mussels), banh beo (rice cake with grilledshrimp), banh bot loc (dumplings with shrimp), banh khoai (fried rice crepes),che hat sen (sweet lotus seed pudding), and tom chua (pickled shrimp)

In the first nine months of 2018, ThuaThien-Hue welcomed nearly 3.5 million visitors, including 1.42 millionforeigners. It earned roughly 3.38 trillion VND (144.8 million USD) in revenuefrom tourism, up 30.5 percent from the same period last year.

The province aims to lure between 4 and 4.2million visitors this year, up 10 – 12 percent from 2017, with around 40 – 45percent being foreigners. –VNA