Day: February 3, 2022

Medical tourism has emerged as a major trend around the world as the COVID-19 pandemic and environmental pollution have caused people to pay more attention to their health. Particularly, experts said the post-COVID-19 era would be a booming period for all types of healthcare services.

This new kind of tourism has not been effectively exploited in Vietnam, despite the big number of destinations with potential for wellness tourism.

Wellness tourism has become popular in some countries including the US, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, China, Thailand and Indonesia.

“It is forecast that the global wellness tourism market will post a revenue of 919 billion USD in 2022,” tourism expert Nguyen Van Luu said.

Currently, this type of tourism is growing rapidly from North America to Europe and Asia-Pacific and will expand faster in the coming years, he added.

It is worth mentioning that over the past five years, Asia has led in both the number of visitors and revenue from healthcare tourism.

Deputy Director of the Tourism Market Department, Vu Nam cited Yufuin, a rural village in Oita Prefecture of Japan as an example in exploiting local resources for health tourism.

With a natural area of about 1,800 hectares and a population of about 10,000 people, the village welcomed nearly 4.5 million visitors in 2019.

It is estimated that more than 12,000 visitors arrived at Yufuin per day on average, more than the population of the village. The income from tourism in 2019 of local people reached more than 16 billion JPY, equivalent to nearly 15 million USD.

“Yufuin can be said to be one of the most typical tourist destinations in exploiting hot mineral resources for the development of healthcare tourism not only in Japan but also around the world,” Nam said.

Commenting on this tourism trend, which has developed in the world but is still untapped in Vietnam, deputy head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong said there will be a shift in the tourism trend in the future, especially long-term trips will no longer be mere sightseeing trips. It will be a combination of relaxation and the use of services to strengthen physical and mental health.

Huong said the main reason for wellness tourism to be ignored in Vietnam is a lack of comprehensive research on its potential as well as no specific orientations and policies for the development of this type of tourism.

Over recent years, many hot mineral springs have opened for tourists such as Quang Hanh (Quang Ninh province), My Lam (Tuyen Quang province) and Thanh Thuy (Phu Tho province) which offer Japanese-style healthcare tourism services with hot spring baths.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, about 350,000 foreigners came to Vietnam in 2018 for to have medical examinations and treatments, generating a turnover of 2 billion USD. Meanwhile, every year, about 40,000 Vietnamese people travel abroad for healthcare services in combination with tourism and spend billions of dollars. It showed that not only international visitors but also domestic travelers are potential customers of this type of tourism.

To meet the demand of tourists, some travel agencies have developed a wide range of tourist products associated with maintaining and promoting people’s health such as yoga on beach and massage therapy, offering a fresh experience for visitors.

Director of Thua Thien Hue Department of Tourism, Tran Huu Thuy Giang, said that this locality will study and soon issue policies and product orientations for tourism businesses to develop and put into operation healthcare tours.

“It is necessary to define this type of tourism a key type in the planning and development strategy of Vietnam’s tourism. The government needs to have policies and plans for the development of this type of tourism in order to improve the health of the Vietnamese community and attract foreigners and increase revenue for the state budget,” said Professor Nguyen Van Dinh, a tourism expert.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

While unprecedented environmental challenges threatening the health and lives of millions of people around the world are ringing alarm bells for human behaviour towards the nature, Vietnam is home to a primeval forest described as a “big school” that has helped spread the love for nature for the past nearly six decades.

Filled with the nostalgia for the first national park in Vietnam, musician Tran Chung wrote a famous song titled “Nho ve Cuc Phuong” (Missing Cuc Phuong).

To many, the park spanning the provinces of Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh, and Thanh Hoa is more than nostalgia but a yearning for the place full of secrets awaiting visitors to explore.

“To me, it was a fairytale land and an extremely meaningful reward that my school presented to good students like me. Returning after more than 30 years, the biggest surprise to me is that Cuc Phuong remains almost intact. I’m really touched by the forest protection efforts as well as the way eco-tourism is organised here,” said renowned broadcaster Bach Duong, who has volunteered to become an “ambassador” of Cuc Phuong for the past year.

Duong said that childhood memory and the horrible reality of climate change at present have prompted her to come back here to seek balance. Not only bringing her children to the park, she has also encouraged many families and young people to visit Cuc Phuong in efforts to call for environmental protection.

Sharing the love for Cuc Phuong that has grown thanks to her past trips, architect Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, a founding member of the Urban Sketchers Hanoi (USK Hanoi) group, accepted the park’s invitation to organise a community fine arts workshop as part of a spring festival in the Lunar New Year holiday this year.

“The USK Hanoi and I wish to use sketches to disseminate a message to all people, especially small children, about the respect and responsible behaviour towards forests – which create in us the strongest and sincerest feelings about Mother Nature,” she noted.

“Cradle” of conservationists

Over 50 years ago, tens of young graduates from overseas courses eagerly took on their tasks at Cuc Phuong. It was also the time this forest, becoming the first national park in Vietnam not long before that, made Soviet Union experts thunderstruck.

With their youth and enthusiasm, they weathered every difficulty and hardship, even bombardments by US forces, to conduct basic and comprehensive studies serving as the foundation for evaluating the local biodiversity.

In particular, those trying times helped nurture a contingent of well-known scientists such as Nguyen Tien Ban, Tran Dinh Ly, Tran Ngoc Ninh, and Trinh Dinh Thanh.

Many people of younger generations have also become famous conservationists. They include Nguyen Van Thai, Director of Save Vietnam’s Wildlife, who was recently honoured with the Goldman Environmental Prize, a prestigious award considered a “Green Nobel Prize” for environmental activists; and Trinh Le Nguyen, co-founder of People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature), who used to be an expert working at Cuc Phuong National Park.

Talking about Cuc Phuong, Nguyen said not only him but many others working in this field also feel indebted to the park, and that this “cradle” has nurtured their dreams and love for nature.

“Big school” in the forest

Managers of Cuc Phuong are striving to turn it into a model national park.

Deputy Director of the park Do Van Lap said to have a model national park, the first and foremost is to have model people. Given this, apart from forest protection and scientific research, environmental education is a core step to turn Cuc Phuong into a “big school” of nature education.

On the basis of this idea, a club for conservation education was set up at the national park. Supported by Fauna and Flora International (FFI) and Education for Nature – Vietnam (ENV), forest rangers have visited thousands of children in villages across the 15 communes located in the park’s buffer zone over the last 20 years to instill the love for nature into the young.

Many of these children, in turn, have become forest rangers or teachers helping to improve the local community’s awareness.

Besides, wildlife rescue programmes at the park have also attracted Vietnamese and foreign students via summer camps or volunteering campaigns, equipping the young with knowledge about the nature and animal rescue and care skills.

Gaining valuable experiences from such activities, the young themselves will become “ambassadors” conveying the nature conservation message to others in their daily life.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Sli is a unique folk singing style of the Nung ethnic minority people in Vietnam’s northern region, which is performed as a call and response between young man and women.

The singing mirrors the Nung people’s views on morality, good deeds and respect for ancestors, and has humanitarian values.

The provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has recently organised a ceremony to receive a certificate recognising Sli singing of the Nung people as national intangible cultural heritage in Xuan Duong commune, Na Ri district.

The folk genre of music is linked with activities at the Xuan Duong love market that takes place on the 25th day of the third lunar month annually.

It is a typical folk singing style of the Nung ethnic group in Bac Kan province in particular and the Viet Bac region in general, encompassing the northern provinces of Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Lang Son, Tuyen Quang and Thai Nguyen.

Sli means “poetry”, a folk song in the folk art treasure of the Nung people in Lang Son. Legend has it that a fairy opened a contest to select her husband among the three men surnamed Chuong, Sinh and Ly through response singing.

The singing is often performed at festivals, markets and special events of the Nung ethnic group. Notably, the performance must focus on a topic with its wording created by singers, with a combination of facial expressions and hand gestures.

The wording and way of singing of each group may be different, but the wording is structured by “that ngon tu tuyet” (seven-lined stanza with each line composed of seven words) or “that ngon bat cu” (eight-lined poem with each line composed of seven words).

At the beginning of each performance, the two sides greet each other by saying “nhi a sloong hao” (Let’s sing), which also helps to ensure the harmony while singing.

Sli songs have rich contents, maybe visiting and congratulating someone, expressing love, faith and nostalgia when living far apart, and exchanging production experience. The most popular are Sli songs featuring love exchange which are divided into many genres and sung in different contexts.

It is a form of poem singing that expresses the flexible repartee of the singers. The love exchange Sli songs are often sung by a couple or several couples in a repartee style. Usually, a party stands out and sings first with gentle and clever greetings to invite the other party to sing together.

When this party completes greeting, the other has to quickly reply. Just like that, the two sides get caught up in the singing.

The singing has brought people closer as many singers have then become close friends or couples, while helping to educate young generations about traditions as well as respect for ancestors.

Bac Kan province now has 17 cultural heritages recognised as National Intangible Heritages.

The Nung people live together with other ethnic groups, but mostly with Tay. Therefore, the two groups have close ties and bear cultural similarities.

The Nung call the Tay Can Slua Khao (white shirt people) while the Tay call the Nung Can Slua Dam (black shirt people). The two groups are also commonly called Tho people.

The Nung grow wet rice in small and narrow valleys in the northern region, involving such work as plowing, sowing, transplanting, fertilizing, weeding and watering through canals. They also grow tobacco, cotton and rice upland and raise cattle and poultry. The Nung people do some handicrafts such as weaving, cloth dyeing, forging, casting, and brick and lime making. Most families have looms for making cloth and quilts, cushions and pillows. At the age of 12, girls start to learn how to weave, and making beautiful products is a criterion of a good wife.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Like an oasis surrounded by a submerged Melaleuca forest and a maze of narrow canals, Tan Lap floating village, located in Long An province, is a perfect eco-tourism site for visitors to experience Mekong Delta life and nature.

Lying along National Highway 62 in Tan Lap commune of Moc Hoa district, Tan Lap floating village covers an area of 135ha and has a buffer zone of 500ha planned for ecotourism in Long An and the wetlands of Dong Thap Muoi. It’s about 15km south of the Cambodian border and about 110km from Ho Chi Minh City.

The village was formerly a land flooded all year round. People built houses on high mounds to cope with the flooding. Every time when the water rose, the floor was also raised in accordance with the water level. Time passed, people used to call it a “floating village”.

Today, this place is no longer inhabited since the government has a project to develop it into an eco-tourism site.

The best way to explore the floating village and melaleuca forest is on a rowing boat, the ferryman will always be a guide, helping visitors discover and learn about the giant swamp, green vegetation or watch the blooming lotus pond. The boat ride through the Melaleuca Forest takes about 30 minutes.

The highlight of the Melaleuca forest is the 38-metre-tall watchtower, where tourists can admire the grandeur and vastness of the forest. There is a 5km long walking road through the Melaleuca forest, which is Vietnam’s longest. Aside from this 38-metre-tall watchtower, there is also an 18-metre-tall one. Visitors can travel to Tan Lap floating village in September, October and November when the water level is high to admire the lotus blooming.

Every afternoon, visitors can see hundreds of white storks and black Little Cormorants flying back after a day of seeking feed. Tan Lap’s bird taming island is located deep inside the centre of the Melaleuca forest. Experienced bird tamers have helped create an aquatic habitat rich in fish and trees to attract many kinds of birds to gather here to multiply and form large flocks.

Staff will take visitors in by motorboat or rowboat, weaving through a small canal to the Melaleuca forest. From there, visitors can walk across the 100-metre-long Melaleuca bridge.

One of the most beautiful landscapes of Tan Lap floating village is the X-shaped bridge and the Y-shaped one, which cross a vast field of water lilies.

From 7 am to 9 am, the bulbs are in full bloom, and birds are flying and chirping, creating a wonderful scene in this flooded ecological area. This is also the reason why many couples choose this place as the backdrop for beautiful wedding photos.

In good physical health, visitors can continue the journey by going deep into the forest to the Crescent Lake filled with lotus and water lilies.

The lake covers about 22,000sq.m, winding in a very impressive semicircle with calm clear water.

In Tan Lap floating village, there is also a folk game area likened to a small oasis, surrounded by a lotus and water lily pond with many types of fish.

This is not only a place to experience folk games, such as seesaws and crossing monkey bridges, but also an ideal place for sightseeing and fishing.

Coming to Tan Lap floating village, visitors should not neglect the beekeeping area where they are introduced to the process of apiculture, taught how to harvest honey, and can try a beverage made from honey.

Tan Lap floating village can be described as an ideal destination for those who love photography and want to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Covering an area of more than 1.3 million hectares of natural forest, Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve is not only the largest biosphere reserve in Vietnam, but it is also imbued with cultural, human and historical identities that need to be preserved and developed. It is immensely valuable to environmental science.

In September 18, 2007, the reserve was recognized by UNESCO as World Biosphere Reserve for its ecological and cultural values.

The reserve includes three core zones, namely Pu Mat National Park – a storehouse of fauna and flora species, Pu Huong and Pu Hoat Nature Reserves, and the entire watershed of Ca River.

Biodiversity

The Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve has a high biodiversity, representing most types of tropical rainforests with a plentiful array of habitats such mountains, wetlands and streams.

This is the only area in the north that has a large area of primitive forest that is well protected. It lies along the border between Vietnam and Laos. There are many rare species in the reserve.

It is home to over 3,960 species, of which 3,019 are vascular plants and 942 are large and small vertebrates. Many of these animals and plants are rare or endangered, as noted by international sources and the Red Book of Vietnam.

In particular, the Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve is identified as one of the three areas in the country where the Asian elephant population exists in significant numbers according to herd size.

Outstanding cultural value

The Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve has the largest ethnic cultural diversity among biosphere reserves in Vietnam. In particular, it is populated by two ethnic groups that are unique to Nghe An and are on the verge of losing cultural identity. They are the Dan Lai ethnic group, with 3,000 people residing in Con Cuong district, and the O Du group, with 570 people living in Tuong Duong district.

The diversity and rich cultural identity of ethnic minority groups is the biggest characteristic and source of pride in the western region of Nghe An. Many customs, folk songs, dances, traditional crafts, culinary culture, costumes and stilt-house architecture are imbued with unique indigenous culture.

Many historical and cultural relics have been well preserved through the mobilisation of resources from the private sector. These include the Choong temple festival in Quy Hop district, Chin Gian temple festival in Que Phong district, Van-Cua Rao temple in Tuong Duong district, Hang Bua festival in Quy Chau district and Muong Ham festival in Quy Hop district.

Locals and businesses, with the support and assistance from the administration, have contributed resources to restore relics, traditional festivals and cultural practices, thereby attracting a large number of people and surrounding areas to visit and join religious activities. Tourism potential

The characteristics of biodiversity and unique culture are advantages for tourism development, especially eco-tourism, cultural and community tourism.

The types of tourism with prospects for development currently being explored by Nghe An province include eco-tourism, sightseeing tours, cultural-community tourism, forest adventure discovery and scientific research tourism.

Such products made by locals as traditional medicine and handicrafts are produced from natural materials. These specialties are highly attractive to tourists.

After being recognised as a World Biosphere Reserve in 2007, tourism activities in the western region of Nghe An have developed remarkably. This has contributed to promoting the local economy, especially in Con Cuong, Tuong Duong and Quy Hop districts.

Infrastructure for tourism has been gradually invested with the participation of businesses.

The tourism development project of Western Nghe An has been undertaken by the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The goals are to expand tourist attractions, focusing on eco-tourism and culture and to promote advertisement to international visitors.

Nghe An province plans to develop urban areas in an ecological approach. Con Cuong district is chosen to pilot this model before expanding to other districts.

Ecotourism and economic models with a green growth approach will be an important highlight in sustainable development in the Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve, the department said.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Consulate General of Vietnam in Sydney, Australia, organised a golf tournament on February 2, on the occasion of the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival, with the participation of nearly 70 golfers.

Addressing the event, Vietnamese Consul General Nguyen Dang Thang wished that the ‘Tet Cup’ golf tournament, which is hoped to be held annually on the occasion of the biggest and most important traditional festival of Vietnamese, will strengthen solidarity among the Vietnamese community in Australia and raise funds to build schools for children residing in the country’s mountainous areas.

This time, the Consulate General together with a charity in Vietnam aimed to raise funds for the building of a semi-boarding house of Chieng Chung primary and secondary school in the northern mountainous province of Son La.

The tournament raised some 30,900 AUD (22,010 USD), which will be transferred to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s State Commission for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs, for the prompt construction of the boarding house.

In Sri Lanka, a delegation of the Embassy of Vietnam led by Ambassador Ho Thi Thanh Truc paid a Tet visit to Vietnamese expats in the country on February 2, the second day of the lunar new year.

Truc extended her Tet wishes to Buddhist monks and nuns living and studying in Sri Lanka and thanked nun Giac Hanh Chau for supporting the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese community in the South Asian nation.

About 50 Vietnamese monks and nuns are studying at Buddhist schools and institutes in Sri Lanka.

Earlier, Vietnamese Counsellor Tran Trong Thanh visited a meditation centre in Kandy city, which is the first Vietnamese temple in Sri Lanka. The temple had helped disadvantaged families when the country applied restriction measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Also on February 2, Chu Duc Dung, Vietnamese Consul General in Khon Kaen, Thailand, extended his Tet wishes to overseas Vietnamese in Thailand’s north eastern localities.

He welcomed contributions by the Vietnamese community in Udon Thani to the Vietnam-Thailand relations as well as their activities toward the homeland.

He took the occasion to attend a ritual praying for peace and offer incense to altars of Hung Kings, the national founders, at Khanh An, the largest Vietnamese temple in north eastern Thailand; and paid tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at a memorial site in the Thai province, where he stayed and worked for a while in 1928-29.

Udon Thani is currently home to the largest number of Vietnamese among Thai localities.

Source: Vietnam News Agency