Month: July 2022

Ho Chi Minh City authorities have applied a number of measures to boost its tourism growth after the COVID-19 pandemic, including the diversification of products and services by developing those with high potential such as farm and MICE.

Being aware of tourists’ rising demand for eco-tourism activities, they have launched a number of sites of this kind, including Suoi Tien Farm in Thu Duc city, which provides visitors with unique experience of southern fruit farms and various entertainment services.

The 5-hectare farm is located in Suoi Tien Cultural Tourism Site and comprises more than 150 modern entertainment facilities. Tourists can directly engage in farming activities, harvesting and enjoying fruits right at the farm.

Meanwhile, they are focusing on boosting MICE tourism development by coordinating with ministries and sectors at home, Vietnamese representative offices abroad and international partners to lure more tourists to the city.

In July, the city welcomed 460 Indian tourists who took a MICE tour to the city.

The visitors are leaders, staff, customers and partners of VOLVO – EICHER, a company specialising in truck and bus manufacturing of India. They stayed in the city from July 15-18 and took a number of tourism, shopping and entertainment activities.

From July 18 to 22, Saigontourist Travel Service Company (Saigontourist) served a group of Australian nationals in the form of river tourism, the first of its kind in two years.

The country’s economic hub houses many businesses with demand for MICE tourism as they seek to combine business and pleasure to thank employees, customers and partners after the difficult pandemic period.

Vietravel Company said since the start of this year, it has served 300 MICE groups with over 20,000 people.

Saigontourist Company has organised MICE tours for 14,000 people.

“MICE businesses have boomed. After the Lunar New Year holiday in February, Saigontourist has organised big tours for businesses to hold review meetings and ceremonies for awarding employees. In March, we had a record of 750 groups on the Da Nang-Hoi An tour,” said Hoang Thuy Linh, deputy director of marketing and IT at Saigontourist.

Data from the HCM City Statistics Office shows that foreign tourists to the city in the first half of 2022 reached 477,982 arrivals, an increase of 100% over the same period last year. In the period, about 11 million domestic visitors came to the city, up 43.1% year on year.

HCM City Department of Tourism announced that total tourism revenue in the first half of 2022 was 49.7 billion VND (nearly 2.2 billion USD), up 29.9% compared to the same period last year, reaching 73.5% of the year’s target./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam’s import-export value of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products reached 58.3 billion USD in the first seven months of 2022, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Revenue of these exports was estimated at 32.3 billion USD, up 12.2% year-on-year, while imports was estimated at 26 billion USD, up 1.6%.

So far this year, Vietnam has enjoyed about 6.3 billion USD in trade surplus in agriculture, forestry and fishery products, nearly doubling that the same period in 2021.

From January-July, shipments of key agricultural products totalled 13.3 billion USD, up 8.4%. Aquatic exports saw a significant surge of 34.2% to nearly 6.7 billion USD. Forestry exports also increased 1.3% to 10.4 billion USD during the period.

There were four exports whose value reached over 2 billion USD, namely coffee, rice, shrimp, and wood products.

Exports posting high growth included coffee (46.2%), rubber (7%), rice (9%), pepper (11.7%), tra fish (83.6%), and shrimp (26.2%).

In the reviewed period, the export value of Vietnam’s agriculture, forestry and fishery products to markets in Asia accounted for 42.4% of the market share, followed by the Americas (29.3%), Europe (11.9%), Oceania (1.7%), and Africa (1.6%).

The US remained Vietnam’s biggest buyer, purchasing nearly 8.7 billion USD worth of the products, or 26.8% of the total.

It was followed by China, with import value of 5.7 billion USD, accounting for 17.8 percent of the total./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

An exchange was held on July 31 for officers, soldiers of Naval Region 4 High Command and 126 overseas Vietnamese (OV) students and youngsters joining the Vietnam Summer Camp 2022.

The exchange aims to raise the OV students and youngsters’ awareness of the responsibility to protect the national sovereignty over Fatherland’s seas and islands, while strengthening the solidarity and joint efforts among youngsters at home and abroad in building and protecting the Fatherland.

At the event, participants enjoyed various art performances, along with a screening of documentary film on the development of the Vietnam People’s Navy, and explored the role of the force in safeguarding national sovereignty over seas and islands.

Addressing the exchange, Colonel La Van Hung, member of the Party Committee’s Standing Board and Deputy Political Commissar of the command, underlined the significant meaning of the exchange which gives a chance for participants to get a better understanding of the glorious history of the nation and army as well as sea and island situation.

He expressed his hope that young OVs will continue to act as the key force for the prosperous development and stability of the Vietnamese community abroad, encouraging them to turn to the Fatherland./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A working team from the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has inspected a number of projects it is funding in some localities of Vietnam, according to the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Vietnam.

The team examined the progress of a transport infrastructure construction project in the northern province of Yen Bai. The project aims to build a 30-km road at the cost of over 20 million USD, benefiting about 12,000 locals.

They also visited a project to build a 20-km road to the centre of Tan Yen commune in northern Lang Son province, which is implemented with a total fund of about 10 million USD. Once completed, the project will serve about 10,000 local residents.

During the visit, the team had a working session with representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance on the progress of the projects.

According to the embassy, the Saudi Arabian Government pays great attention to supporting the development of Vietnam through development projects and programmes funded by the SFD.

Over the years, the fund has provided soft loans worth about 179 million USD to Vietnam to implement 12 development projects and programmes, contributing to boosting the growth of many sectors and enhancing socio-economic development in many areas, helping Vietnam realise Sustainable Development Goals./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A total 1,478 COVID-19 cases were logged on July 31, raising the national caseload to 10,779,632, according to the Ministry of Health.

A total 7,877 COVID-19 patients were given the all clear on the day, bringing the number of recoveries so far to 9,913,396. There are 50 patients in serious conditions needing breathing support.

No death from COVID-19 was recorded in the past 24 hours. The total fatalities stood at 43,093.

On July 30, 358,429 doses of vaccines were administered, raising the total number of doses of COVID-19 vaccines injected to 245,757,127./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

First litchi fruits of northern Hai Duong and Bac Giang provinces have been shipped by sea to the US to be sold at Safeway and Albersons – two supermarket chains with the largest network on the West Coast of the US.

This is a result of the efforts by the Vietnamese Consulate General in San Francisco in bringing Vietnamese products to foreign distribution systems that started from early this year.

According to the Asia-America Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, this is a giant step forward in promoting the sale of Vietnamese fruits in general and litchi in particular in the US market, as the majority of Vietnamese fruits have been sold in only small markets and super markets to serve Asian consumers.

A representative from US Dragonberry Produce, the distributor of Vietnamese litchi in the US, said that two other containers of litchi are also on their way to the US. The fruit will continue to be sold in the two supermarket chains with a price tag of 4.99 USD for each bag of 430 grams.

The representative said that the firm has taken steps to introduce the fruit to local partners and consumers.

It piloted the marketing of Vietnamese litchi in early May during the San Francisco trade, investment and tourism promotion conference which was attended by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The company then imported litchi by air to sell in Los Angeles supermarkets.

The high air transport cost made Vietnamese litchi less competitive in the market. This is the reason why the export of litchi to the US has been modest while the fruit has been accepted in the market since 2014.

Therefore, Dragonberry decided to transport litchi by sea and succeeded, which is expected to strongly increase the export of Vietnamese litchi to the US in the time to come./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand has swiftly contacted and provided necessary information about legal procedures to relatives of two Vietnamese citizens who drowned to death in Phuket Island in the morning July 31.

The victims are a woman born in 1970 and her daughter born in 2006, who are residing in Dong Da district, Hanoi. They came to Phuket with their relatives to meet business partners, and travel.

Le Trung Kien, the official in charge of citizen protection at the embassy, said the agency is coordinating with local authorities to issue necessary documents for the victims’ family members assisting them in procedures to repatriate the bodies as soon as possible.

According to the embassy, in case of needing urgent assistance in Thailand, Vietnamese citizens can contact the embassy at the hotline: 66 898966653 or directly come to the embassy at 83/1 Wireless Road, Lumpini, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A village in Duc Trong district, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, Phu An is home to 80 Buddhist establishments, the highest density in Vietnam.

The number of Buddhists accounts for more than 50% of the village’s population of 1,200.

On holidays and New Year festivals, a large number of visitors from across the country flock to Phu An.

Phap Van was one of the first pagodas built in Duc Trong on a high mountain, where visitors can enjoy the view of Dai Ninh River.

Phap Van abbot, Venerable Thich Dao Thanh said the pagoda was originally a Buddhist meditation hall set up by Most Venerable Thich Thien Tam in 1968. In 2009, the pagoda was restored and expanded on an area of 22,000 sq.m with a 12m high statue of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara which was completed more than half a century ago.

Vinh Minh Tu Vien, the most famous temple in Phu An, is located on a high hill, surrounded by trees. It covers an area of about 10 hectares. It was founded in 1973 by Venerable Thich Tam Thanh – a disciple of the first three monks Buu Lai, Buu Hue and Thich Thien Tam.

Kara Jan K’ Suynh, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Phu Hoi commune, said before the national reunification in 1975, the land of Phu An was still very wild and sparsely populated, with only a few temples and pagodas built in old forests. Later, people from all over the country came there to live and work, forming a busy residential area with many pagodas and places of worship, so Phu An was dubbed “the village of temples”.

Kara Jan K’ Suynh said the operation of religious establishments in the commune is stable, without problems related to political security, social order and safety.

Religious establishments and followers always abide by the guidelines of the Party and laws of the State, and are active in charitable activities, contributing to the locality’s development, she noted.

According to Vice Chairman of Duc Trong district People’s Committee Le Nguyen Hoang, apart from managing religious activities and security and order, and cooperating with pagodas in the locality in charity and social security activities, local authorities have also focused on promoting legal regulations on religion and belief./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency