Khanh Hoa Prepares for 2007 Sea Festival

Organised every two years, the Sea Festival will consist of general cultural and festive activities, depicting traditional and temporary cultural values, aiming to preserve and develop the Vietnamese culture in general, and Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa in particular. The 2007 event will include many activities, including street festivals, fish worshipping, kit flying, wine and XQ hand embroidered painting display. Apart from festive activities, the event include exhibitions by photographers of Central Vietnam and from Morbihan province of France; artists from Khanh Hoa and Morbihan; an arrangement exhibition of Hanoi artist Dang Thi Khue; a sea stamp exhibition, and pottery exhibition of the Cham people; as well as antique and calligraphy exhibitions.

 

The festival will have many attractive art performances by the Ho Chi Minh City Song and Dance Theatre, rock and hip-hop bands; and fashion shows themed ‘Nha Trang – Rendezvous,’ and many other art and cultural performances at the coast park. Also, performances given by art troupes from Ukraine, the Republic of Korea and China will attract much attention from local people and visitors. On this occasion, camps for sculpture and painting will be organised in Nha Trang. The Cinema Centre will co-operate with the French Sun to organise a Sea Festival film week.

Furthermore, the festival will introduce Vietnamese and foreign visitors to traditional cuisine, prepared by professional chefs in the Four Season Tourist Centre, the Hai Yen Hotel and other places on Tran Phu street, within a village market of Khanh Hoa.

The festival will have many sports and entertainment activities, including Chinese chess contests, underwater tug-of-war, folk games, water sports, such as banana boats, water surfing, beach volleyball, beach football, and swimming contests, and a walk day ‘For Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa to be clean, green and beautiful.’

 

After the first event organised in 2005, Khanh Hoa has recorded great achievements in tourism, considered a spearhead sector by the 15^th Khanh Hoa Party Congress, contributing to the province’s economy. The number of visitors and tourist activity revenues in 2006 were higher than the province’s yearly plan, as the province attracted 1.088 million visitors, 109.9 per cent against 2005, and earned VND 835 billion, an increase to 112.8 per cent.

 

The province boosted investment in tourism infrastructure. As a result, many tourist sites and sheltering facilities have been formed and built. Also, existing facilities and tourist sites have been upgraded to meet the increasing demand of visitors. In particular, the Vinpearl Park officially inaugurated part of the second phase of Vinpearl, with many modern entertainment facilities including an outdoor music fountain performance area, the food village, the shopping street, and the biggest discotheque in Vietnam, as well as one more five-star hotel, Sunrise Hotel of the Tan Viet Company, after the Sofitel Vinpearl Resort. The hotel, with an investment capital of US$10 million, has 121 rooms meeting international standards alongside modern restaurants, bars and fitness service facilities.

 

Ana Mandara was voted by Condé Nast Traveler, New York, to have the most beautiful location in the world and was voted as one of the 15 best resorts in the world. Also, Evason Hideaway at Ana Mandara (Ninh Van) was voted by Tatler (the UK) as one of the top ten resorts in the world alongside North Island, Marina Bay and Resicenza Napoleone III. Evason Hideaway was also considered to reach six-star standard with the most luxurious services.

 

Also in 2006, some cultural and art activities, such as the Vietnamese Beauty Contest and Duyen Dang Vietnam 16 (Vietnamese Charm 16), were organised at Vinpearl Land, making Nha Trang and Khanh Hoa more famous. Furthermore, Khanh Hoa hosted a yacht race from Hong Kong to Nha Trang. The province organised a contest of slogans for the promotion of Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa tourism, and slogan ‘Nha Trang - Rendezvous’ was chosen as the slogan for Khanh Hoa tourism.

 

Apart from investment in infrastructure facilities, Khanh Hoa has developed many new tours and transportation services. The number of visitors arriving on international cruises saw a sharp increase, from 6,300 visitors on 15 cruises in 2005, to 14,292 visitors on 23 cruises in 2006. The number of enterprises providing transportation for visitors increased rapidly.

 

Khanh Hoa province expects an average growth rate of 16 per cent per annum, receiving between 1.4 and 1.5 million visitors in 2010, 500,000 to be foreigners. The province will increase the number of hotel rooms to 8,500 in 2010 and generate jobs for 5,400 more people in tourism.