First domestic visitors, on the Vietnam Airlines' flight from Hà Nội, are welcomed at Đà Nẵng International Airport on the first day of New Year. — VNS Photo Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG — The national flag-carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget carrier VietJetAir carried the first domestic and international tourists to the central city of Đà Nẵng in the first day of the New Year on three flights from Hà Nội, Incheon (South Korea) and Narita (Japan).

The city’s tourism department said the three flights were chosen to celebrate the promising hopes for a tourism surge in the New Year.

It said the city hosted 15,500 passengers on 112 flights, of which 7,500 were from 50 international flights, in the first day of the New Year.

The international Đà Nẵng Airport expects to welcome 434 flights with total 65,000 passengers on the first three days of 2024.

Air service was seen as a major source of tourism growth with 40,000 flights and 6.3 million passengers in 2023.

Also on the New Year celebration, the city will receive the first 1,900 visitors on the Westerdam cruise visiting Đà Nẵng city on January 2. The cruise had stops at Phú Mỷ and Nha Trang ports before docking at Đà Nẵng’s Tiên Sa Port.

In 2023, Đà Nẵng received 22 cruises with 18,000 visitors, but 45 cruises have booked Tiên Sa Port as a stop for 40,000 tourists in 2024.

According to the city’s tourism department, the central tourism hub plans to host 8.42 million visitors in 2024 after successfully accommodating 7.94 million tourists, including 1.99 million international tourists, in 2023.

Deputy director of the city’s tourism department, Nguyễn Thị Hoài An said the first flights of the New Year would promote it as a favourite destination to domestic and international visitors in 2024.

Italian visitors are the first international tourists coming to the ancient Hội An town in 2024. Hội An organised series of cultural and art programmes to welcome the New Year celebration. — Photo courtesy of Lê Sơn Ca

In 2024, Đà Nẵng has planned many tourism promotion programmes in potential markets and new tourism products to attract tourists, she said.

Meanwhile, the ancient town of Hội An celebrated the first group of Italian tourists visiting on New Year’s day.

A series of entertainment and art performance programmes were organised in Hội An from December 30 including the Quảng Nam Gastronomy Festival and the Announcement Ceremony of Hoi An’s Designation to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network 2023.

Phạm Thị Thanh Hường from UNESCO said it is a joyful celebration of the incredible progress Hội An has embarked on to harness its wealth of crafts and folk arts for sustainable development.

“Hội An has been an internationally recognised destination and a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site. Aside from its incredible nature and scenery, culture and heritage, best represented through the crafts and arts preserved through generations, play a significant role in making a visit to Hội An an unforgettable experience for any tourist,” she said.

“The ancient town has taken many meaningful steps towards nurturing the cultural and creative potentials it possesses. The exhaustive preparation for the membership application of UNESCO Creative Cities Network this year is the culminative effort of the consistent work by city officials, experts, the creative community and many other stakeholders,” she said

Crafts and folk arts, and the creative and cultural industries at large, will become a strategic framework and medium for Hội An to accelerate its socio-economic development and international reputation. The UNESCO Office in Việt Nam will continue to strongly support Hoi An in this new journey ahead, she added. — VNS