The packed audience inside Hạ Long City’s Sun World Square, and those glued to live recordings on a big screen erected in the streets nearby, were entertained with music, dance and finally fireworks to mark the opening ceremony. - VNS Photos Paul Kennedy

The Hạ Long Carnival features more than 1000 artists from Việt Nam and other countries including Russia, China, Ukraine.

Thousands of locals and visitors attended the opening event of the Visit Việt Nam Year 2018 and Hạ Long Carnival held yesterday evening. - VNS Photo Hồng Vân

Nguyễn Đức Long, Chairman of Quảng Ninh Province’s People’s Committee told the audience how the events planned for the next year will showcase the region to the world.

“The events expect to provide people and tourists with the most attractive and impressive experience in Quảng Ninh,” he said.

“In preparation for the Visit Việt Nam Year 2018, Quảng Ninh has been significantly improving the investment environment to attract resources for developing socio-economic infrastructure particularly transport, service, tourism, culture and urban infrastructure.

“The combination of historical relics, famous landscapes, unique culture along with infrastructure and international standard tourism trademarks have created a momentum for boosting tourism to become a key sector of Quảng Ninh.”

But he added the fortunes of the next 12 months are not just Quảng Ninh’s alone.

Speaking at the event, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said “This is a golden opportunity for Quảng Ninh and other provinces and cities to promote tangible and intangible cultural heritage values as well as their unique tourism products to boost up the integration, improve the image and status of Việt Nam and make tourism a key economic sector of Việt Nam in 2020.”

Đỗ Thùy Linh, a Quảng Ninh native said “The carnival this year is a lot bigger than previous ones. This year, Quảng Ninh also hosts the Visit Việt Nam Year, which I believe will help attract more visitors. I hope the province will shift from the black industry into green one.”

Shifting from one industry in the past but not forgetting it. Quảng Ninh now has a new path and those who walk it over the next 12 months will be taking part in a journey remembered by generations to come. — VNS

Celebrating with a different beat QUẢNG NINH — As many watched the opening ceremony at Sun World Square, at 30/10 Square, just a few kilometers away Quảng Ninh’s younger generation partied at a different pace. The sky in Hồng Hà Ward of Hạ Long City was lit up not with fireworks but strobe lights, as thousands of ravers danced the night away. Quảng Ninh’s young generation partied at the 30/10 Square. - VNS Photos Paul Kennedy The sky in Hồng Hà Ward of Hạ Long City was lit up not with fireworks but strobe lights, as thousands of ravers danced the night away. Here DJs spun sounds of a different beat – and the results were exactly the same, smiles on the faces of those in the audience as wide as the bay that’s made Ha Long famous the world over. Glow sticks in hand and bouncing to the beat, this was a party that seemed a million miles away from the opening ceremony taking place over the bridge. Keeping the crowd on their feet were DJs Mike Hao, Get Looze, Nimbia and Axys Touma. But it wasn’t just the music that stole this show. Lights, video screens, smoke and fire kept this party going way into the small hours. — VNS