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| Touch down: The first foreigners are welcomed at Đà Nẵng International Airport with a ceremony yesterday. The direct flight from Hong Kong carried 180 passengers to the city for travel in central Việt Nam.— VNS Photo Công Thành |
Viet Nam News
First tourists of the year welcomed in Đà Nẵng, Hội An
ĐÀ NẴNG — More than 2,600 foreign tourists have visited Đà Nẵng on the first day of the New Year, arriving by air and sea, marking a promising start to another successful year for tourism in central Việt Nam.
On the morning of January 1, the first flight of the year carried 180 passengers from Hong Kong to Đà Nẵng airport, beginning the first tours in Đà Nẵng and Hội An.
The Hong Kong airline is operating a daily direct Hong Kong-Đà Nẵng air route with 14 flights per week.
John Rink, from San Francisco, the US, was welcomed at the airport’s arrivals hall with special gifts and best wishes of the New Year by the city’s tourism department.
John said he had transited via Hong Kong before arriving in Đà Nẵng for his business trip in central Quảng Ngãi Province.
He said he was happy to receive the warm welcome, gifts and flowers from the city of Đà Nẵng in the New Year.
The central city hosted 23 daily direct flights, of which eight were chartered flights, carrying 2.35 million tourists on 239 flights per week in 2018.
Travel agency Vietravel also brought 160 Vietnamese tourists from Đà Nẵng to destinations in Japan on the chartered direct flight from Đà Nẵng to Nagoya – the first out-bound tour of the year from the central city to Japan.
In the afternoon of the first day of the New Year, two cruises – Costa Atlantica and Seabourn Ovation – both carrying 2,500 tourists, docked at Tiên Sa Port before traveling to Hội An and Đà Nẵng.
Vice director of the city’s tourism department, Nguyễn Xuân Bình said more than 100 cruises with 145,000 tourists had visited the city in 2018, a 66 per cent increase in comparison to 2017.
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| Dropping anchor: The Costa Atlantica cruise docks at Tiên Sa Port of Đà Nẵng in the first day of 2019. About 2,000 visitors on the cruise paid a visit to the city and Hội An town.— VNS Photo Công Thành |
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| Lucky man: John Rink from the US receives gifts and flowers as he was one of the first foreigners visiting Đà Nẵng in the New Year.— VNS Photo Công Thành |
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| Start with a bang: A final countdown party is staged at Đà Nẵng’s September 23 Square on New Year’s Eve.— VNS Photo Công Thành |
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| Symbolic site: The ancient city of Hội An celebrates the first visitors of the year at the Japanese Bridge in Hội An.— VNS Photo Công Thành |
Bình said the city’s tourism industry hosted 7.6 million tourists, including 2.87 million foreigners, in 2018, earning more than VNĐ24 trillion (US$1.06 billion) in revenue.
Also yesterday, the city’s Tiên Sa port welcomed the first cargo ship, the Wanhai with Singaporean nationality, docking at the biggest port in central Việt Nam on its sea trip to Cát Lái port-Đà Nẵng port-Hong Kong.
The port authority said the city’s port system handled 8.6 million tonnes of cargo in 2018, a 7 per cent growth year-on-year.
Meanwhile, in Hội An, 30km south of Đà Nẵng, the first 15 tourist groups from different countries received the traditional welcome celebration from the city for the first visitors of the New Year.
Central Quảng Nam province also hosted the 3.8th millionth foreign tourist visiting the province in 2018 on New Year’s Eve.
The province, with two UNESCO-recognised world heritages – Hội An ancient town and Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary – and the world biosphere reserve Chàm Island-Hội An – hosted 6.5 million tourists in 2018. — VNS
