The fifth annual Sea Festival celebration which will be held in Nha Trang this year on June 11-15 will focus on Truong Sa Archipelago, or more popularly known as Spratly Islands. The festival will feature a photo exhibition of the islands, a music show, a film screening, and a conference on Truong Sa Island District. Famous artists from France, South Korea, China, Cuba and Russia will perform at the event which aims to promote the traditional cultural values and tourism of the province. Moreover, the festival will also host a celebration of bird’s nests, a beauty pageant, and a goods fair featuring local, delicious Vietnamese delicacies on the country’s beautiful beaches of Nha Trang, Doc Let and Bai Dai.

Hoi An has made a momentous achievement by landing on the list of The World’s Top 10 Best Cities for Tourism. This is according to United Kingdom’s Wanderlust travel magazine wherein the city garnered 96% of votes from the readers, earning the second spot in the list. Luang Prabang, the world heritage site in Laos, remained in the top position of the magazine’s yearly list of best tourist destinations, receiving 96.89% of readers’ votes. Kyoto, Japan; Stockholm, Sweden; Perth, Australia; Tokyo, Japan; San Francisco, USA; Vienna, Austria; Cusco, Peru; and Aleppo, Syria, were also included in the list. Last year, Hoi An also landed in the fifth place of Asia’s Top 10 Destinations based on an online tourism magazine in Hong Kong, Smart Travel Asia.

Epikurian Villas Hotels & Hideouts, a Singapore-based hotel management company, will unveil a new luxury hotel in Nha Trang on April 2. An Lam – Ninh Van Bay Villas Resort is set on a 20-hectare property in Ninh Van Bay. It will open 18 of its 35 proposed villas in the first phase. Room rates are regularly priced at $400 but they will have a promotional rate of $350 until August.

Life Heritage Resort in Ha Long Bay unveiled four private luxury boats featuring the history and culture of the famous bay. Each luxury boat is elegantly designed with a 32 square meter cabin with an upper deck, a dining terrace, and sundeck. Each boat is equipped with modern amenities like kayaks, swimming ladders, diving and angling equipment. To live up to its name, guests are given the luxury to plan their own itinerary for the bay tour, which includes a visit to limestone caves, islets and even secluded beaches. The six-hour cruise costs $220 good for two people inclusive of lunch. Additional persons is only a maximum of four and costs $65 each. The luxury boats are built and operated to Certified Marine Standards and equipped with state-of-the-art maritime safety features and equipment.

In Ho Chi Minh City, cruise tourists are arriving at a greatly increasing number. Unfortunately, the city lacks the necessary amount of ports to accomodate all vessels, posing an alarming problem to its transportation and consequently, tourism sector. Aside from the lack of ports to accomodate all trips, the low clearance of Phu My Bridge prohibits big ships like Queen Mary III from docking at Sai Gon Port, landing instead at Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Officials from travel and cruise companies are well aware of this dilemma and are hoping to solve the problem soon as this will greatly affect their business and the tourism of Ho Chi Minh City as a whole.