| Travellers
Notes
(04-03-2006)
Bargains
to be had in HCM City
Some
550 HCM City shopping centres, restaurants and hotels kicked
off a month-long Giant Sale on Wednesday. Thirteen Saigontourist
enterprises, including hotels, travel companies and resorts,
joined large trading companies and supermarkets in offering
major promotions throughout the month.
Participating
stores include the TAX Centre, Zen and Diamond Plazas, Co-op
Mart, Maximark, Binh Dan, Citimart, Ben Thanh and Xom Chieu
markets. Everything from consumer goods to mobile phones, motorcycles
and electronics has been marked down by up to 30 per cent.
The
sale is ten times larger than last September’s event, according
to Do Xuan Ha, deputy director of the HCM City Department of
Trade.
New
air route from VN to Russia
This
week Singapore Airlines began a new service on the Viet Nam-Moscow
route using Boeing 777-200 aircraft.
The
flights depart Viet Nam on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and
leave Moscow on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. All flights
from Viet Nam include stopovers in Singapore and Dubai.
A
return ticket from HCM City and Ha Noi to Moscow is priced at
US$900. The carrier also offers daily flights from HCM City
and Ha Noi to Singapore.
Vung
Tau Tourist proposes fishing
Ba
Ria-Vung Tau Tourist Corporation has sought the permission of
provincial authorities to conduct tuna fishing expeditions for
foreign visitors.
The
company director, Tran Tuan Viet, said that proposed tours would
last 10 to 15 days including seven days at sea. He said the
company planned to co-operate with an overseas Vietnamese company
in Russia to arrange the trips for Russians seeking adventure
travel.
Participants
would fly from Saint Petersburg to HCM City before heading to
Vung Tau for a few days of fishing followed by a trip to Con
Dao Island.
Brunei
carrier to launch City service
Royal
Brunei Airlines will begin service to HCM City beginning on
May 11. The carrier announced three weekly flights departing
Brunei’s capital Bandar Seri Begawan every Monday, Thursday
and Sunday and returning to Brunei on Tuesday, Thursday and
Sunday.
Promotional
fares start from US$154 per round-trip ticket. Rozman Junaidi,
RBA’s acting head of corporate communications, said he saw HCM
City as an excellent shopping and sightseeing alternative for
Bruneians.
Visitors
cruise into central city
The
Panamanian cruise ship Seven Seas Voyager docked at Tien Sa
Port in Da Nang on Wednesday with 600 passengers on board.
The
tourists visited the Cham Museum, Ngu Hanh Son (Marble Mountain)
and the ancient city of Hue.
The
vessel was originally scheduled to dock at Chan May Port in
Thua Thien-Hue Province, but rough seas forced a change of plans.
Da Nang received some 4,000 cruise ship passengers in the first
two months of the year.
Ben
Thanh Tourist to join ITB
Representatives
of the HCM City-based Ben Thanh Tourist and other Vietnamese
travel agencies will attend the annual ITB International Tourism
Fair in Berlin, Germany, later in March.
The
Vietnamese contingent said they would attempt to expand their
overseas markets and help to make the country more widely known
as an international tourist destination. — VNS
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