The exhibition will provide an excellent opportunity for travel businesses from the three countries to discuss access to the tourism market as well as promote their products.

According to the Organising Board, a seminar on ASEAN investment and tourism, a tourism awards ceremony and a Golf Friendship tournament will also be held during the exhibition.

Myanmar will also take part in the exhibition to help build a joint development programme entitled “Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar- One Destination”.

This was the first time, such a profile on the plateau was jointly prepared and submitted by the management board of the Ha Giang provincial geological park, the

The most important criteria for a stone plateau to be recognised as a global geological park is that it must achieve at least 1,000 points. Of these, 600 points are decided based on scientific perspectives, the rest are on conservative, educational and tourism values.

Earlier on April 9, UNESCO sent independent experts from China and France to the stone plateau for consideration.

There are 69 geological parks around the globe and so far, only one in the Southeast Asian region. If approved by UNESCO, Vietnam will contribute another geological park to the region.

Addressing a meeting to review the “Impressive Vietnam” tourism stimulus campaign, which was held on January 28, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh said the campaign concluded successfully and contributed to preventing the decline of foreign visitors to Vietnam and warming up domestic market.

As a result, the tourism sector should intensify domestic promotion campaigns to attract more local tourists, he stressed.

During 2009, the tourism sector served 25 million local travellers, a 20% increase compared to previous years.

The campaign heated up domestic tours, especially from March to October last year, despite the difficulties caused by the adverse impacts of the global financial crisis.

“Impressive Vietnam” helped travel agencies, hotels and service suppliers join hands to offer tours at competitive prices and enjoy shared profits.

During 2010, many events of great significance to the country will take place, especially the grand ceremony to mark the Thang Long-Hanoi millennial anniversary, providing a chance for the tourism sector to attract even more foreign visitors and promote local tourism development.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said it will continue to offer trade promotion programmes at opportune junctures, to cope with difficulties and challenges that influence the tourism sector’s development and sustainability.

The VNAT will also increase efforts to popularise the image of Vietnam to foreign markets.

January this year has seen a 20.4% increase in the number of foreign arrivals compared to one year ago, marking a good start for the year.

“This is the first time a project on Vietnam’s bamboo has been honoured in the world,” Dr Diep Thi My Hanh, who chairs the project on “Phu An Bamboo Ecological Museum and Botanical Reserve” in the southern province of Binh Duong said on August 24.

The Phu An Bamboo Village is a cooperation project between Binh Duong province and Ho Chi Minh City National University , France ’s Rhone Alpes Region and Pilat Natural Park of France. It has an initial investment of nearly 675 million EUR.

Six years after implementation, the ecological reserve in Binh Duong province has a collection of about 130 species of bamboo belonging to 17 varieties. Among them are rare and precious varieties of each region in the country such as ivory bamboo and yellow-striped bamboo.

The 10ha reserve also includes a museum made from bamboo displaying equipment, instruments and works made from bamboo materials such as music instruments, and a research area for scientists and students who want to learn about bamboo and growing and developing this tropical tree.

The Phu An Bamboo Village is likely to turn into Asia’s bamboo reserve, said Dr. Gabriel de Taffin, regional director of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) in Southeast Asia.

According to Hanh, bamboo grows fast, is used for different purposes, and is particularly useful in absorbing carbon dioxide and fighting climate change.

Apart from protecting the biodiversity of bamboo, the Phu An Bamboo Village is a centre for research and technological transfer on the applications of bamboo in life and environmental protection, Hanh said.

Dr. Hanh now researches the applications of bamboo in absorbing heavy metal present in soil, bamboo fibre in replacing composite material, and cellulose from bamboo as water-resistant material, and production of biological clothes or nylon bags.

The Equator Prize is an award for initiatives in natural resource conservation that meets the goal of poverty reduction, community development, gender equality, focusing on women, environmental protection, and serving sustainable development.

Equator Prize 2010 winners will be celebrated at a high level event at the American Museum of Natural History on September 20, 2010. Representatives from winning communities will also participate in the Community Summit dialogue space, to be held in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly in New York.