“A cruise ship arriving in Vietnam provides an average of nearly 100 guests who book tours to Cambodia and then return to Vietnam to continue their voyage,” Tuan said.

Because it takes only an hour to fly to Siem Reap from HCMC, tourists can return the next day instead of going on a trip to provinces in the Mekong Delta, which takes hours by bus.

One-day tours to Siem Reap from HCMC would attract more cruise ship guests if more evening flights opened, Tuan said.

The third highest group of foreign visitors to Angkor Wat, Japanese tourists, is increasingly choosing Vietnam as the next destination after Cambodia, according to figures released by the APEX Cambodia Travel Service Company.

The number of Cambodian tourists to Vietnam for sightseeing, shopping and medical check-ups and treatments is also on the rise.

Cambodia has shifted many tours from Thailand to Vietnam because of the opening of many border gates between the two countries, medical travel and similarities between food and beverages between the two countries, according to He So Somara, Secretary of state of the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism.

With many international airports and international air routes to Vietnam, foreign visitors can travel to Vietnam and then fly or travel by road or waterways to Cambodia and return to Vietnam to head home.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the number of Cambodian tourists traveling to Vietnam soared by 147.2% in the first quarter of the year against the same period last year.

The seat occupancy of five flights from Vietnam to Cambodia every day reached 80 to 95% in March, a representative of Vietnam Airlines said.

The HCM City-based Medic Medical Centre has in recent months received more than 100 patients from Cambodia for health check-ups and treatments every day, accounting for 10% of the total number of patients registering at the centre, according to Dr Phan Thanh Hai, director of the centre.

Pham Quang Hung, Director of the Department of International Cooperation under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said that tourism authorities of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam would jointly organise promotion programmes to tap potential markets during the International Travel Expo, which is scheduled to open in September 30 in HCMC.

A proposal for a single visa for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam is being considered and will be submitted to the Government, Hung said.

The collection is recognised as the largest on the epics of ethnic groups in the Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen) by the Vietnam Guinness Book Centre.

It comprises 75 works, including 30 of the Ba Na ethnic group, 26 of the Mo Nong, 10 of the E De, four of the Xo dang, three of the Ra Glai and two of the Cham.

It is the result of a VND 17 billion (nearly USD 1 million) project carried out by the Vietnam Institute for Social Sciences from 2001.

The collection is composed of 62 volumes with some 60,400 pages printed bilingually in Vietnamese and various ethnic languages.

The Tay Nguyen Epics are on the nomination list for UNESCO recognition as part of the oral and intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

The exhibition displays paintings by Pham Manh Tuan as well as a selection of object d’art and handicrafts.

Established in 1981, the Vietnamese House in France has been run with 3 main objectives: holding exhibitions, introducing various Vietnamese arts and teaching Vietnamese.

Also taking place at the Vietnamese Cultural Centre in France is a film festival on Vietnam’s capital city in preparation for the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

The festival screens films directed by Dang Nhat Minh, Viet Linh, Lai Van Sinh and a number of documentaries from Le Manh Thich, Nguyen Van Huong and Dao Trong Khanh.

The exhibition and film festival will last until December 5. Previously, this year, two other Vietnamese film festivals were also held in France, in September and October, one on Late President Ho Chi Minh and another on Hanoi City.

The exhibition, with the assistance of pioneering artist and curator Tran Luong, is hosted by San Art and supported by Bui Gallery in Hanoi.

In this exhibition, imagination is given space to play with Nguyen Tran Nam’s near life-size human figures resting on balls, Vu Hong Ninh’s over-sized baby, made from soap, and Nguyen Huy An’s shadows wreaking havoc with ink and charcoal.

Nguyen Van Phuc’s star light stands propped up by a set of crutches, while Nguyen Manh Hung’s ghostly bodyless figures hang from the ceiling.

The curator says this is the mystery of Tam Ta, a kind of mental state that exudes the mood of an unceasing kind of rain.

He says that it does not represent a torrent of water, but a rain of survival, of suspended psychological states or physical adventures, of a constant questioning of reality.

These young artists challenge human values, recognising that knowledge is the key to the door of the world.

This is the first exhibition of art from Hanoi since 2006 to be seen in HCM City by contemporary artists of the 1970s and 1980s generation. The touring exhibition, which opened at Bui Gallery in Hanoi in July, is an opportunity for local audiences to see the artistic ideas emerging from the country’s capital as it is also rare for artists in Vietnam to have the chance to show their work across the country due to lack of funding.

San Art is one of three venues for the exhibition, which will be on view until November 13. Its next venue will be New Space Arts in Hue.

The Tam Ta exhibition is on view at San Art, 3 Me Linh Street, Ward 19, Binh Thanh district, HCM City.